Get Your Hands Off My (Health Care) Tax Credit!

I don't have much time to blog this week, but I had to take a moment to defend my own economic best interests. I only have time to say one thing about all of this talk by extreme right wingers (and those that pander to them), about "opting-out" of health care reform.

Get your hands off my (health care) tax credit!

Unlike pandering politicians, many of whom have been on taxpayer financed healthcare for a very long time, I struggled through almost all of 2009 trying to find health care coverage that I could afford. I had to settle for something that cost too much and did too little. The historic new heath care package that became law yesterday has a ton of benefits, but one that stands out to me are the small business tax credits. That includes tax credits of up to 35% of premiums that are available right now and 50% beginning in 2014. Oh my goodness, I must be a socialist for wanting to take advantage of tax credits!

The benefits don't end with sizable tax credits for small business. There is something to help nearly everyone that has been genuinely struggling to afford decent quality health care. So get your hands off their health care benefits!

• Seniors get rebates to begin closing the Medicare Part D "donut hole" and no more co-payments under Medicare for preventative services.
  
• No discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions (first for kids then for adults starting in 2014).
  
• No more dropping people that have insurance just because they get sick.
  
• Free preventative care under new plans.
  
• Health insurance exchanges for individuals seeking insurance.
  
• Temporary high risk pools for uninsured with pre-existing conditions.
  
• A new investment in both community health centers and in increasing the number of primary care doctors.
  
• Allowing young adults to stay on their parents health care plans longer.

Like I said at the outset, I don't have a lot of time to blog this week, so I'll have to stop listing the many benefits of reform. But you get the idea. As long as the public starts realizing some of these benefits of reform, they are going to join the chorus. The quicker that these and other benefits start reaching the people, I think that they will tell grandstanding Republican politicians to, "Get your hands off my healthcare!"

Who Is Tommy Really Working For?

Walker Only Turns Light On For Friends

On Thursday Scott Walker's campaign put out a press release touting his alleged views on open government. It was an interestingly awkward release, especially since only a week earlier a reporter was questioning his handling of an open records request. I know about this because the specific open records request was one that I filed back in June. A funny thing happened on the day that the reporter called. Finally, after a 9 month odyssey and hundreds of dollars, Walker's people finally mailed the remaining records.

The original price tag that the Walker administration put on open government was over $1,100. All because I wanted to examine his emails, calendar, expense and other records...all public records and all things that should be accessible to the public. I have learned that, depending on who you are, the Walker administration is perfectly willing to make access to public records cost/time prohibitive.

It appears that the Walker administration only values "sunshine" if you are a political ally. In late 2007, Citizens for Responsible Government asked Walker's Administrative Services division to provide a large amount of accounts payable records. In less than one month CRG was charged ZERO dollars for a disk containing information for 188,000 transactions. Last year, in a separate request from the one cited above, I submitted a comparable request within the very same division. I was charged $200 and it took over three times as long as it took to cater to Walker's friends.

Last year even an anonymous request was given preferential treatment from the Walker administration. Some shill for Walker's endless campaign for higher office sent a request directly to his official email. In it they asked for a copy of an email that was sent to Walker's office by our friend Capper. They also asked for any letters of response from the Walker administration. That request was not even signed by an actual person, only by "ScottforGov.com". That request was processed and the documentation sent via email in less than two hours. Not to mention that the Walker administration chose to waive all fees for the extra special service. What makes this even worse is that Walker's cult at "ScottforGov.com" got the response to Capper even before the Walker administration bothered to get it to Capper himself.

I am certainly not the only open records requestor to have problems with Walker's open records obstruction. They have a long history of trying to keep the "wrong people" from public records. Back in 2004 the David Riemer campaign submitted an open records request to the Walker administration. They were trying to learn if Walker had kept one of his original promises: having "at will" employees sign pension benefit waivers. When the Walker administration received this request and realized that they had failed to keep that promise, they ran around trying to get as many waiver signatures as possible. When they finally did send records, it was only a listing rather than copies of the actual waivers (which would have shown the dates of the last minute signatures). Riemer later filed an open records complaint with the Wisconsin Department of Justice who had some of the following choice words for the Walker administration's open records games:

"In sum, this episode evinces a case of how government officials ought not to do business...Nobody honored to serve in public office ought to manipulate public records in this fashion -- that is the opinion of this office."

Although Walker's policy positions change with the wind, it seems that his approach to open records has not changed at all.

Levels of Phony: To Infinity and Beyond!

I don't know if this is a deliberate strategy or what, but the level of hypocrisy and phoniness coming out of Scott Walker's campaign seems endless. It is almost too much to keep up with and recent events are taking it to a whole new level. Just consider some of the more recent examples:

The phony brown bag campaign. Not only was it a total knock-off on someone else's 1998 gimmick but it is an attempt to rebrand Walker as frugal, when reality points to the exact opposite. Look at his campaign's big-spending habits, look at the increases in spending in his own proposed budgets, look at him breaking a 2002 promise by giving himself a $50,000 raise in 2008.

It is certainly worth noting that Mark Neumann is the latest Republican to hold a double standard on the federal stimulus, but for anyone associated with the Walker campaign to complain about hypocrisy on this issue is really quite shameless. Walker has been on so many sides of the federal stimulus issue (often at the same time) that he should just stop talking about it all together, much less attacking someone else for inconsistencies. If he is going to talk at all about the stimulus, perhaps he should finally answer the question about what he would have done without it.

You can tell that Walker and friends were on the defensive recently because they moved their phoniness into a dangerously high level. Claiming that you are going to end all unemployment in Wisconsin and then attacking strong efforts at job creation is bad enough. But to attack those efforts because one of your campaign sugar daddies didn't get to benefit from it is pretty disgusting. Then going on to attack a bid system that you yourself helped put in place is really quite remarkable.

Several months ago I warned that Scott Walker is like a slippery salesman that will say and do anything to promote himself, no matter how shameless. Recent events have not only verified this point but they have actually shown us that he is willing to go to uncharted levels of phony to advance his political career.

Phony Brown Bag Filled with Phony Rhetoric

Last month I pointed out that Scott Walker's latest political gimmick, the brown bag lunch campaign, was a total knock-off on something that was done in 1998. In fact Walker's phony brown bag gimmick is almost an exact copy of the 1998 version, complete with a template letter from the candidate's wife. Today the Associated Press is reporting on Walker's shameless recycling of other people's ideas. Walker's recycled brown bag campaign is bad enough, but he will need a lot more than a brown bag to hold all of the phony rhetoric that he is spewing out during it.

