The County Executive Race

by capper

I wasn't really going to start on this until after the new year, but...

I sent an email to the Lena Taylor campaign website to see how last week's event with Governor Jim Doyle went, as the local media decided not to even mention it. But to be fair, they haven't mentioned Walker's either. John Zapfel, her campaign manager responded with an email saying things went very well (no, I didn't expect him to say it stunk), but their biggest concern right now is money. At the end of the year, the campaigns are to submit their financial reports, and it is expected that Walker will have a much stronger showing. This only makes sense, since he was already sitting on a war chest that is almost equivalent to what he spent four years ago on his last election for County Exec.

Now, even though I am still learning about the intricacies of political campaigning, it doesn't take a PhD in poli sci to know that money is what makes the political world go round. What is more pertinent to me is the trends and the positions. I will attempt to do my modest attempts at covering the latter after New Years.

For the former part, the trends, that is easy to cover. It has already been done for me. Progressive Majority Wisconsin had a survey done and the result were astonishing:

County Executive Scott Walker is in an very vulnerable position going into the 2008 election for County Executive. Walker’s support falls well below the 50% threshold that separates vulnerable incumbents from safe ones, and leads his challenger, State Senator Lena Taylor by only 7 points (35% Taylor, 41% Walker). About a quarter (24%) of the electorate is undecided. Walker’s lead is likely predicated on his sizable advantage in name recognition (Walker: 90% hard ID; Taylor: 33% hard ID). When this advantage is eliminated by examining only the 30% of the electorate that knows both candidates, Taylor actually leads by a sizable margin (55% Taylor, 31% Walker).

Walker’s re-elect rating provides a second indication of vulnerability. Only 38% of county voters say they will vote to re-elect Walker, while 27% will consider voting for someone else, and 19% would replace Walker.

You can read the whole report here (pdf) (and it's got all sorts of pretty colored graphs).

Now some people might dismiss the results because it was done by a "liberal" polling company. Walker apparently didn't. He immediately emailed a lengthy rant about it to his mouthpiece, Charlie Sykes, who promptly put the whole thing up on his blog. One thing that you won't find Charlie posting is the response from Kristen Crowell, Political Director of Progressive Majority Wisconsin:

Dear Charlie,

I thought I would weigh in since the County Executive was speaking about a poll that we commissioned. This poll was conducted among spring voters and did not "steer" the answers towards Senator Taylor in any way. It was not a "push poll" as is alleged, more an accurate picture of the electorate.The County Executive is nervous because this poll shows this picture of the voters today and this picture isn't pretty for him. The poll shows that voters want to replace Walker and will vote for Senator Lena Taylor, a Milwaukee native and resident running to unseat him.

Walker's charge that we are a liberal firm fronting for a liberal candidate is simply a smokescreen to distract your readers from the truth. The truth is that Walker never once got an approval rating over 50%, a terrible place for an incumbent to be only months before the election. We are a progressive organization, that much Walker gets correct, but in no way could this poll manipulate the minds and hearts of the residents of Milwaukee County. Residents, of whom only 31% strongly favor Walker, residents who 49% believe that Milwaukee County is headed in the wrong direction, and residents who will vote this spring.

Need I then bring up the 8th County Board seat? The seat that became vacant when Ryan McCue became the Mayor of Cudahy? The one where the Walker-endorsed candidate lost to Pat Jursik. That was in August, well before the campaign for County Executive started and even then voters weren't moved. Walker should be afraid, but he shouldn't be afraid of our poll, he should be afraid of the reality that he has created. Voters want someone new, he did that all by himself.

Oh, 2008 could be shaping up to be an interesting year. Not only this, but I think I heard somthing or other about a presidential race going on...

SIDENOTE: If you, like me, would like to see some improvements in Milwaukee County, some leadership in the Courthouse, and the people of the area actually getting something for their tax dollars, please go to Lena's website and see how you can help.

Taylor vs. Walker: The First Debate

by capper

Yesterday, State Senator Lena Taylor and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker had their first official debate. Unfortunately, I wasn't there, and the only information is from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (More about this in my next post.)

Senator Taylor pointed out that Walker has failed to work with other leaders, including the County Board, Mayor Tom Barrett, other regional leaders. Even more significantly, Walker willfully sabotaged any efforts to get more money to come to Milwaukee County during the last state budget talk, by putting his own political aspirations before the good of the County. (Not surprisingly, the county budget is already in critical condition and large cuts or other drastic measures will be needed in the near future. Walker is probably just hoping to make it past the election before the matter hits the fan.)

Senator Taylor also highlighted some of her accomplishments, including successfully passing budgets on a state level, bringing millions of dollars to Milwaukee County, effectively pulling Walker's butt out of a mess. Senator Taylor also pointed out that she would find better ways to improve the local economy, including helping people get back into the workforce.

Walker, who got by far, much more coverage, also got away with some, shall we say, inaccuracies. Walker said that he helped form groups studying transit, but fails to state how he has sabotaged those studies. He said that he has worked well with Halloway (who has a history of being less than ethical himself). Another one of his bragging points is the proposed move from the mental health complex to the old St. Michael's hospital. He fails to point out that this would be more expensive than doing the necessary work at the current facility. (This must be the affordability part of his plan.)

Walker said that he had also worked with local communities to train and equip paramedics. This must have been after the County Board overrode his veto of the whole County portion of this budget. He also boasts of going on a local trade mission to the Czech Republic. I can't wait to see this. What is the Czech phrase for "Putting lipstick on a pig.", anyway?

