Wis Gov Scott Walker (R-Dark Side of the Force)
So much dump, so little time....
Flippity Floppity
After bullshitting telling voters that he didn't want to extend his public employee union busting record to the private sector and maintaining that lie during the early part of this year, Scott Walker is now anxiously awaiting Right to Work Mooch legislation to be quickly rammed through the Republican dominated State Legislature.
After saying in his re-election bid that he wouldn't push so-called right-to-work legislation, Gov. Scott Walker voiced support for it Friday and committed to signing it, acting after GOP leaders fast-tracked the proposal for a Senate vote next week.
Walker as a lawmaker sponsored the labor legislation two decades ago and as governor was careful to never say he would veto it, but as recently as September he also said that he would not be "supporting it in this session." That changed Friday as Walker's fellow Republicans in the Legislature made clear they would act on the issue at a time when the governor has won a second term and is now spending more time outside the state pursuing the presidency.
"Governor Walker co-sponsored right-to-work legislation as a lawmaker and supports the policy. If this bill makes it to his desk, Governor Walker will sign it into law," spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said.
Walker, falling in the Presidential polls he once led, seems to be going full bore for the Republican base to bolster his standing as he travels the country to kiss the rings of billionaire funders. It seems that he wants the State Capitol to be surrounded by tens of thousands of protesters again. I'll bet he's already unpacked and dusted off his "union thug", Big Union Bosses, and other phrases from 2011 and has put the Wisconsin National Guard on speed dial so he can again pretend that his opponents are scary and violent. He's already re-telling the fables about made up "attacks" and "threats" on himself and his family.
Maybe he should stock up on Depends, too. He'll be crapping his pants just as much as the last time he pretended to be "unintimidated".
Skipping State Loan Payment
While pretending in his recent State of the State address that Wisconsin has a budget "surplus" (in his dreams - we have a larger deficit than the one he created in 2011), Scott Walker doesn't have enough money to pay for the massive borrowing he's done, so he'll just skip a loan payment due in May.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, facing a $283 million deficit that needs to be closed by the end of June, will skip more than $100 million in debt payments to balance the books thrown into disarray by his tax cuts.
(bolding is mine)
“They need some cash,” said Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, a nonpartisan research group that examines taxes and government spending. “This is kicking the can down the road.”
This is exactly what Walker did in Milwaukee County when he was County Executive. Massive borrowing with the bills left behind when he moved to the Governors Mansion in Madison. We're going to be paying for Walkers "party" for a long, long time. He's going to leave Wisconsin with similar piles of debt in order to finance all his tax breaks and subsidies to the rich.
In skipping payments due, it looks like we're soon going to be in the same shape as Kansas where Republican Governor Brownback's partisan agenda has led to the state being downgraded in credit worthiness.
Of course, this is NOT, I repeat NOT, being covered in the Walker-loving Wisconsin media. I had to find it in Slate and Bloomberg.
Nice going (not), Walker.
This space reserved for more Friday News Dump (you and I know there has to be more coming....)
UPDATE - GOOD NEWS!
Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold is leaving his post as US Envoy to Africa after 18 productive months.
Feingold is expected by many fellow Democrats to run next year for his old U.S. Senate seat, though he has said little publicly about this plans. If he runs, it would set up a rematch with Republican Ron Johnson, who defeated him in 2010.
(bolding is mine)
He has privately told people that he does want to get his old Senate seat back, but has said nothing in public.
Republican Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson who won over Feingold in 2010 on a wave of big, big, big money and Wisconsin media who aided him in portraying himself as a moderate, self-made man (both big lies), is none too popular in Wisconsin. He has recently begun holding a few meetings in Republican strongholds in the state and has made a few media appearances to bolster his image.
Good news for us, though, is that he keeps on tripping over his own special brand of stupid and incompetent.
UPDATE 2 - THIS SUX:
I was sent this letter on yet another odious part of Scott Walkers budget:
Dear Senator Fred Risser:
On behalf of the Governing Board of the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Dane County, I am writing to alert you to a provision in the budget that will be harmful to ADRCs statewide, including Dane County, and the thousands of older people, people with disabilities, and their families that we serve each year. The Governor’s budget proposal would eliminate ADRC Governing Boards, Long-term Care Advisory Councils, and would allow the state to contract with a private entity to provide some or all services presently provided by ADRCs. In other words, it would be possible to totally replace existing ADRCs, most of which are public agencies, with private companies.
The birth of ADRCs began in Wisconsin in the 1990s and has since spread to every state in the country. The ADRC of Dane County opened in November of 2012 and has provided almost 44,000 contacts with the community. The ADRC brings to the community a blend of public supports and community resources empowering customers to make informed choices regarding options available, taking into account a customers’ private resources. The idea of “one stop shopping” to learn about all services that might be available to an older person and people with disabilities has resonated with ADRCs in every county in Wisconsin and every state in the U.S. In short, ADRCs have been a huge success story that had its beginnings in Wisconsin.
There are many other concerns in the Governor’s budget beyond the ADRC proposals, including elimination of the IRIS (Include, Respect, I Self-Direct) program of self-directed care, and what appears to be a desire to turn Family Care and existing long-term care programs over to private insurance companies. Wisconsin’s long-term care programs, including ADRCs, are not broken. Just the opposite is true; Wisconsin is among a few states that have successfully reformed its long-term care programs to reverse the institutional bias and to provide real consumer choices to frail older persons and people with disabilities. ADRCs are a major part of that reform and are a model for all other states.
Since ADRC’s have been so successful based on a Wisconsin idea that is locally accountable, this proposal seems like a betrayal of that idea, and the intent of the program to assist local people to learn about local resources. In fact, we are at a loss to understand the reason and source of this change. We would appreciate your assistance in learning the reasons for it.
We urge you to maintain ADRCs and related programs as they exist, instead of the Governor’s proposals to “fix” them. We look forward to hearing back from you regarding our questions and concerns.
Sincerely,
Thomas L. Frazier
Chair, Dane County ADRC Governing Board.
(bolding is mine) (Fred Risser is a long serving Democratic State Senator)
Yup, it looks like Scott Walker is completely tossing disabled people and seniors completely under the private-profits bus. His severe cuts to those programs in the past haven't been enough to please him so he's going to privatize those needed services.
It's always amazing to me how people get duped into thinking that privatization is somehow cheaper and more efficient and effective when the reality is quite the opposite. Everything Walker has privatized already (including vehicle emissions testing) has created opportunities for unscrupulous behavior and large profiteering.
There is so much devilry in his budget, I'm sure we're still not finding it all.
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