The entire premise of the recycled brown bag campaign is that Walker is supposedly a tightwad with money. It may be hard to make that pitch to the public when both recent news and his past record totally refutes the fake image that he is trying to create of himself.

• Walker paid the New Hampshire-based direct mail consultant (that helped him recycle the brown bag gimmick) SCM Associates some $336,000 last year according to the new AP report. It certainly doesn't sound like the Walker campaign is "brown bagging" it when it comes to buying recycled political gimmicks.
  
• Over the weekend, the AP also highlighted how much of a big spender Scott is on the campaign trail. According to that report, Scott Walker's campaign has spent $25,000 on meals at restaurants. Some of those bills included $2,182 at Middleton's Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and $805 at Timmer's in West Bend. Perhaps I'm not cultured enough to know, but I don't think that his kind of fine dining usually comes in a brown bag.
  
• If Scott Walker is such a brown bagging spendthrift it certainly doesn't show in his official capacity either. He broke a campaign promise that he made in 2002, giving himself a $50,000 raise in 2008. In addition, his spending based on his own proposed budgets has increased 35% during his time as county executive.
  

Whether it is his latest campaign gimmick or his actual record as county executive, there aren't enough brown bags to hold the many levels of phony rhetoric flowing from Scott Walker.

Walker Officially Owns the Incompetence

Milwaukee County First is again calling for some accountability at Milwaukee County's Behavioral Health Division. In fact, they are again calling on Scott Walker to finally fire his appointee that "runs" the division. While there are many frontline workers, project managers and professionals doing great work at BHD, the upper levels of management are doing them no favors. Back in November, after yet another scandal involving BHD's upper management, I commented that someone must own the incompetence related to that division. I also said that if Scott Walker didn't take some kind of substantive action that he ultimately would have to take ownership of it. Having seen no signs to suggest otherwise, it appears that Walker is perfectly content with the situation. As far as I am concerned, Scott Walker now owns the incompetence at BHD.

Where do you even begin talking about all of the terrible things happening at BHD on Walker's watch?

• In 2006 you have starvation issues and overdoses that brought serious warnings from State and Federal regulators.
  
• In 2007 you have a 50% increase in assaults on staff.
  
• In 2008 and 2009, the privatized security force at BHD went way over budget (so much for privatization being a silver bullet).
  
• In late 2009 you have the Walker appointee at BHD failing to do timely due diligence and throwing the entire county's budget into near chaos.
  
• Now you have sexual assaults at the Mental Health Complex for which you have been cited and now risk losing $60 million in federal funding?
  

Walker can be held accountable for this terrible track record because he has chosen not to hold anyone accountable himself. On the other hand, maybe Walker isn't holding the appropriate person accountable because he is that person. It seems that a very good case can be made for how his politically driven budgetary policies have helped foster the tragic conditions that we have witnessed at BHD. Consider some of the following data taken directly from the 2003 and 2010 proposed budgets:

• Scott Walker has repeatedly cut staff at BHD. In 2001 there were 1,053.1 funded position equivalents. In 2008 that number went down to 890.9 and in his 2010 proposed budget he wanted to put it all the way down to 746.7.
  
• Cutting positions like this may play well to his political base, but it is a huge mistake to assume that cutting positions always makes fiscal sense. For example, in 2001 overtime costs stood at $2,807,027 (or the equivalent of 77.5 positions). After all of these years of drastically cutting staff at BHD, actual overtime in 2008 shot up to $4,719,383 (or the equivalent of 87 positions).
  
• One might assume that Walker's constant cuts and pushes to privatize at BHD equals less spending. That assumption would be completely wrong. In the 2002 adopted budget, BHD was slotted to have $136,850,224 in expenditures. In the 2009 adopted budget, that number jumped up to $187,598,123.
  

Not only should Scott Walker own the tragic problems that have been happening at BHD on his watch, but he should also have to fully answer for how his politically motivated policies have helped foster the complete breakdown in the first place.

And I Thought T-Wall was Tone-Deaf!

A few weeks back I was saying that Terrence Wall was totally tone-deaf, but it looks like someone else wants to join him.

Tommy Thompson has been a D.C. lobbyist making big special interest bucks ever since he left the the Bush Administration. The other day he couldn't even name all of the special interests that he serves. As if he wasn't entrenched enough, now he is going to headline a fundraiser at a big D.C. lobbying firm? Is he really planning on running against Wall and Westlake? If he is, does he really think that this is the best way to kick it off?

Capper Captures Walker's Words

Capper at Cognitive Dissidence posted this screen cap, which was taken from Scott Walker's 2002 campaign website. The first of his three big promises was that he would "reduce the salary for the County Executive position by $60,000". It was $128,820 (MJS, 4/5/02) when he took office and now it is $129,611. Not only is that not a decrease of $60,000, but it is actually an overall increase.

Capper does a great job of pointing out that even though Walker did send $60,000 back to the county from 2002-2008, he still stood to gain a large bundle if his pension benefits were based on the official salary ($128,820-$129,611). So did Mr. "pension reformer" reform his own pension or did he try to grab as much cash as possible (behind the scenes) while he was posing for holy pictures?

Speaking of inappropriately posing for holy pictures, Walker made his very first ad about his 2002 campaign promise to give back $60,000 of his pay each year. Quite an odd thing to focus on when in 2008 (during the worst part of the Great Bush Recession) he arbitrarily decided to stop keeping that promise and gave himself a $50,000 raise. All the while, he was cutting important programs and sending other county workers to the unemployment line.

Walker ran this ad first because he is worried about his slippery words and broken promises on this issue. He should be worried and he clearly is trying to get out in front of it. Most people don't care how big you smile in a political ad if you are, at the very same moment, being captured by your own phony words.

UPDATE: Walker's first ad has now received some national attention, but I'm not sure it was in a good way.

I'm so glad that they cleared that up!

Yesterday former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Capitol bureau chief Steve Walters asked Scott Walker for some specifics. He did it in a Wisopinion piece titled, "Walker promises -- so many questions, so few answers". Not only did Walters press for specifics on Walker's baseless promise to end all unemployment in Wisconsin, but he also asked Walker for specifics on some of his other empty rhetoric. That was yesterday and now today we finally got the "big answers" from the Walker campaign.

Today the Walker campaign put out a press release entitled, "They said it couldn't be done". When I saw this press release, I assumed that this was in response to Walter's questions for specifics. I was actually very interested in reading Walker's (lack) of reasoning behind the grandiose promises that he made at WMC. To my dismay, there was not one single specific detail listed in the press release. Not one piece of data to support any of his pretend promises. The entire press release is just a re-listing of his campaign's empty talking points, gimmicks and slogans. Then it links to a YouTube video that just repeats the same stuff, but never shows us the numbers or data behind the empty rhetoric.