Walker's plan for the future includes the "new approaches" of slashing budgets and privatizing everything that he can, including the airport. That's an attitude that raises questions from even one of his biggest backers.

But the most telling part of who won the debate came in afterwards. Senator Taylor's campaign manager, John Zapfel, put out this statement right after the debate:

“Today, Lena Taylor outlined exactly why she is the best choice to lead Milwaukee County into the future. She has the relationships with the Governor and the State Legislature to fight for the needs of Milwaukee County in Madison, as she did when she provided the county with $3 million for the transit system in the recent budget. She has the ability to work with the Mayor, the board Chairman, and the County Board to get things done. And she has the experience necessary to be an effective Milwaukee County Executive.

“In contrast, Scott Walker has demonstrated an inability to work with public officials in both Madison and Milwaukee, opting instead to blame others for the lack of funding for Milwaukee County. He even failed to approach Senator Taylor this past budget cycle when she was on the Joint Finance Committee in the State Legislature, neglecting his duties as the county’s CEO.

“Milwaukee County residents need action and results, not excuses and scapegoats. Lena Taylor is the right choice for the county, and the voters will make their voices heard on April 1.”

Meanwhile, the MSJ article reports that Walker was doing a lot of mewling:

Speaking after the debate, Walker said that Democrats had made sure that Taylor got credit for sponsoring the $3 million transit budget amendment for Milwaukee County as a way to boost her county executive bid. The aid permitted the County Board to preserve bus routes that Walker had proposed cutting.

First point goes to Taylor.

Scott Walker: Still a big fat liar

by folkbum

I subscribe to the Walker Weekly, for the entertainment value. But often the Milwaukee County Executive's email updates are not funny, but infuriating. The edition in my inbox this morning contained this paragraph (Walker's bold):

While School Choice is an important program for our community, two Milwaukee Democrats - including Senator Lena Taylor - are responsible for preventing a vote on the Barrett-Fields plan, which was put forward by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Democrat State Representative Jason Fields from the city's north side. While all 8 Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee stood prepared to back a motion that aimed to restructure the program's funding, Taylor and the other Milwaukee representative refused to introduce it. Ultimately, this will cost local taxpayers $22 million over the next two years.

This has come up before, and it became the subject of a hijacked comments thread at my jsonline blog. It was clear then that the Walker position on this was untrue. The Walker Weekly here continues to be drastically misleading, and the campaign's attempt to lay this in Lena Taylor's lap is just a lie.

Let's get this straight: While there was no vote in the Joint Finance Committee on the Barrett-Fields measure, there was indeed a vote on a measure to restructure the way the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program was paid for, which passed without a single Republican vote. That measure was what the Governor included in his February, 2007 version of the budget, and that measure was modeled exactly on what Tom Barrett asked for in 2006. (Barrett changed his mind in the intervening months between the Governor's budget address and the JFC's work.) That measure would have saved Milwaukee taxpayers nearly $20 million. Taylor's actions did not cost taxpayers $22 million--that is, in fact, a lie.

While Republicans now claim The Barrett-Fields proposal would have had their support (the evidence at the time was sketchy), we know now that it would only have had their support in lieu of some of the other JFC-passed school measures that also would have provided tax relief to the Milwaukee residents, like funds for targeted science and math instruction, that meant savings of many millions more. In other words, had Taylor introduced the Barrett-Fields measure instead of the Barrett-Doyle one, Milwaukee taxpayers would have lost out on additional tax relief as a result--Taylor saved us money there.

And, if there really were eight GOP members of the JFC ready to back Barret-Fields, why did none of those eight bother to introduce the measure themselves? If Walker can blame two Democratic members of the JFC, then surely he can also blame the eight Republicans who also sat idly by and watched the Democrats--without a single GOP vote!--pass a measure to save Milwaukee taxpayers money.

The Walker Weekly goes on to say, "We deserve a County Executive that understands our needs and sides with us - not the special interests in Madison." (I'm curious who that candidate would be, since Walker technically isn't in the race yet.) I don't know what "special interests" this means. It's pretty clear that Taylor was doing work to benefit the Milwaukee taxpayers she represents. The package that came out of the Joint Finance Committee not only included exactlly what Mayor Barrett asked for in 2006, but also additional relief that added up to more than the $22 miliion Walker now claims Taylor cost us. Taylor supported all of those provisions, and the GOP--Walker's former colleagues in the legislature--did not.

You know what that makes Scott Walker? A big fat liar.

(Also, I think it quite offensive that the Walker Weekly demands that working mother Taylor surrender her per diem while the budget remains unfinished. At a Milwaukee County Labor Council budget forum--attended by no Republicans, remember!--Taylor talked about how even on a state senator's salary it can be hard to pay for day care. I suppose Walker's not volunteering to babysit for free, is he?

Oh, and why isn't he demanding that his former Republican Assembly colleagues give up their per diems? After all, it's the Assembly that's holding up the budget!)

Scott Walker delivers the outrage--misdirected at Lena Taylor!

by folkbum

Last night I offered space on this blog for Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker to blast the crafters of the most recent budget compromise (likely to be approved later today) because that budget does not include a "fix" to the Milwaukee school voucher program's "funding flaw." Walker has been using State Senator Lena Taylor's support of one particular fix (meaning she didn't introduce a different one) to claim Taylor wants to screw Milwaukee somehow. (In the process, he's just being a big fat liar.)

