Mike Tate is Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin
I look forward to answering questions from the DailyKos community about our grassroots effort to recall Scott Walker. At 6:00 p.m CST, I'll answer the top five most recommended questions submitted by DailyKos users.
First, I want to start by thanking Chris Bowers, the DailyKos community, our bloggers in the Cheddarsphere, and all of the netroots activists from around the country that have joined us in our fight to save Wisconsin from Scott Walker's unprecedented assault on not just the rights of Wisconsin workers, but also our shared values and proud Wisconsin institutions.
From the moment that Scott Walker "dropped the bomb" on the people of Wisconsin to reward his super-rich campaign donors, you've stood with us by exposing Scott Walker's dishonesty and by helping us combat his unlimited corporate cash.
In just 15 days, we'll be required to turn in the signatures we have to recall Scott Walker, but we have much more work to do and I look forward to working with you through the next 15 days, the special election to replace Scott Walker, and through the elections this November.
Today, we are marking Wisconsin's Lost Year under Scott Walker, when Wisconsin lost jobs at a historic rate, endured historic cuts to education and health care and went through a historic year of political division unlike anything our beloved state has seen since Joseph McCarthy.
Putting a punctuation mark on the dishonesty of Scott Walker's Lost Year is a new television ad that just debuted today.
Paid for with a $250,000 check from Bob Perry, a Texas billionaire who funded the infamous "Swift Boat" ads against John Kerry. In the ad, Walker claims that he balanced the budget deficit, but by using very the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles that Scott Walker promised, his regressive budget actually leaves Wisconsin with a $3 billion budget deficit, a fact recently highlighted by the state's largest paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
You'll also notice in the ad that Scott Walker is unable to defend his extreme agenda that has cost Wisconsin 34,900 jobs since he signed his disastrous budget into law five months ago. For the first time in our state's history, Wisconsin leads the nation in job loss. To make matter's worse Scott Walker and his rubberstamps in the state legislature voted to make those jobseekers wait an additional week to get the family-sustaining unemployment insurance they need to put food on the dinner table and heat their homes through the Wisconsin winter.
This misleading new ad also repeats the lie that Scott Walker held the line on taxes. In fact, it was just reported last week that Wisconsin is one of only a handful of states that is raising actually raising taxes on the poor and the middle class. Thanks to Scott Walker's budget that gives billions more in corporate welfare to the Koch Brothers, Seniors and working families will see their taxes increased by nearly $70 million as a result of Walker's decision to annihilate the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Homestead Tax Credit.
Sadly the lies in Scott Walker's latest TV ad are consistent with the dishonest and failed leadership Wisconsin has seen under Scott Walker in the last year.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year, Scott Walker "dropped the bomb" on Wisconsin by enacting an extreme agenda that was sold dishonestly and which was accompanied by a shocking lack of transparency and candor with the public.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year, Wisconsin became, for the first time in recent history and maybe ever, the national leader in job loss, with more than 14,600 jobs lost in November alone.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year, Wisconsin enacted $2.6 billion in cuts to public education, vocational education and the University of Wisconsin System. These cuts caused Wisconsin to lead the nation in cuts to education.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year, Wisconsin turned its back on infrastructure investment and good, high-tech family-sustaining jobs.
Instead, in Wisconsin's Lost Year, Scott Walker signaled that the new model of employment here will be for low-wage, low-benefit jobs where workers struggle to realize the American dream while corporate CEOs enrich themselves and ship their jobs overseas.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year under Scott Walker, Wisconsin for the first time in her history rolled back access to the franchise and, for the first time in her history, made it more difficult for seniors, students and members of ethnic minorities to vote.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year under Scott Walker, we saw thelargest criminal campaign finance violation in our state's history.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year, we saw disturbing signals that this governor, or at least high members of his administration, were part of a criminal corruption probe. Federal agents with a no-knock warrant and a battering ram showed up at the home of a top Walker official, apparently fearful that she would be destroying records vital to the probe.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year, we saw an administration willing to reward cronies and politicize decisions that bipartisan leaders had long felt were best left to experts.
In Wisconsin's Lost Year under Scott Walker, corporations were given priority over the safety and well-being of Wisconsin's citizens when it came to regulations.
Under Scott Walker, 2011 was a historically bad year of jobs loss, political division, bad budgeting and ruinous division. In reckless and secretive fashion, Wisconsin changed for much the worse over the past year under Scott Walker.
With your continued support, we'll recall Scott Walker and restore Wisconsin's ideals of fair play, honesty, integrity and equal opportunity for all -- not just out-of-state corporations or the super-rich.
I look forward to answering questions from the DailyKos community about our grassroots effort to recall Scott Walker. At 6:00 p.m CST, I'll answer the top five most recommended questions submitted by DailyKos users.