Sorry Steve, it looks like you are not going to get your answers after all. It looks like the Walker campaign is determined to just recycle campaign gimmicks, repeat the same talking points, and ignore all of the real questions.

Has Klauser Lost His Influence with Tommy?

Since May 2009 I have periodically asked if GOP big-wig Jim Klauser was losing his influence in the Republican Party. It started when he (recruited?) got behind Mark Neumann and went on a media blitz that stepped on Scott Walker's official announcement. He was met with a stiff dose of reality and must have realized that this was no longer the Republican Party of old. Essentially the far right wing "patients" had taken over the Republican "asylum". It took a while but once he fully realized this fact he switched sides in the Republican primary for governor. Since then he has taken on a key role for the train wreck that is the Terrence Wall candidacy. Assuming that Klauser wont bail on yet another candidate, I can't help wondering if he is trying to keep his old friend Tommy out of the race while so many others are trying to get him in it.

Jim Klauser served in all sorts of roles for Tommy Thompson. He has been described as a close friend, key campaign advisor, and Secretary of Thompson's Department of Administration. Some actually referred to Klauser as a "shadow" or "second" governor while he was serving Tommy. So with all of this long history, what are the odds that Jim Klauser can fight back the sea of D.C. special interests (aka "all the right people") that are trying to convince Tommy to run? If he is unable to keep Tommy out of the Republican primary, does that mean that he has even lost influence with Tommy Thompson? Who would have thought?

This will certainly be a big test for Klauser, when you consider the special interest cash and influences that have taken over Tommy for the last several years. Let's face it; Tommy hustles for so many big D.C. special interests that he couldn't even remember all of them the other day. I guess the key question here is will Tommy listen to Jim Klauser or to special interests like Verichip? If Tommy eventually sides with the special interests does that mean that Klauser has even lost his influence with Tommy?

Walker Tries to Transfer Transit Blame

Once again, Scott Walker is trying to blame someone or something else for his failed policies in Milwaukee County. This time it is after a report that Milwaukee County transit ridership plunged to a 35 year low. Walker's response was predictable as he placed blame elsewhere. This time it wasn't an actual person or entity, this time he played the economy card. While the economy certainly could have played a role, it is no wonder that Walker ignored the other contributors that have made the problem so much worse.

This isn't the first time that ridership levels have plunged to historic depths on Walker's watch. The last time was before the Great Bush Recession, so placing blame solely on it now is just a weak attempt to transfer blame. Perhaps Walker would like to forget that 2007 was also a record breaking year for MCTS plunging ridership numbers. Again, that was before the Great Bush Recession and it was at the same time that transit systems nationally were soaring to a 50 year high. No, these latest numbers can't be laid at the feet of the economy alone. One can't seriously address this problem without addressing Walker's short-term thinking on transit. Short term thinking that totally ignores the devestating long term consequences that it breeds.

Scott Walker has proposed eliminating routes, raising fares or a combination of both in almost every budget that he has ever proposed as county executive. Those kinds of short sighted polices have consequences, and we started seeing them dramatically in 2007. Now we are seeing that they got even worse in 2009. There is no mystery here. The analysis of the historic 2007 ridership drop and the current drop both focus on the role of constantly rising fares and cuts in service.

In 2008 the Public Policy Forum released a study focusing on the desperate state of the MCTS. In that study they found a direct correlation between route cuts, fare increases and dramatically reduced ridership. They found that during years when there was no fare increase, the average annual ridership went up by over 184,000. They also found that during years of fare increases, average ridership numbers went down by an amazingly high 2.1 million.

Although all of the available data shows a very clear connection between raising fares and losing ridership, Walker continued his flawed short-term thinking on transit. In fact he tried to step up his short term thinking by inventing brand new ways to charge riders such as his proposed transfer fee. Not only did he continue the bad policies but he even went out of his way to create more. Not only did he promote these proven ridership killers but he did so at a time when people were already struggling to survive the Great Bush Recession. Walker may try to transfer his self inflicted transit problem, but eventually the truth will become one route that Walker just can't cut.

UPDATE: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel later reported that the current ridership plunge in Milwaukee County was more than twice as fast as the national average.

T-Wall should spring for a campaign tutor

Since Terrence Wall is a multi-millionaire, he shouldn't have much of a problem springing for a tutor for his campaign. Blogging Blue shows us exactly why such a tutor is necessary. One of T-Wall's underlings posted a blog citing U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and absurd comments that he made against having an up or down vote on the final version of health care reform legislation. As Blogging Blue has already pointed out, Hatch himself has repeatedly voted for bills that were passed through reconciliation. In fact his comments are being easily panned all over the place, the only thing that the T-Wall campaign had to do was care enough about the facts.

Maybe the staff at Team Pumpkin are too busy trying to figure out how to explain their candidates' tax issues or maybe they are too tied up in trying to keep Tommy out of the race to focus on accuracy. Since they are clearly too busy to study or fact check their own talking points, maybe T-Wall should spring for a campaign tutor or someone else to do their homework for them. For now, I will do them the favor of suggesting some good reading for the subject at hand. Who knows, maybe they will post a correction later.

First T-Wall and Company may want to review the long list of times during the Bush administration when Hatch and the Republicans passed bills through reconciliation. Even a conservative has described how Hatch has tried to entirely redefine words just to fit them into his list of talking points. Yet another observer explains how Orrin Hatch must think that you are stupid, if you believe his absurd arguments. If T-Wall and Company would rather just read one item on this issue, they should take a look at E.J. Dionne's column which hits nearly every point on why Republicans current rhetoric on reconciliation is a "big lie".

For all I know, T-Wall and Company are visual learners. Just in case that is the situation, I will provide this great presentation of the facts on Orrin Hatch, health care legislation and the Republican hypocrisy on reconciliation.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wait! Is that a Socialist Rope?

From the Cartoonist Group, Via the Center for American Progress

Imaginary Jobs Count but Real Ones Don’t?

We already know that Scott Walker has a severe case of rhetoric-reality syndrome but his recent comments on jobs demonstrate just how severe it is getting. First he announces that he is going to create 250,000 jobs and completely end unemployment in Wisconsin. It is pretty clear that this number is based on nothing and was concocted somewhere in the depths of the Walker's imagination. Only days after making his grandiose promise, he proceeded to send 76 more people (that had real jobs) to the unemployment line. Based on Walker's comments to WISN TV, he apparently thinks that these jobs didn't count and were not real since they were in the public sector (by the way, what does that say about his job for which he gave himself a massive raise in 2008?). So 250,000 imaginary jobs count but 76 real jobs don't?