When I wrote that last night, I noted that the (non?) campaign Walker Weekly would be hitting inboxes overnight, and maybe Walker would have taken the opportunity to do exactly what I offered him space here to do. Well, the Walker Weekly showed up, and what do we get?

Last Monday, Senator Lena Taylor voted for a budget that was bad for taxpayers, bad for the City of Milwaukee, and bad for Milwaukee County. Scott pushed for a NO vote - as did Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Still, Senator Taylor sided with Madison-interests before thinking about Milwaukee.

That's so laughable! Taylor has consistently supported measures aimed at helping Milwaukee and bringing more funds into Milwaukee for property tax relief throughout this budget process. She did so on the Joint Finance Committee, did so in the Senate's version of the budget. Republicans in both houses, but mostly the Assembly, advanced budgets and budget ideas that cut the state's support of Milwaukee and other Democratic areas back to bare bones. The Senate and the JFC (without a single GOP vote, mind you) included specific and directed property tax relief for this city. The Assembly had nothing.

Continuing to vote no on these budgets, as Scott Walker's former colleagues in the Republican-controlled Assembly have done (and which many will likely do today), would mean that Milwaukee property taxes would shoot up considerably to make up for what the state would not be providing in shared revenue, school aids, and other funds. Getting the budget done will keep Milwaukee property taxes lower, period--and Lena Taylor supports doing exactly that.

LATE UPDATE: From Taylor's press release about the budget, just for contrast:

Taylor noted that the budget agreement will provide child care options for low income families, grants for community policing and drug treatment, and over $17 million in high-poverty aid to the Milwaukee Public School System. It also includes over a million dollars for the youth apprenticeship program, and a guarantee of health care coverage to all Wisconsin kids.

“For the last year my colleagues and I have been fighting for these funds in the Joint Finance Committee and on the floor of the State Senate,” continued Taylor. “I’m proud that our efforts have yielded the results our community deserves.”

Taylor was particularly pleased by the strong support the budget shows for education around the state. In addition to the poverty aid, MPS schools will receive $10 million in math and science achievement grants, aimed at narrowing the achievement gap. The compromise also contains increases in financial aid for college, millions of dollars in research support for UWM, and funding for the beginning stages of a UWM School of Public Health.

Taylor also believes that the budget will give a much needed boost to the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS). In additional [sic] to an overall increase of 2.5% to transit aids, Taylor proposed a several-million dollar increase to the MCTS to avert potential service reductions and route cancellations. That proposal ultimately found its way into the Senate version of the bill, and finally the compromise version that passed the conference committee.

For these and other reasons, Sen. Taylor said she would be supporting the budget compromise today, and urged her colleagues to do the same.

“Certainly, there are some parts of this deal that I am disappointed about – especially the cuts to courts and shared revenue for our city,” concluded Taylor. “However, now is the time to pass a budget and move our community forward – this compromise does both."

Remember, apparently Scott Walker wants a no vote on this bill.

Hey, Walker and Mitchell: We're Waiting for Your Outrage

by folkbum

Now that a budget compromise has been worked out, we can see that the final plan lacks the Tom Barrett-Jason Fields "fix" to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program "funding flaw." It seems there is something--the Milwaukee Public Schools must use part of the additional money the budget does aim their way to offset property taxes--but not what people like Scott Walker and George Mitchell so desperately want.

I know this, because Scott Walker has devoted two editions of his (non?) campaign's Walker Weekly to a non-vote in the Joint Finance Committee (yeah, their budget sure went places, ain'a?). You can find the gory details at this earlier post, if you want, but Walker is trying to blame Lena Taylor for not putting forward one particular fix to the flaw, when, in fact, she supported a different fix and more funds for MPS that not a single GOP member of the JFC voted for. Apparently, voting for more money for Milwaukee is, in Walker's mind, tantamount to betrayal. Taylor, by the way, is Walker's opponent, assuming he decides to run for re-election as Milwaukee County Executive.

George Mitchell, of School Choice Wisconsin fame, has carried Walker's Taylor-attack water on the blogs, including mine (see the comments to the post I linked above, for example). Mitchell has gone after Taylor and Pedro Colón (running for a city-wide office now and, therefore, a fancy new target) with incredible aggression. But Mitchell has not voiced a critique of his allies in the Republican-controlled Assembly who managed to pass a budget that lacks not only the Barrett-Fields "fix" but any "fix" at all! That makes me suspicious that, as with Walker, this is less about a "fix" than about Taylor.

The last comment Mitchell left here reads,

Jay, [y]ou imply above that this is about defeating Sen. Taylor. But, of course, if there is a school choice funding fix--my objective--it is a political win for her. Only if the budget includes no fix does she face political consequences.

It's now been about 72 hours since the announcement was made outlining the compromise bill. The Walker Weekly will show up in my inbox sometime overnight, so who knows, maybe Walker will rail against Doyle, Huebsch, and Robson for not including a "fix." The School Choice Wisconsin website is as-yet silent on the lack of a "fix"--Mitchell's "objective," remember.

So, to George Mitchell and Scott Walker, I offer up this space. Post a comment or email me with your outrage over this deal and those who brokered it--Lena Taylor and Pedro Colón had nothing to do with it!--and I will post it here for all to see. Whenever you're ready.

