Walker's rematch with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was prompted by one issue: Walker's tough stance with the state's public-employee unions. It's inconceivable that the recall election would be occurring absent that. And a disagreement over a single policy is simply not enough to justify a vote against the governor....
Democrats claim the recall election is about far more than Act 10....
But the Journal Sentinel doesn't think much of the effort to trump up other issues. And the Journal Sentinel thinks Walker is the better leader:
... Walker has helped to right the state's finances with a minimum of gimmicks - the governor reported recently that the state may be able to book a $154 million surplus next year...Meanwhile, his challenger, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett "can be tentative and slow to act."
While building consensus is admirable - the opposite of the approach Walker often takes - the mayor can be risk-averse to a fault. One example: He has been slow to articulate a vision for economic development in the city and to develop a strategic economic plan for Milwaukee that dovetails with regional efforts.People who couldn't wait for the next election have made the state dump $18 million into the recall. Ironically, their candidate is a man who is tentative and slow to act.
... But this election isn't about Tom Barrett. It's about Scott Walker.
Even if you disagree with Walker's policies, does that justify cutting short his term as governor? And if so, where does such logic lead? To more recall elections? More turmoil?
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36 comments:
A little man walked up and down,
He found a voting place in town,
He read the ballot through and through,
To see what 18 million could do.
One recall, one recall,
He could afford but one recall.
"One recall, one recall,
Well, you gets no bread with one recall."
If a Democrat can't even get the newspapers to endorse him, what does that tell you?
That's gonna leave a mark . . .
Posting from overseas..
Ran across a shopping complex in Newcastle, UK called "Walkergate". Anyone want odds on whether that phrase will be in a headline between now and 5 June?
Heading home to Badgerland where I have rearranged my schedule to emphatically express my opinion on the nonsense of recalling a Governor because he has pissed off a pampered special interest group.
Tacitus
He balanced a 3.6 billion dollar deficit without raising taxes and without massive layoffs. School systems now able to choose low cost insurance carriers saved hundreds of millions of dollars. Fewer school systems laid of teachers this year and many increased programs. When schools are able to eliminate terrible yeachers instead of carrying them education
Education will improve
Will this endorsement change even one vote?
Wisconsin Democrats have laid the groundwork for the recall of the next Democrat elected governor of Wisconsin.
"Democrats claim the recall election is about far more than Act 10...."
Because the Democrats know that it's a losing proposition. "Hey Wisconsin, I think you should pay pay for my lavish pension, which you don't have, and my lavish benefits, which you don't have, and my gold plated health insurance, which you don't have, and be able to retire at 55, which you'll never do" is not going to win a lot of hearts and minds. No one is buying this "workers rights" and "save the middle class" bullshit". And this "It's about the kids" crap from teachers...no, asshole, it's about you.
Barrett cannot talk about Act 10 without talking about how he would pay for things if Act 10 went away....and the only way is higher taxation. Good. Fucking. Luck.
Jobs? Ha ha. The Dems just shit canned the mine out of spite, costing the state hundreds of good paying jobs, many of them union.
This election is over. But Walker's campaign and it's volunteers are energized and are going to sprint through the finish line. Anecdotal, but friends and family who are anti-Walker are pretty silent on the recall. The daily ugliness on my Facebook page is gone. They know.
"Will this endorsement change even one vote?"
Maybe a few, but mostly it will dampen the spirits of the Dems even more, and in doing so maybe lower Dem turnout.
10+ days since the primary, and I have seen exactly one Barrett yard sign. Granted, I'm in a "red" county, but I don't know what to make of that - in other competitive races you still see plenty of signs for the Democratic candidates.
Nice. $18M too late, though.
TWM "That's gonna leave a mark . . ."
Better put some ice on that.....
"Will this endorsement change even one vote?"
I don't know if it will change votes but I'll bet it will give some people "permission" to feel okay about voting for Scott Walker who otherwise might have felt less comfortable.
"Wisconsin Democrats have laid the groundwork for the recall of the next Democrat elected governor of Wisconsin."
And that's the problem with doing things like this. It's never "just this one time." It lets the cat out of the bag and anything can happen from there.
In the Presidential election Wisconsin is a battleground state too says Carl Rove.
If a Democrat can't even get the newspapers to endorse him, what does that tell you?
Not only that, but a Democrat that cant even get the endorsement from the paper in the town in which he is mayor.
Endorsements dont mean all the much (ask Kathleen Falk), but it is at least kinda funny that the newspaper that "broke" the story of the John Doe probe involving Walker's office wont even recommend voting for Walker's opponent.
Assuming Walker wins and the GOP holds serve in the state senate recalls - which seems more likely than not at this point - that means the unionized left in this state will have spent over $40 million in this state over the past 18 months in an effort to get the GOP out of power. From Walker's recall, to the first wave of state senate recalls, to the Supreme Court race, to pouring millions into a failed Falk campaign, to this wave of state senate recalls...