So if Walker is declaring that only private sector jobs count as being real, then why does he want to stop the investment in things like high speed rail in Wisconsin? Just today, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that the train manufacturer's plant development would help bring as many as 1,000 jobs to Milwaukee. That number doesn't even include the jobs that will be created by them doing business with various area suppliers. So what is Walker's criteria for determining what counts as a real job? These are private sector jobs aren't they? Then why is he fighting the effort to create them?

If jobs generated through public investment and public-private partnerships don't count as real jobs, then what does that say for Walker's "Milwaukee County Works" (government) program? Walker's program itself is funded largely by the federal stimulus, and back in December Walker was talking about how his (government) program "jumpstarts job creation". So using Walker's latest line of reasoning, does he even consider his own program to be actually generating real jobs?

It seems that Scott Walker is going to treat the jobs issue just like he has treated the stimulus issue. He apparently plans to come down on every conceivable side of the issue (sometimes at the same time) just to hedge his political bets. In the end, Walker's imaginations about higher office are costing real people real jobs and that is a real problem for all of us.

Bringing Bus-Style Security to the Court House?

A large portion of the 76 working families that Scott Walker is sending to the unemployment line are experienced courthouse security personnel. Walker couldn't privatize that important work in his budget so he apparently has opted for a back door approach. He tries to privatize services, gets shot down, then develops a sabotage-based budget. When it inevitably explodes, he claims the emergency rule and lays off and/or privatizes the jobs that he wanted to in the first place. At least that seems to be the drill that I have observed over Walker's time in office. This time Walker plans on replacing the experienced workers with new people from Wackenhut. It will be interesting to learn more about the bidding process (assuming that there was one) for choosing this firm, because they have not had the best relationship with Milwaukee County in the last number of years.

For a number of years Wackenhut has had a contract with Milwaukee County to provide security services for its transit system. When assaults on buses started generating a ton of bad publicity, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke began publicly questioning the services that Wackenhut was providing. In 2007 Sheriff Clarke was so concerned about Wackenhut's level of service that he sent a letter to Scott Walker asking for an audit of the county's $1 million-a-year contract. In the letter Clarke stated that his office had to use its own personnel to address security problems on the buses. The hope was for Clarke to turn this extra security back over to Wackenhut after some order was restored but Clarke commented:

After nearly two years, we have not been able to turn this over to Wackenhut, not because we haven't established an acceptable amount of order, but because we fear that we will have to come back due to Wackenhut's mismanagement.

The story that reported on Sheriff Clarke's letter interestingly notes that Walker "could not be reached for comment…"

As reports of violence on Milwaukee County buses appeared to increase, there were no observable acts of leadership by Scott Walker. His lack of action was somewhat surprising given that his political ally, Sheriff David Clarke, had urged him to act on this public safety issue. The incidents were having a real impact on the image of the Milwaukee County Transit System based on the results of an internal MCTS opinion poll. The poll found that 14.6% of residents in 2008 felt that personal security on the buses had become worse. That was much higher than the 3.8% that felt that way in 2007.

Finally after no observable action from Scott Walker, the Milwaukee County Board passed a resolution calling for an audit of Wackenhut's performance in providing security for the MCTS. That internal Milwaukee County audit was completed in early 2009 and seemed to confirm many of Sheriff Clarke's concerns. The main take away from the audit was the fact that the private security force was spending only 3% of their time actually on the buses. According to the report, this was contrary to their original pledge when they first won the contract in 2003. At that time they promised that their security officers would spend closer to 85% of their time on the buses.

Not only did Scott Walker ignore Sheriff Clarke's questions about Wackenhut's level of service, but now he has decided to use them to replace courthouse security veterans? Is it smart to reward a questionable record with an entirely new contract and more responsibility? I know that it might fit Walker's rigid ideology and political goals, but someone should ask if it is smart to bring Wackenhut's bus-style security to the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

Tommy Doesn't Know Who He Works For

To refresh Tommy's recollection, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has provided an extensive list of special interests that Tommy has worked for since becoming a big DC insider.

Wrong Way Walker

Earlier in the week Scott Walker again showed that he will say just about anything to advance his political career. He basically promised to completely eliminate all unemployment in Wisconsin. Only days after making such a grandiose statement, how odd is it that he has actually moved us further in the opposite direction? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that Walker has laid off 76 working families. This is only the latest news in Walker's practice of sending people to the unemployment line. Given all of these facts and recent developments, maybe the Walker tally on jobs should start with a negative number.

Wrong Way Walker's actions this week remind me of this classic blooper in NFL history:

Not One Job

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin also launched a Scott Walker Jobs Tracker earlier this week.

T-Wall Just Can't Catch a Break (other than the tax kind)

Since Terrence Wall announced his candidacy for the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, his campaign has been nothing short of a long drawn out train wreck. Just consider some of the following that has happened in a very short period of time:

• One Wisconsin Now drew attention to his pretend pumpkin patch and the fact that many of his business entities were essentially located at a Delaware P.O. Box. Both were moves to avoid paying his fair share in Wisconsin.
• Wispolitics reported that Wall paid $0 in net tax to Wisconsin in 12 of the last 15 years.
• Even right wing talkers panned Wall's performance on their shows and on his tax issues.
• Some of the same GOP big-wigs that helped convince him to run were/are actively looking for ANYONE else that can run.
• Wall's first TV ad went up super early and it was a desperately negative one that was described by the AP as misleading.

I'm sure that I may have missed a few items, but that is still quite a list of self-inflicted drama for such a small number of months. Now comes the news that although one of Wall's businesses have between $25-50 million in assets, it paid $0 in state income tax from 1999-2008.

While all of these things are endlessly stacking up against Wall, the least he could do is try to not hurt his own cause with key elements of the right-wing base. Nope, Wall showed just how tone-deaf he is with even his own political party. When recently appearing on fundamentalist Christian media network WVCY, he made a vague reference to the earth being billions of years old. Since much of the demographic that listens/watches WVCY are creationists, it didn't take very long for them to challenge him about the earth not really being billions of years old. Not only did they challenge him on it but it seems that they then questioned him entirely because of what he thought was just a throw away comment. Yeah, like I said, tone-deaf. He may as well have touted Tommy's micro-chip implanting technology on the show.