Taylor vs. Walker: On The Budget

by capper

Ever since the pension scandal that swept Scott Walker into office, the budget for Milwaukee County has been a contentious issue. To be fair, Walker walked into a big pile of crap, thanks to his predecessor, F. Thomas Ament. There were difficult decisions to be made and bold actions needed to be taken.

Instead of making those decisions or taking those actions, Walker instead chose to allow the County to become decimated. When confronted on this, Walker would through up his hands and blame the pension. Even when warned of the pending exodus of County workers in 2004, and the large payouts that would be caused by this, Walker ignored these warnings and refused to plan for this inevitability.

During his entire tenure, Walker has refused to budge on his ill conceived promise of no tax hikes. Not only did he refuse to budge, but his only solution was to cut services. He slashed bus routes until there was a populist-type of uprising. He allowed the parks to deteriorate into brownfields. He denied services to the mentally ill until the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did a whole series of articles exposing his neglect. He also cut services to those seeking help with their addictions to drugs and/or alcohol. He has crippled the courthouse and has diminished the presence of the Sheriff's Office until there was an outcry about the crimes going on in the parks. He has cut positions at the House of Corrections until the number of inmates escaping to commit further crimes, including murder, made its way to the papers. He has sold of highly-valued County property at sweetheart prices.

Now, Walker apparently feels that he has weakened the County enough. His newest proposals include selling off more of the dwindling county assets. What he doesn't sell off, Walker wants to now privatize, even though he was against it before. I am sure this will sell well with his shrinking base, but the latest polls show that it is not nearly as popular with the public in general.

In other words, he doesn't care about preserving what is left of the County, but would rather allow his pals feed off the carrion, and then boasting that he saved the average taxpayer a whole six dollars in taxes.

In contrast to Walker's scorched earth principle of budgeting, Senator Taylor has a whole different approach. While Senator Taylor is aware of the crush that the average taxpayer is feeling, she is also keenly aware of the importance to maintain the level of service and the quality of life that people want. She also realizes the larger cost that will fall on the County if proper standards aren't maintained. This is evidenced by her saying, "How does one take an infrastructure, not provide maintenance for it for years, and expect it to be OK?"

In the appearance I was able to attend, Senator Taylor outlined four things she would do differently.

First, she would assess the assets that the County has, and what would be the best way to utilize them. Just not what would win her political favor, or gain her support from the special interests, like you know who has been doing.

Second, she wants to get full funding from the State. She said that at budget time, she will be on the phone so much and visiting State legislators so much, that they "will think I am still a Senator." This contrasts starkly with Walker, who in last year's budget delays, planned on the Democratic version of the budget, while at the same time bad-mouthing it. And there was no evidence that he was trying to lobby legislators from either party to take the burden off of Milwaukee County taxpayers.

It should be also noted that during the last state budget, Senator Taylor has managed to get millions of dollars to come to Milwaukee County that wouldn't have otherwise. This money went to help the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee County Transit System, Child Support Enforcement, and the courts.

Thirdly, Senator Taylor would regain access to federal monies that Walker has left on the table. She would apply for grants, improve parts of the county, and take other actions that would increase the flow of federal money to help keep costs to the average taxpayer down. Yes, yes, I know, federal money is still coming from the taxpayer, but keep in mind that this is money that has already been collected. It would be going to us, rather than other silly things, like protecting the Corn Palace from terrorists. (If the Senator is reading this, one thing that pops to mind is getting the mental health complex accredited again. This would increase Title XIX proceeds again. It used to be accredited, but Walker let that lapse, because it would have cost money to maintain proper standards to remain accredited.)

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.

In summary, both candidates are focused on not raising taxes any more than necessary (yes, even Walker tacitly agreed for the need to raise taxes), but Senator Taylor's plan goes farther by also wanting to maintain the infrastructure, the same or better levels of services, and the high quality of life that people want.

To learn more about Senator Taylor, you can find her campaign's home page here. If you wish to make a contribution, you can do that on this site. If you want to help in other ways, this is the page that will help you join her team.

Billboard Update

by capper

First, let me say that I noticed I forgot to include the promised link to the web page for the Thomas Paine Democracy Network. Here is the link. I apologize for the inconvenience.

As I stated in my previous post on this matter, the campaign for Senator Taylor denied any involvement. To verify this there is also a posting on Wisopinion.com Wispolitics.com (my error):

TAYLOR CAMPAIGN SAYS ANTI-WALKER BILLBOARDS NOT HELPFUL

A spokesman for state Sen. Lena Taylor's Milwaukee County exec campaign says a billboard campaign against incumbent Walker launched by a third-party issue group is "outside the control of the campaign"and not helpful to her bid.

"We've seen how races get hijacked by outside groups, and that's bad for candidates and it's bad for voters," said Taylor's campaign manager, John Zapfel. "This is something that we don't think helpsLena."

But Walker campaign spokesman Tim Russell said the Taylor campaign has also benefited by polling conducted by Progressive Majority on itsbehalf and that the Taylor campaign has picked up on and used the themes and information the outside efforts have generated.

"Their claims that from their perspectives it doesn't help them don't ring true to me,' Russell said.

A YouTube video posted by the Thomas Paine Democracy Network, a 501c organization, shows several variations of billboards up in theMilwaukee area that address a county issue and end with the tag line,"I blame Scott Walker." The group is registered to Todd Rongstad, a consultant known for launching aggressive attacks. He was the subjectof a successful defamation lawsuit brought in 2004 by state Dem Sen.Julie Lassa over a mailer.

