After the latest poll from Marquette University showed the Governors race in Wisconsin a dead heat, with Mary Burke gaining, Americans for (the Kochs) Prosperity has raced to the rescue with an $866,000 ad buy. Their boy needs to get propped up.
He got better poll numbers after the Republican Governors Association blanketed the state with a $1.2 million ad buy earlier this year, but that's done. With a dismal record in Wisconsin like Walkers, he needs all the lying ad media buys billionaires can buy.
"It's Working" they say in the new ad.
Notice that the ad only talks about tax cuts and NOT the fact that most of the relief has gone to the rich and corporate (Walker donors) and not to the "hardworking taxpayers" as Walker claims. And I hope you notice that they've featured an African American actress in their ad to try to improve Walkers chances with a group of citizens that supports Walker so little that he has worked tirelessly to stop them from voting.
That "tax cut" he recently gave the peasants in Wisconsin is so little that the Department of Revenue has changed the way tax withholdings are calculated to give the illusion of a much larger tax cut than was actually provided to the average citizen.
You see the average taxpayer in Wisconsin will see a "tax cut" amounting to about $12 per year. Changing the withholding makes it seem larger because less money is withheld from each paycheck.
Citizens won't realize that the "extra money" they see each paycheck isn't a result of a tax cut ONLY when they file their state tax returns in 2015. They'll discover a vastly lower refund or might end up owing taxes to the state. But that's the plan for Walker and Co. The election will be over when "hardworking taxpayers" realize they've been fooled.
Things are a whole lot better if you're a wealthy corporation in Wisconsin. Not only do 2/3 of the 25 richest corporations pay ZERO state taxes, many of them get millions of taxpayer dollars for subsidies.
PolitiFact of Wisconsin, pretty much in the tank for Walker, have also rushed in to give the ad their stamp of approval, rating it True.
Superficially, it IS true. But it's based on slashing social programs, crushing workers, and devastating state shared revenue with local governments to the point that many roads are simply a series of potholes now. It's also based on borrowed money.
For Walker, PolitiFact looks only at the superficiality. They don't even bother to state the fact that Walkers tax cuts are leading to a budget deficit. If he was a Democrat, they'd look at every single facet of the issue so they could downgrade the rating as much as possible.
Mary Burkes campaign has already spoken about the shiny new ad:
Joe Zepecki, a spokesman for Burke's campaign, countered that "it's never been working under Scott Walker."
"Under Walker's top down approach that puts big corporations and special interests first, Wisconsin is ninth out of 10 Midwestern States in job creation. Wisconsin families struggling to get ahead and worried about the future won't be fooled by out of state special interests swooping in to prop up one of the most vulnerable incumbent governors in the country," Zepecki said in an email.
Expect more ad buys as the billionaires Walker has met with over the past few years keep coming to his rescue, set up astroturf front groups, and lie like rugs to keep the man who serves them so well in power. It took nearly $100 million to get Walker in office and many tens of millions during the recall to keep him in office.
They'll spend whatever. Yes, it's working. For them.
For now, though, they've successfully blocked a John Doe Probe into illegal coordination between campaigns and their own dark money groups. While the probe is on hold pending appeal to the 7th Circuit Court, they'll keep pounding the state with money and lies.
A conservative group in California (yes, CALIFORNIA) has already booked $1.9 million dollars in ad buys for the last weeks of Walkers campaign.
Expect much, much more spending on Walker and his band of Not So Merry Men. After all, Walker takes from the poor and workers to give to the rich and entitled.
The US Supremes have ruled that he who has the gold can make all the rules. Those with the gold will "invest" in those who will happily provide them with more gold.
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