Even Terrence Wall can't give Terrence Wall a break (other than the tax kind).

Does He Have Imaginary Friends Too?

While speaking before his Republican allies at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Slippery Scott Walker made another outlandish statement based on zero substance. During his comments he again reinforced the point that he will say absolutely anything to advance his political career. In his comments to WMC, he promised that he would create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin if he were elected governor. Some media sources just carried the outlandish comments while others at least noted that it was not backed up with any specifics at all. In other words, it was just another empty Walker promise like so many that have come before it.

Other than the positions that he has filled with his political cronies, Scott Walker has not created a single job in Milwaukee County. In fact he has actually bragged about sending large amounts of working families to the unemployment lines throughout this Bush spawned recession. There are actually a multitude of ways that Walker has stood in the way of real job creation efforts in Milwaukee County. Consider just some of the following:

• During his last run for governor Walker attacked the newly created Milwaukee 7 effort to promote the area, saying that it was like "putting lipstick on a pig". Because of the leadership of Mayor Tom Barrett and other regional leaders, this effort has been producing real results. These things have come in spite of Walker's endless political maneuvering and snipping from the sidelines.
  
• Walker not only said "no thanks" to the federal funds that created or saved some 44,000 jobs in Wisconsin, but now he is talking about refusing federal funding for high speed rail which will create thousands of new long term jobs.
  
• In his Budget for 2010 Walker pretended to care about economic development in Milwaukee County. This was disingenuous given the fact that he is the same person that staffed the county's former economic development division with unqualified cronies who ran it into the ground. After they made a mess of things, he then gave the division a "lower profile" and eliminated the development director position.
  
• After the estate of a Milwaukee county resident so graciously left a $3.1 million gift in their will, Walker vetoed an effort to put those funds into a special interest bearing account to help fund future economic development efforts in Milwaukee County.
  

Given even this abbreviated version of Walker's terrible record on job creation, are we really supposed to believe his empty promises now? Especially when they are based on invisible data? What's next? Is Scott Walker going to tell us that he got those make-believe numbers from an imaginary friend? Sadly, that would be just as plausible as anything else that he will/won't say on the subject.

Recycled Partisans at MacIver Just Can’t Help Themselves

A couple of weeks ago I asked if the right wing MacIver Institute was actually handling all open records requests to Republican legislators. I asked this because they made an open records request that I filed with Rep. Leah Vukmir's office public before that office even bothered to acknowledge that they had in fact received my request. Apparently MacIver's duties in the Republican infrastructure go well beyond what I originally imagined. They not only handle open records requests for Republican legislators but apparently they even run interference for Republican candidates for the legislature.

MacIver has gone up with yet another blog which includes a portion of an open records request that I have submitted to another public official. This time they are apparently feeling protective of Libertarian Republican candidate for state senate, Ed Thompson. That request asked for official email records that fit a list of keywords and names over a specific period of time. Who knew that wanting to monitor a public official's use of a taxpayer funded email account was so interesting? Checking this sort of thing is hardly a new concept, just ask the Republican Party of Wisconsin or Citizens for Responsible Government. Is it really that unreasonable to check if Thompson is using official email to communicate with political supporters and contributors? And let's face it, Ed Thompson is a quote machine on the record, can you imagine what he is saying when he thinks that he is off the record? For all I know, Thompson may not even use his taxpayer funded email account, but that doesn't mean that the public doesn't deserve to know.

The bottom line here is that MacIver is made up of little more than recycled Jensen-style Republican partisans. Who can forget when they originally denied the influence of former Republican Speaker Scott Jensen even while he was helping them write their press releases? Apparently Republicans and their "nonprofit" message machines still have to run everything through him. Brett Healy, the "president" at MacIver, was Jensen's former Chief of Staff. In fact his name came up more than a few times during Scott Jensen's first criminal trial. Likewise, MacIver Communications Director Brian Fraley, was always a Jensen favorite as was outlined in a letter that was also revealed during Jensen's first criminal trial. So they may be recycled over at Republican "nonprofit" land, but that doesn't mean that they can easily quell their overwhelming partisan urges. If I were them, I would be a little more careful about crossing some important lines. For example, I'm not sure how legit it is to be so closely handling and running interference for Republican candidates when you are operating a 501(c)(3) "nonprofit". But again, maybe they simply can't help themselves.

Good News from Big Insurance!

From the Cartoonist Group via Center for American Progress

Does the RPW Have ADHD?

Life at the Republican Party of Wisconsin must really be a confusing mess right now when it comes to the race for U.S. Senate. They already have two active candidates participating in their primary, yet they still seem to be holding out hope that Tommy Thompson will jump into the already unstable mix. Those desperate hopes were underscored by their rush to Tommy's defense yesterday via press release. In it, they attack One Wisconsin Now because they dared to put some actual numbers around the fact that Tommy has been cashing in on special interest dollars since leaving the public sector. One Wisconsin Now must be on to something, given the quick and disjointed response from RPW. To borrow a famous quote, OWN "must have hit her close to the mark to get her all riled up like that…"

The RPW's response was not only interesting because of its knee jerk nature, but it was also noteworthy for its total inability to stay on the actual subject. If their real problem was OWN reporting the facts surrounding Tommy's new and greatly improved financial status, then they should have made that point and been done with it. Instead they chose to throw together a virtual grab bag of unrelated issues. First, they attacked the wrong U.S. Senator (Herb Kohl), who isn't even up for reelection this year. Then they try to compare his independent wealth earned prior to becoming a public official to that of Tommy's special interest pay day directly afterwards. Apparently they can't even stay focused long enough to understand the point that OWN was actually making. It was clearly not about being wealthy and being a (potential) candidate for something. It was about Tommy Thompson using his past public sector job to fuel his special interest-funded bonanza – while the economy was collapsing no less.

OWN's point seemed pretty clear and focused, unlike the RPW response to it. Apparently the RPW can't stay focused long enough to actually engage in a substantive conversation on the actual subject. If using a past public sector job to cash in with special interests is no big deal to them, then they should have tried to make that case. Instead they chose to bounce all over the place with no real focus, making false comparisons that had very little to do with the actual subject.

The RPW's complete lack of focus is certainly entertaining, but it can hardly strike confidence in the two candidates that are actually running in their primary.

Walker Recycles Brown Bag Gimmick

I've described Scott Walker as being like a slippery salesman selling snake oil. One of the best examples of this is how he will shamelessly use just about any gimmick. The latest example of this is his "brown bag lunch tour". Not only is this a mere gimmick, but it isn't even his own, it is a recycled one.