An e-mail sent to supporters by the Walker campaign told supportersthese "are the types of people that Lena Taylor and Jim Doyle are using to attack Scott Walker."

The campaign said the billboards show that outside groups are"preparing to open the floodgates in their attacks."

Russell noted that the source of the outside spending is unlimited and cannot be traced.

"This is not the way that we think campaigns should be run," Russell said.

Zapfel said it's likely other outside groups will crop up, and not just ones opposed to Walker.

"We just want to run a campaign for Lena to win no matter what these outside groups do," Zapfel said.

But Russell said Walker's raising and spending through his campaign,and he knows of no third party groups gearing up to support Walker.

"I know of nothing going on outside of that," Russell said. "In fact, I would discourage it."

*See the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vSUdN2jLEk
*See the group's website: http://thomaspainedemocracynetwork.wordpress.com/

Also, Michael Horne of MilwaukeeWorld left this comment on Sykes' posting on the subject:

I spoke to Lena Taylor about this. I also spoke with Les Johns, her advisor who volunteered, without asking, that the billboards came as a surprise to the campaign. I accept their word. I wouldn't trash Rongstadt too much, except perhaps for ideological inconsistency and unseemly opportunism. He's the best in the business at integrating images and succinct messages. However, this is not his best work. Scott Walker is such an easy target that I sense Todd isn't being challenged at all.

I also spoke with a Tory Griffin, from PEOPLE, the political arm of AFSCME. Mr. Griffin also stated that his organization has nothing to do with these billboards.

UPDATE: Daniel Bice of MSJ has added even more questions to who is responsible for the billboards.

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.

The State Of The County

by capper

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker gave his state of the county speech today. I could paraphrase it to saying "If it ain't working, don't fix it." JSOnline has their own version of it:

Walker says county is on right track

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker lays out a cautious but upbeat agenda today in his 2008 "State of the County" speech, calling for progress on old efforts rather than unveiling any new approaches.

Walker says he'll keep pushing to shift the county's mental health complex to the vacant St. Michael hospital, to cut a deal to sell County Grounds property for the proposed University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee engineering center, to build a new airport runway and to shift work-release inmates to global positioning system monitors. He makes his remarks today at the Hope Christian Schools, 3215 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

All those efforts are in the planning stages and with the exception of the runway expansion, all have generated some friction with the County Board. In a copy of the speech, however, Walker keeps the tone light and makes only scant mention of the board.

He hails the financial recovery efforts of the Milwaukee Public Museum by noting he and County Board Chairman Lee Holloway "stepped up" and jointly appointed a committee to draft a fix, which included an extra $14 million in county support over 15 years.

Walker mentions the board just twice, when he notes the net result of his annual budget tilt with county supervisors has been an annual tax levy increase of "just a little over 2%." That's been due to his insistence on keeping a steady levy, he says.

With the April general election less than three months off, Walker uses his annual assessment mostly to tout past accomplishments. He faces state Sen. Lena Taylor in his bid for a second full four-year term. He was first elected in 2002 after the county pension scandal.

"Overall, plenty of good things took place during this past year," Walker says. "It gives me hope for the future of Milwaukee County."

New construction was up last year, Mitchell International Airport hosted more travelers and AARP hailed Milwaukee as a great place to live, Walker notes. The county park system celebrated its 100th anniversary and a zoo fund-raising effort raised $30 million, Walker says.

Safety, a major theme of Walker's re-election campaign, gets a plug in his speech. He supported Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.'s summer effort "to occupy the lakefront," for a second year, Walker says.

Senator Taylor's campaign also has her statement on Walker's speech:

STATEMENT ON WALKER’S STATE OF THE COUNTY ADDRESS

MILWAUKEE — John Zapfel, Campaign Manager for Lena Taylor, issued this statement today following Scott Walker’s State of the County address Tuesday
morning:

“This morning, Scott Walker painted a very rosy picture of the state of the ilwaukee County in his address. For those of us living here, we know the reality is different. Residents are underserved and county government is mismanaged. Our transit system is no longer cost-effective for riders – a result of service cuts and fare hikes. Our parks have all but deteriorated. Just this month, the Journal Sentinel called attention to inefficiency and low employee morale in both the public aid office and at the House of Correction.

“It’s time for new vision and new leadership to address the very real problems facing Milwaukee County, and as County Executive, Lena Taylor will help us get back on
track.”

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?

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.

Walker Watch: Lawbreaker, Liar, Loser

by capper

Walker hasn't kept many, if any of his previous promises. Now he isn't even bothering trying to keep his current campaign promises to provide safety, affordability or pride to Milwaukee County. We have lots to cover so let's get at, shall we?

Scott Walker, Lawbreaker:

We already have seen how Walker would cut state-mandated positions in the county. Only the county board kept him from sending the county into violation of the state law.

Then very recently, we have seen how Walker has violated the federal laws on privacy. Ken Mobile has more on this violation and Jim McGuigan gives us some details on CRG, who owns Walker, and keeps him on a short leash.

Now, thanks to the intrepid and impeccable Gretchen Schuldt, we see that Walker wants the circuit court judges to stop giving convicts Huber (work release) priveleges. She provides us with a letter from Chief Judge Kitty Brennan pointing out that Huber is a state-mandated law, and cannot be refused to people who are eligible for it. This can cause all sorts of other problems. From Judge Brennan's letter:

Judges are obligated by law to consider work release along with many other sentencing possibilities. It’s part of the statutes and case law requirements. It’s up to you, as the ultimate supervisor of the HOC, to provide a work release center that effectively and safely supervises offenders.