Barrett cannot talk about Act 10 without talking about how he would pay for things if Act 10 went away....and the only way is higher taxation. Good. Fucking. Luck.
Barrett cant talk about Act 10 because he used it in Milwaukee. Thats why the unions wanted no part of him on the ballot. At least Kathleen Falk could have ripped Act 10 with a straight face...Barrett would have to explain why he used the tools Act 10 gave him, if it was so bad.
I looked through their archives; they also have this post, so this isn't that big of a surprise, when I have it all in context.
Poor recallers.
I guess the Sentinel doesn't want to be on the wrong side of history.
dreams said...
In the Presidential election Wisconsin is a battleground state too says Carl Rove.
Any state that elected a Republican governor last time out is in play.
And that includes WI, and even MI.
garage mahal hardest hit
(Been away for awhile, does he still post here?)
18 millions... other people's money
Has anyone added up the total that the school districts and municipalities have save this year alone by getting competitive bids for health insurance? It must be many many tens of millions of dollars just this year alone.
And this blatant overcharging by the union-sponsored plans has been going on for how long, decades?
And this is just the contracts for non-essential employees; the really powerful unions for the cops, firemen, et al were not even included in the reforms. I wonder how much overcharging is still buried in their costs.
And this is only one state. How much is total rip-off nationwide? And are there any similar provisions in the contracts of the monstrous federal union deals?
I used to wonder where the unions got the hundred millon dollars they throw at Democratic candidates they support each cycle and then get to "negotiate" with later after the election. If nothing else, he has turned over a big rock and revealed all sorts of creepy-crawlies slithering around, hasn' t he?
I notice how much nicer this blog is when garage & Allie don't post. :)
The problem with the unionistas is that they believe that their self-interest coincides with the taxpayers self-interests. They believe that the taxpayers percive their pay, benefits and retirement packages as a value for the the taxpayers, but they would be wrong. This year is starting to look like a major fail for progressives.
I note that the Journal (and Althouse, elsewhere) are blaming the recall power for the turmoil, rather than the dead-ender unions and their Democrat fronts. The Journal even suggests that the recall should be reserved for criminal conduct, which would make it meaningless since convicted criminals are usually removed from office anyway.
Here, in California, we have used the recall several times in the last few decades. Once, most publicly, to remove a governor who was unable to govern (except to award lavish union contracts to his supporters) and vacillated on all matters. Two other times to remove legislators who, after running as Republicans, voted with the Democrats -- in an evenly divided assembly -- to elect themselves Speaker. None of these were criminal acts, but they were political transgressions that could to wait until the next cycle.
Don't toss the necessary and hard-won recall power just because some a-holes abused it. Toss the a-holes instead.
"Hey Wisconsin, I think you should pay pay for my lavish pension, which you don't have, and my lavish benefits, which you don't have, and my gold plated health insurance, which you don't have, and be able to retire at 55, which you'll never do"
That was the essence of a 30 minute rant I delivered to two teachers who were unfortunate enough to have knocked on my door to ask for my signature to recall Senator Grothman.
Surprising that someone can be so educated, yet remain so ignorant of how their neighbors live.
caseym54, and we should be following what they do in California, why exactly? In fact the recall is not a democratic tool, it is a tool for dismantling or cancelling out democracy. My vote was stollen by the fanatics who forced this recall on us. I look forward to stealing it back. I hope the outcome is strong enough that no one tries this trick again, ever!
Jason: ...that means the unionized left in this state will have spent over $40 million in this state over the past 18 months in an effort to get the GOP out of power.
The left has used what's happening in Wisconsin as a talking point all over the country. How that narrative plays out in the rest of the country going into the fall elections will show how well their money has been spent.
Jon,
The recall was abused. Blame the abusers not the recall. The Democrats are trying frantically to avoid having the public dissatisfaction with endless recalls rebound on them, so they are offering another target.
And you are buying the lie.
The situation in California would have been worse than it is without those 3 recalls, all of which moved things back towards the Republicans. Didn't help enough, but it did help.
Anecdotal, but friends and family who are anti-Walker are pretty silent on the recall.
Your constant name-calling and putdowns makes it pretty clear that you are extremely emotional about this election. Given your violent temper, I don't blame others for not talking to you about this issue.
Your constant name-calling and putdowns makes it pretty clear that you are extremely emotional about this election. Given your violent temper, I don't blame others for not talking to you about this issue.
[sigh]
A liberal and another ad hominem attack.
[sigh]
Blogging Blue is a leading lefty blog site in Milwaukee. It likened the MJS to a Nazi newspaper due to today's endorsement.
http://bloggingblue.com/2012/05/19/der-angriff-endorses-scott-walker/
The Sound of Heads Exploding is Sweet Music to My Ears.
One thing you need to mention Ann - which I really think something needs to be done about - is that among the people that supported this recall there there is combined tax deficiency that could if collected pay for it, thereby making the losers who thought this was a good idea actually fund it themselves.
http://www.putwisconsinfirst.com/taxdelinquents/
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