An anonymous Republican advised me that this new gimmick includes a direct mail component that is a total knock off on a 1998 Republican campaign. In fact, I am told that the Walker brown bag thing includes a mailing from SCM and Associates, a direct mail firm based on the east coast. This same firm did a very similar "brown bag" campaign (scroll down) in 1998 for U.S. Senator George Voinovich. It even included a brown bag accompanied by a letter from the candidate's spouse, bragging about his "thrift". Again, almost from beginning to end, the Walker gimmick follows the exact same template.

Since the theme of the "brown bag" gimmick is "thrift", I have to wonder how thrifty Walker was in spending campaign money on this recycled concept.

The knockoff nature of Walker's "brown bag" campaign is not the only part of it that is totally disingenuous. Walker piles on by listing three points on his brown bag, none of which could conceivably apply to him.

• "Don't spend more than you have" says the Walker brown bag, even though he is frontloading three years of Milwaukee County borrowing into one year in his current budget. The last time that I checked, "borrowing" means that you are using money that you don't actually have on your own.
  
• "Smaller government is better government". This even though his own budgets call for increased government spending. This is nothing new for Walker; it goes all the way back to his days in the state legislature. This is also the big backer of George W. Bush, who did his best to expand government while using rhetoric saying the opposite.
  
• "People create jobs, not government". This from someone that is relying so heavily on the federal stimulus to fund his Milwaukee County government program that he says will create jobs.
  

Walker is clearly willing to use any gimmick in the book and then pretend that it is his own. Likewise, he is perfectly willing to say and do anything to get a vote, no matter how disingenuous or deceptive. In this most recent example, he actually does both at the same time. Recycling the gimmick while also recycling his slippery rhetoric.

But What Would You Have Done Without It?

Yesterday, people from all over the State of Wisconsin sent messages to Scott Walker by email, Twitter and Facebook. The simple question was, how would you have filled your budgetary holes if it wasn't for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus)? It seemed like an appropriate question, given the fact that yesterday was the year anniversary of the signing of the act by President Obama. It was also appropriate to ask this question of Scott Walker because he has been on all sides of the stimulus issue (often at the same time).

Even though Walker originally said "no thanks" to the return on Milwaukee County taxpayer's federal tax investment, his meandering has been all over the map since. The height of his hypocrisy on this issue came when he actually proposed a budget for 2010 the relied heavily on the federal stimulus that he not only condemned but tried to obstruct the County Board from pursuing funds from it. The two most obvious areas that stand out to me are the stimulus funds that helped postpone a transit system disaster and the recovery bonds that finance an entire centerpiece of Walker's proposed budget. This is to say nothing about all of the stimulus funding directed toward education, law enforcement, and so many other programs and services that are critical to Milwaukee County.

Walker's response to the simple question was mostly to complain that so many Wisconsinites asked him it. Perhaps he is willing to avoid it when members of the public ask, but if the media would just force the issue, it seems like a critical detail for the public to know.

Scott Walker, how would you have filled the holes in your budget without the federal stimulus?

Now read: "Walker Recycles Brown Bag Gimmick".

On a related note, here is a good visual presentation of how the federal stimulus has helped to dramatically reverse the meltdown that came at the height of the Great Bush Recession. We may not be where we would like, but we are certainly much better off than we were just a year ago. That didn't happen by accident and all signs are trending in the right direction. You can't honestly ignore the positive and extensive impact of the Recovery Act. Although if you are Scott Walker, you may be able to simply ignore it.

Rhetoric vs. Reality on the Recovery

The best known economic research firms are all saying that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus) has added between 1.6 and 1.8 million jobs. They further report that they expect the ultimate impact will be closer to 2.5 million. The Congressional Budget Office actually considers these numbers to be conservative.

The New York Times offers a few charts that give some interesting perspective, far beyond the partisan right wing talking points. Whether it is jobs, the GDP, or the stock market, the impact of the Recovery Act has been very effective. It is too bad that so many on the right are too invested in the failure of our economy to see the positive signs.

As an aside: Think Progress has tallied 110 legislators that voted against the stimulus but then touted the funding back at home. As has been noted elsewhere, Paul Ryan is certainly on the list of stimulus hypocrisy.

UPDATE: The Center for American Progress has launched an interactive map showing how many jobs were created/saved by the ARRA.

Does Tommy Have a “Mark of the Beast” Problem?

Last week I read a story about Virginia delegates passing a bill limiting the use of implanted chips in human beings. Much of the motivation behind this bill came from worries that such a chip could lead to what apocalyptic biblical prophecy calls the "mark of the beast". I don't want to give too deep of a lesson in eschatology so let me allow one of the Virginia delegates to explain it simply:

"My understanding – I'm not a theologian – but there's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in the end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark." -Virginia Delegate Mark Cole

This story reminded me that Tommy Thompson served on the board for a leading producer of these kinds of implanted chips - Florida-based, VeriChip Corp. Some report that Tommy had quite a lucrative arrangement while serving on VeriChip's Board of Directors. This is certainly not a surprise since we already know that he has been making a sweet dime serving special interests. His work for VeriChip was only one of many lucrative arrangements that he had following his tenure with the Bush administration.

The implant was approved by the Bush Administration's FDA in 2004. Tommy was on the board for VeriChip until he took a leave of absence in 2007 to run his failed presidential campaign. While he was on the board of the company he promoted the implantation of the chip on several national news outlets like the one posted below.

Conservative evangelical Christians make up a huge part of the Republican base. Those numbers have only grown since Tommy last ran for public office. Many of those conservative evangelical Christians believe that we are living in the end times and they are very sensitive to various events such as the development of this technology. I just have to wonder how they would view a candidate like Tommy in a Republican primary. Would they forget about his past role in marketing VeriChip? I seriously doubt it. Tommy and others may think that these beliefs are crazy, but like it or not they are a political reality for him. Can Tommy win even a primary if the evangelical Christian vote refuses to support him?

Fiscal conservatives may be willing to overlook Tommy's big spending/government tendencies for mere political convenience, but this chip issue is an entirely different matter. I highly doubt that passionate believers are going to just excuse Tommy's promotion of a technology that they believe might lead to the "mark of the beast". You don't think that people are taking this "mark of the beast" thing seriously? Tell that to the delegates in Virginia, where they are trying to pass state laws to protect specifically from it.

Does MacIver Handle All Requests to GOP Legislators?