If you decide to eliminate your work release center, please consider that you may be creating bigger problems for the public. All of those offenders who would otherwise be eligible for work release must then be housed in the jail or House of Correction. That will significantly strain the jail and HOC capacity and cost the taxpayers a great deal of money. In addition, without a work release program, no convicted offenders will be able to earn the money to: 1) provide restitution to victims; 2) support their families; or, 3) pay their fines and forfeitures.

Scott Walker, Liar:

One of Walker's favorite campaign themes is that State Senator Lena Taylor would be bringing in a million dollars or more in special interest money from all over, including Madison and Washington, D.C. He even exploited his wife to get this false message out.

Well, as it turns out, Walker is the one getting the big bucks, and most of it is from outside of Milwaukee County. Today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that 62% of the money he raised came from outside of Milwaukee County, including $7,500 which came from the Walton family. The Walton family is, of course, of Wal-Mart infamy. And, of course, as usual, Ken Mobile has beaten me to this story.

I do take heart in the fact that even though Walker has raked in four times the money that Senator Taylor did, at least her money shows a strong support amond Milwaukee County citizens. And we are the ones that will be voting, not the Wal-Mart family or the special interests from outlying counties.

Scott Walker, Loser:

To wrap up this episode, we return to Ken Mobile again. He has a post showing that even though Milwaukee County has absolutely nothing to do with MPS or with school choice, Walker is deciding to make this one of this talking points. To make matters worse, Walker is such a loser, he can't or won't even tell the truth on this matter either.

Mr. Mobile also shows that Walker is misrepresenting himself on his crime prevention position as well. That is nothing new either.

If you are as tired as I am of this lying, lawbreaking loser, who doesn't even know what his job is, even though he has supposed to have been doing for the last six years, please give whatever support you can to Senator Lena Taylor.

Walker Has No Shame

by capper

Way back on December 28th, the Walker campaign sent out an email in the guise of being a letter from Walker's wife, Tonette. The email reads (bold emphasis hers, colored emphasis mine):

I know how busy you are in the middle of the holidays, but I encourage you to read this important message. As the wife of Scott Walker, I know how hard he works for Milwaukee County and how passionately he cares for the prosperity of our great community.

Scott understands the enormous tax burden we face, and with each budget that he has submitted, has kept his promise to hold steady the property tax levy. He also works diligently to create an environment that retains and attracts jobs and residents. We have made incredible progress over the past six years, and Scott continues to work to restore safety, affordability, and pride to our community. Now, the old political machine in Milwaukee is back in action and working to stop our efforts. Our main opponent has publicly stated the need to spend $1 million to smear Scott's positive record of reform. 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. They desire a politician they can control and want to go back to the time when the County Executive wasn't held accountable. We cannot let this happen, which is why your help is so important.

Will you join Scott in standing up against the political machine that is working to undo all the progress we have made? I ask that you consider contributing $250, $100, or even $50 to help Scott's campaign. The liberals will stop at nothing to defeat Scott, and we must have the resources needed to set the record straight. Your contribution today will ensure that he is able to spread his positive message of growth to all corners of the county. Please help us by clicking here.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Tonette Walker

Now we return to today, and in the political blog of JSOnline, we see this:

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker today reported a campaign fund balance of $567,058, more than 4 1/2 times that of his challenger, state Sen. Lena Taylor.

Taylor (D-Milwaukee) reported a cash balance of $124,192. Both figures covered the second half of 2007.

The figures were provided by the campaigns, who also were filing them with state and local elections boards.

Walker, who has held his job since 2002, raised $350,418 for the period to $128,712 for Taylor.

Oh yeah, those evil outsiders are just pouring the cash into Taylor's campaign.

It's bad enough that Walker is a proven liar, but does he have to drag his wife down with him?

If you want to help get this liar out of office, please contact Senator Taylor's campaign through this link.

Billboardmania

by capper

The Scott Walker Campaign sent out an email bulletin decrying:

We have learned that a group that calls itself the Thomas Paine Democracy Network has prepared a series of billboards that it will be spending tens of thousands of dollars on placing throughout Milwaukee County.

They then included this link to the Thomas Paine Democracy Network which shows some of the billboards in question. The Walker folks were also kind enough to include this brief video:



The newsletter ends with a plea for contributions and volunteers. It seems counterintuitive to me that if someone is running for political office, that they would want to say, "Hey, look! They're showing how I really screwed things up. Please support me." But then again, I've never accused Walker of being politically savvy.

The political action committee that put up these billboards is connected to Todd Rongstad, an infamous political activist with a spotted past history, including some unsavory attack ads and being sued for his antics.

Well, it appears Mr. Rongstad may not have learned any lessons. As Patrick Dorwin shows us, using some technological savvy that is way beyond me, that Rongstad had used the computer systems of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, at least in part, to produce the web site and the video. In the comments section of that same posting, a commenter named Calvin, also does some good research to find a link between the Rongstad family and how they might have gotten access to the school's computer system.

I sincerely hope that they continue their research and report any illegal activities to the proper authorities. Politics is dirty enough without this kind of garbage being tossed into it as well.

That said, Patrick is wrong on two accounts.

First, he writes:

...They all have little sayings, such as “Cutting Para-Transit Services for the Physically and Visually Impaired” and all of the ads end with “I Blame Scott Walker.” The fact is, para-transit was not cut, and as a matter of fact, the user side subsidy cost to the clients have not even been raised in years.

This is a false statement. Transit routes were cut. And seeing as that the para-transit routes follow the transit routes were then also cut. Patrick is also incorrect with his claim regarding the user side subsidy. While it is indeed true that the passengers of the para-transit system have not seen an increase in years, it is also true that Walker has proposed an increase in every single one of his budgets. Furthermore, it would be a sin of omission not to mention that fact that the main reason that the fairs did not increase, or that the transit cuts were not even worse, is the simple fact that Senator Lena Taylor had gotten millions of dollars from the last state budget to come to Milwaukee County, as event he Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was forced to admit.

The other false assumption that Patrick made, based on the inference made by the Walker campaign, is that Lena Taylor was behind these billboards.

I called her campaign headquarters today, and I spoke with John Zapfel, her campaign manager.

I asked Mr. Zapfel about these billboards, and if the Senator's campaign was funding them. He told me that neither Senator Taylor, nor anyone involved with her campaign, are involved with Todd Rongstad, or with the Thomas Paine Democracy Network.

(Note: Given the nature of the first billboard shown on their webpage, it occurred to me that it could be AFSCME funding this. I have tried to get in contact with PEOPLE, the political activist arm of AFSCME, but did not get through to anyone yet. I will keep the reader informed of any further developments.)

I asked Mr. Zapfel about the Senator's position towards the billboard ads. He told me that the Senator and the campaign are not pleased with the involvement of outside actors in this campaign. He further added that it brought up unpleasant thoughts of last year's race for Supreme Court when WMC wielded so much influence in that race.

He further told me that Senator Taylor will not be asking for the removal of the billboards, as that she cannot influence the way that committee chooses to spend their money. He also stated that they are expecting other outside influences to weigh in against her campaign. He said that Senator Taylor's campaign will continue to use their strategy to win this race on the issues and her plans to bring a brighter future to Milwaukee County.

For those of you who feel that Senator Taylor should still distance herself from these billboards, I would also expect that you would demand Scott Walker condemn the racist remarks made by Mark Belling in his GMToday column dated January 23, 2008.

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.

Weak Arguments

Walker and the usual suspects from the right are starting to pour it on in his efforts to win the re-election bid he promised he would go after.

So far, their efforts have been rather feeble.

They try to argue about Senator Taylor's competence, highlighting a YouTube video lifted off of Eye on Wisconsin WisconsinEye, in which, during a moment of frustration, she states that she is "utterly confused." Of course, these are the same people that had no issue at all of Bush's ability to speak in public, which I highlight in this post at my other home away from home. That makes that point moot.

Next, they try to build up Walker with some silly video in which Walker is touting his ill-conceived plan to gut the Parks Department. Ken Mobile cites Mark Maley of the Parks People who highlights how dumb this idea is:

- Seasonal employees require copious hours of training before they are effective. In fact, nearly all of their training is currently conducted by a full-time Park Maintenance Worker, the same position that is proposed to be cut. The responsibility for competent training will fall to a greatly reduced force of full-time employees who will be asked to train an even higher number of these transitional employees. This is a recipe for further dysfunction.

- These temporary staffers require much more supervision than dedicated full-time staffers. In keeping with the continual reduction in field staff, the supervisory ranks are at an all-time low and struggle to keep a watchful eye on their charges while keeping up with their myriad other duties. A good work force is one that has a stake in providing a quality product while keeping on task. With an even greater dependence on a transitional workforce that has no real stake in the operation, creating that “buy-in” is a harder sell and keeping them on task over the long term is a wish.

- Because of low wages and lack of benefits a high percent of seasonal employees are college and high school students who are not available during the school year. This is especially problematic during the early- to late-fall period when park personnel have the task of mending the hundreds of athletic fields that were tortured during the main sporting season. Local sports enthusiasts have already taken note that their “fields of dreams” have turned into nightmares over the last number of years due to lack of maintenance. This bad dream will only be exacerbated by this further reduction of available, competent full-time staffers.

Then we have the usual mantra of she's gonna raise our taxes. Yawn. If one would look at the JSOnline bit on today's debate, they would have read this (emphasis mine):

After the forum, Taylor said she would look first at eliminating inefficiencies and mismanagement in county government as a way to come up with money for transit. She'll consider a sales tax later, in the context of a larger discussion about all county needs, Taylor said.

Of course, don't forget who already debunked that bit of humdrum weeks ago. Thank you very much.

What Walker's supporters don't mention is that Walker has already acknowledged that there is a need to increase taxes to save the parks. He does it every time he and the handful of friends he has left in Madison try to get the parks district off the ground. Nor do any of them ever mention the fact that Walker has yet to have a budget that didn't blow up by midyear, if not sooner.

I did find irony in the news tonight, that showed a clip of Walker speaking of the importance of education. I hope he was sincere in his statements, because he sure had shown that in his own academic career. I recognize that losing an election for student president, even if the loss was a landslide decision favoring a write-in candidate, Walker could be upset and even embarrassed. But to quit college over that doesn't show a lot in the way of personal fortitude.

The thing that bothers me the most is how low this race has already gotten, when I saw that someone had used a racial slur against Senator Taylor. I will not name or link to the site, as it is a respected conservative site, and I respect the proprietor of that site. But as disappointing that there are still such ignorant people out there, I am just as disappointed, if not more so, that the proprietor didn't even admonish the commenter for their vulgarity.