On January 21, 2010 I sent an open records request to state Representative Leah Vukmir's office. I sent the request via email to both Rep. Vukmir and her chief of staff Dean Cady. Here are the basic records that I asked to examine from Vukmir's office:

• Email on Vukmir, Cady and another staffer's state email accounts that met a list of search words and names and fell within a specific time frame.
  
• Calendar entries for people that work for or represent various special interest organizations.
  
• An accounting for Rep. Vukmir's use of paid leave.
  
• Any electronic running news clips that her office may keep.
  

I've done my fair share of open records requests and usually the official's office responds fairly quickly simply acknowledging the fact that you have sent them the request. That did not happen in this instance; in fact I grew so concerned after not hearing from their office that I decided to send my request again via certified USPS mail on February 5, 2010 (over two weeks after sending my original request).

Since I had not heard one single peep from Rep. Vukmir's office about my request, even after sending a certified copy, I increasingly grew concerned. That was until yesterday when I saw a blog by Brian Fraley, a Republican operative now working for the MacIver Institute. In it he complained about my request and selectively posted portions of my open records request on their blog. I saw that blog posting at about 2:09 pm on Friday and it was the first indication that I had that Vukmir's office even had received my original open records request. I immediately commented on MacIver's blog asking how they rate, communicating with Vukmir about my request before they have even responded to the person that was actually making the request. That comment was pending for moderation for some time on their blog. About 45 minutes after leaving that comment I finally got an email from Vukmir's Chief of Staff saying some of the following:

• The information from my requests was ready and waiting to be examined at the clerk's office.
  
• That he keeps no calendar and the office keeps no news clips, so there were no records for those items.
  
• That Leah Vukmir redacted information from some of the emails (they say it is personal info, which I have no problem with as long as their descriptions are accurate).
  
• That I could get her paid leave info directly from the clerk.
  

Given the fact that I had no idea what was going on with my request, I was naturally very pleased to finally get a response from Vukmir's office. I only wish that they would have contacted me, the requestor, in at least some manner before sending my request to their supporters at MacIver. I don't think that a citizen should have to learn the status of their open records request through a third party's website. But maybe this is a new policy for Republicans in the legislature, or at least Vukmir's office. Maybe all future requests of Republican legislators should be handled directly through MacIver next time.

A Wisconsin Election that is Not Particularly About Wisconsin?

If the Wisconsin election is not going to particularly be about Wisconsin, then what is it going to be about exactly? If Tommy is a candidate, maybe it will be about the interests of his big biz benefactors. After all, he has made millions looking out for them in recent years.

Who is Cutting Medicare?

This chart from Paul Krugman shows that over the next decade the President's proposed budget would spend more on Medicare than Paul Ryan's "roadmap". Yet Republicans get away with attacking the President for supposedly trying to slash Medicare.


ht: Daily Kos

GOP Hypocrisy on Stimulus, A National Strategy

Props to Milwaukee Snow Removal Effort!

I have to take a moment to give some credit to the City of Milwaukee snow removal effort over the last couple of days! When I went out to shovel the morning after the foot of snow was dumped on us, I could tell that the crew had been at work all night long. I live on a side street and it was already plowed. A few hours later they came back and salted and in less than 24 hours after the storm I could see the pavement. In the areas that I drove in, the roads were great considering how much snow had been dumped on us. The quickness with which they did this work makes it even more notable. As if that wasn't enough, when I got moving this morning, I discovered that they had apparently even plowed the alleys in my neighborhood. So props to the snow removal effort in Milwaukee and to all of the workers that did such a great job! If he wasn't so hyper-partisan, it would even make Glenn Grothman proud.

Support Ryan’s Roadmap? Please Say “Aye”

It sounds like there may be a vote in Congress on Paul Ryan's "roadmap". I personally think that it is great idea because various members of Congress can then put their vote where their mouth is. We already know that the Republican leadership in Congress has been running from Ryan's plan, stressing that it is "his" and that it does not belong to them. I can't blame them because it would be very hard to run on privatizing and slashing Social Security and Medicare. What's worse is that it fails to actually fix the deficit that Ryan and Congressional Republicans helped create. One recent analysis also points to other serious flaws in the plan, such as the fact that Ryan makes an irrational assumption that revenues will remain the same even as he gift wraps massive amounts of Bush-style tax cuts for the rich. It is no surprise that Republican leaders are afraid of this "roadmap" and lets hope that they have to commit one way or another.

Individual Republican legislators have also failed to rush to Ryan's defense. Heck, the legislation only has eight members sponsoring it and that includes Ryan! Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that neither of Ryan's two Republican colleagues from Wisconsin have signed on as a sponsor. What's the matter? Are Petri and F. Jim Sensenbrenner RINOS? Why else wouldn't they sign on to their fellow Wisconsinite's major piece of legislation? The extreme right-wing, which makes up the entirety of the Republican Party of Wisconsin loves it, so what's the hold up? If they are not going to tow the line then maybe they need a Tea Bagging challenger in their primary. For all of our sakes, let's hope that they are eventually forced to go on the record as to their support/lack of support for Ryan's legislation.

But why should we just stop with current Republican congressmen? I would suggest that the Republican candidates for Congress should also have to pipe up on this subject. They want the ability to vote in Congress, so this is the perfect chance for them to show us how they would use that power. Would you support and vote for Paul Ryan's legislation or not? I'm sure that Wisconsinites all along the political spectrum would like to know what you think about it. If you support Ryan's "roadmap" please say "Aye".

Duffy?

Kapanke?

McCormick? Ribble? Roth? Trager?

The rest?

I'm sure that the Tea Baggers that make up the Republican base would like to know where you stand on Ryan's "roadmap". If you support privatizing and slashing Social Security and Medicare - then that is something that the rest of us should also know. If you support legislation that takes these extreme measures but still fails to fix the deficit (that Ryan and Co. helped create), then by all means, please say "Aye". The rest of us are eagerly waiting.

Who Gave Klauser the Reverse-Midas Touch?

Last May I openly asked if Republican big-wig Jim Klauser had lost his influence in his own party. People used to refer to him as everything from a "deputy governor" to a "kingmaker". My question in May came in the context of him getting behind Mark Neumann while most of the (vocal) base was already on the crazy train with Walker. I also asked the question at that time, because many of Walker's disciples said some pretty nasty things about Klauser and that is hardly the way to treat your "kingmaker". Months have passed since I first asked that question and Klauser has since surrendered his "king making" credentials to the most rabid elements of his party.