And, of course, I would be remiss, if I did not encourage you to show your support for Senator Taylor. You can help bring sanity back to Milwaukee County in many different ways. Please visit her website for more information.

Taylor vs. Walker: The Debates

by capper

From JSOnline's political blog:

Candidate face-offs set in county exec race
By Steve Schultze
Monday,
Jan 21 2008, 03:57 PM

After a sluggish start to the campaign for Milwaukee County executive, a series of candidate debates and forums have been set.

The first formal debate between incumbent County Executive Scott Walker and challenger Lena Taylor scheduled so far will be 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 21 at the Italian Community Center, 631 E. Chicago St.

The debate is co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club and the Public Policy Forum and will be moderated by William Holahan, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Admission, which includes lunch and parking, is $40 for press club members and $50 for non-members.

The candidates also are scheduled to debate at 7 p.m. March 5 at the Jewish Community Center, 6255 N. Santa Monic Blvd., in Whitefish Bay; and at noon March 11 at the downtown Rotary Club meeting at the War Memorial Center.

Walker and Taylor also have agreed to appear at a forum at 6:30 p.m. March 6 at Faith United Church of Christ, 4240 N. 78th St., sponsored by the Capital West Neighborhood Association.

Walker said last week he wanted to debate Taylor as frequently as possible. Several additional appearances are also being planned, said Tim Russell, Walker's campaign chairman.

Walker, a 40-year-old former Republican Assembly member, was first elected county executive in 2002 and re-elected in 2004. Taylor, a 41-year-old Democratic state senator from Milwaukee, has served in the Legislature since 2003.

Good thing there's that liberal bias at MJS, otherwise one would wonder why they've ignored the Taylor campaign asking for debates for weeks.

(Now if I can only get Jay to give me some of his pimpin' money, maybe I could go.)

Senator Lena Taylor

by capper

I have written several posts over the last few months expressing my opinion about Scott Walker and the way he has performed (or didn't perform) his duties as Milwaukee County Executive.

Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to see Senator Lena Taylor at appearances, meet with her personally, and have had several conversations with her and her campaign manager, John Zapfel. I have asked Senator Taylor and Mr. Zapfel for her positions on many subjects, ranging from the general approach to how she would perform as County Executive, to specifics of each area, such as the parks, transit, corrections, and social services.
And yes, I even asked her about how she would pay for her ideas (and as the right-wingers will be disappointed to find out, it doesn't involve taxing the daylights out of people).

As time allows, and current events dictate, I will be writing a series of posts comparing Senator Taylor and Scott Walker, both on the similarities and differences in their positions. And as one may have surmised, even though I do have some concerns about Senator Taylor, she is, in my opinion, the far better candidate to lead Milwaukee County out of the path of self-destruction that it is currently on.

As I stated above, I have had the opportunity to meet with Senator Taylor, to see her address an audience live, and to have conversations with her. I found her to be very personable. While she is very vocal on her opinions and can be quite outspoken, she also presents herself as very down to earth and aware of what the average person goes through on a daily basis, including the struggles of child care, family crises, and the challenges of making ends meet.

She is respectful of the people she is addressing, even if they do not always return that same respect. She is very candid and open about some of the struggles she and her family has gone through in the past. She also speaks very lovingly of her mother, her brother and her son, Isaiah. You can compare her speaking style at this site and this one to the jilted, scripted approach of Walker's for yourself.

Senator Taylor told me that when she left Milwaukee to get her law degree in Carbondale, Illinois, she had vowed to herself that she would never return to Milwaukee. She said that she was "sick of all the '-isms'" in Milwaukee. However, after she left Milwaukee, she found that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence, and that she still cared about Milwaukee and the people that lived here. That is why she came back, and started to work to make things better for everyone.

She also told me that it is her compassion for Milwaukee and its citizens that led her to make the decision to leave a cozy job in the State Senate to come back and run for County Executive. She said that she is aware of the frustration and anger people are feeling as they see the parks deteriorate, bus routes get cut, and the general quality of life going downhill. She also is aware of people becoming angry as Scott Walker continued to pander to his base and break promise after promise to appease his base.

To learn more about Senator Taylor, you can find her campaign's home page here. If you wish to make a contribution, you can do that on this site. If you want to help in other ways, this is the page that will help you join her team.

Your Liberal Media In Action

by capper

I just posted on the first debate between Senator Taylor and Walker. It was difficult to do this post. Not because the results weren't to be as expected, with Taylor winning, but because the local media did such a lousy job covering it.

First, they gave two different reports. There was the immediate JSOnline Newswatch report that was posted yesterday afternoon. Then there was the one that was heavily edited and put in this morning's paper. Go ahead and compare the two.

And while you're at it, count how many times they highlight Walker against how many times they mention Senator Taylor.

And to top it off, check out the last part of the edited version:

Both Walker and Taylor said they'd be advocates for education, another area not directly under the county's purview. Both said they were backers of school choice, though Taylor later qualified her stance. She said she favors requirements that choice teachers and administrators have state certification, a stand not shared with many choice proponents.

Some choice advocates have viewed Taylor as anti-choice, particularly for her lack of support for a plan last year to provide additional state funding to offset property taxes paid for the Milwaukee choice program.

Not only do they report on something that has absolutely nothing but then gets it wrong. With reporting like that, Senator Taylor will have to beat two opponents.

To help Senator Taylor get her message out, please go here and help anyway you can.

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.