While Jim Klauser was involved with the Mark Neumann campaign, it was like watching a train wreck. I actually think that they have done better since he abandoned the campaign. Now he is working on the T-Wall campaign, which has led me to ask an entirely new set of questions: Has Jim Klauser traded in his "king making" powers for a reverse Midas touch? If so, how did it happen so quickly? I don't know, but consider some of the following:

• As previously stated, while he was with the Neumann campaign, they were like watching a train wreck. Since he switched sides, they have done better (which admittedly may not be saying much).
  
• T-Wall announced Jim Klauser's involvement in his campaign in November and then the "pumpkins" began to promptly hit the fan. Information about T-Wall's tax issues began to steadily surface to the point that even right wing talkers panned the Klauser-backed candidate.
  
• To add insult to injury, current GOP big-wigs started frantically trying to recruit just about anyone else to run, other than the Klauser-backed candidate.
  

Given all of these rather recent developments, I can't help but wonder if Jim Klauser has developed a kind of reverse-Midas touch. If he has, he can largely thank members of his own party for it. Walker and his disciples certainly played their part in this soap opera. But so did the right wing talkers, who not only attacked him for initially backing Neumann but then panned his current candidate. Word on the street is that there has been bad blood between Walker/talk radio/reactionary types and Klauser for some time. The conflict has apparently taken its toll and it appears to directly transfer all the way down to the individual Klauser-backed candidates.

First District Smarty Pants Fails Another Test

Congressman Paul Ryan reminds me of the stereotypical "smarty pants" that we all remember from our days in school. He is convinced that he is the smartest person in the room yet he always manages to get it wrong. Apparently forgetfulness goes hand in hand with this trait, because Ryan has been complaining about deficits and spending even though he voted for 8 straight budgets that increased government spending by over $1 trillion. But that test of his memory isn't the only one that he has failed.

The new blog, Paul Ryan Watch, shows us how Ryan's "roadmap" gimmick actually fails to fix the deficit that he helped create. It is not only a failure in the results department but it also appears to be a failure among his own Republican colleagues. While they may not be attacking his plan, they are hardly embracing it. Why else would Minority Leader John Boehner try to distance himself and the party from it? What? You don't want to run on privatizing and slashing Social Security and Medicare benefits?

Paul Ryan's budgetary and PR problems were not his only recent failures. He also received a failing grade from the NAACP last week. Before any right wingers get instinctively carried away about the organization, you should know that they graded members of Congress according to their votes on things like some of the following:

• Equal pay for equal work
  
• Expanding health insurance for low and middle income children
  
• Making home loan modifications easier
  
• Aggressively addressing predatory lending
  
• Extending unemployment benefits
  

Not only did Paul Ryan join his fellow Wisconsin Republicans in failing the test, but he scored lower than both of them. Tom Petri scored a 40%, F. Jim Sensenbrenner scored 20% and Ryan flunked with only 12%. You must really have to try hard to fail a test on that spectacular kind of level. Even Paul Ryan from 2006 scored a 26% on the NAACP test that year.

With all of his failed and wildly extreme approaches to public policy, I can only hope that he fails one more big test - getting any of that right wing bunk enacted.

UPDATE: Even though GOP leaders are running away from Ryan's "roadmap", Michele Bachmann (R-Beck-land) is taking it to its logical and extreme conclusion. Over the weekend, she spoke to a small right-wing group echoing many points from Paul Ryan's "roadmap" gimmick. Naturally she went even further in her comments, taking Ryan's "roadmap" directly to its logical destination. She suggested that we deal with the national debt by "weaning" everyone off of Social Security and Medicare. Please run on that this year! Please!

UPDATE II: Sorry, they just keep on coming. Paul Ryan Watch shows us that not every right-winger is willing to give Ryan a free pass on his past votes for massive deficits (unlike the right-wingers commenting on this blog). Here is the money quote: "While Ryan’s overall voting record is very conservative, the problem with casting these high-profile votes is that they demonstrate he is willing to fundamentally reject conservatism when the heat is on." Are Wisconsin right-wingers too in love with Ryan to hold him accountable?

Is Neumann (Slowly) Slipping on the Gloves?

We have been keeping track of the many "in-your-face" moments that Scott Walker has delivered to fellow Republican Mark Neumann. They have usually come behind-the-scenes or through unofficial means. The attacks have really come nonstop with the most vicious coming from the most zealous Walker groupies. In light of this continual assault, and the apparent unwillingness of Neumann to fully engage, I have wondered how serious Mark Neumann has really been about his campaign thus far. Taking all of these attacks but not taking advantage of some of the more obvious low-hanging fruit has been curious indeed. I have also wondered about Neumann's motivation because of what appeared to be a lack of (or at least tardy) due diligence regarding research of Walker.

Although I have wondered if Neumann actually has the stomach for this fight, more recent indications seem to point to him very slowly gearing up for it. Specifically, I'm referring to some of the following:

• Putting $1 million into his own campaign with rumors of putting in as much as $3million.
• A significant increase in the number of letters to the editor by his supporters.
• A focus on social networking and then taking it for an occasional test drive.
• Supporters contacting the RPW apparently reminding them of their own rules.
• Increasingly using the contrast of a private businessman vs. Walker's limited work history.
• Most recently trying to tie Milwaukee County unemployment figures around Walker's neck.

I certainly can't be the only person noticing an increasingly (and slowly) more aggressive Mark Neumann. One indication that people close to Walker appear to be noticing it, might be the frequency with which the attacks from his campaign operatives anonymous groupies have gone after Neumann recently. They have accused him of everything from buying his Facebook followers to not knowing where Superior is located to alleged improprieties with his campaign finance reporting. I think that the timing and frequency of their hysteria might say something in this context.

Scott Walker has certainly left himself wide open for attacks in many different areas. It appears that Mark Neumann is starting to slip on the gloves with each passing week. But in my mind, the real question is two-fold: Has Neumann waited too long to put them on and is he really ready to use them?

A New "Don't Ask Don't Tell" for the Senate?

The best part of this bit starts at 3:55 when Jon Stewart and John Oliver talk about the idea of banning "old people" from serving in the Senate.

"Its not about the old person as an individual, its about the people that have to work beside him. It affects Senate cohesion".

A Few Gay Men & Women

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

New to the Blogroll

Occasionally I like to update my blogroll with with quality blogs that I read and that readers might find interesting. Ideally, I'd like to get such links up asap but I am terrible about updating the blogroll in a timely manner. In fact, I'm sure that I am still missing a few very good blogs that I check on a regular basis.

In any case, here is the latest batch of blogs that are new to my blogroll:

Paul Ryan Watch

Pretty Important

Democurmudgeon

Urban Milwaukee