Thursday, March 15, 2012

When The Haves Are Really The Have Nots

When former Governor Jim Doyle announced that he didn't intend to run for reelection, Scott Walker needed someone to run against, since he couldn't run on his record as Milwaukee County Executive.  So he made the unions his bogeyman.

Since then, he has worked to build the case of "us vs. them" in regards to the unions.  At the time, it seemed he was doing it simply to create a perceived common enemy for people to rally against and to elect him as their champion.  In hindsight, it appears that it was also to build up the case to bust the unions.

Indeed, he was still using this argument even after he was sworn into office and just weeks before dropping his "bomb"":

Some new governors, most notably Scott Walker of Wisconsin, are even threatening to take away government workers’ right to form unions and bargain contracts. 
“We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots,” Mr. Walker, a Republican, said in a speech. “The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers.”
Funny.  I, as one of those hated public servants, never felt like a "have."  My checkbook definitely showed that I was never a "have."

I guess Walker didn't fell that way either.

In the Journal Communications-sponsored campaign rally which was held earlier this week, Walker talked about the imminent recall.  He sure made it sound like he was a have-not:
And if we fail to win, it will take us down the path we see, failing, people like the people in Illinois, down in Springfield, and I for one don't want that. Not because this job is that important to me, 'cuz frankly my wife in some ways would love it if I'd go back to the private sector and make some real money.
Now, keep in mind that Walker makes $144,000 a year. And he gets free housing and free transportation anywhere he wanted to.  And yet the poor darling apparently can barely make it since he's not earning "real money."

But that's not all, folks. Remember, with Walker, there's more.  There's always more.

One Wisconsin Now took a look at his calendar and what they found was outrageous to say the least:

Based on the calendars maintained by Gov. Walker's office, released under the state open records law, between August 2011 and January 2012 Gov. Walker was scheduled to spend a grand total of just over 44 hours meeting with legislators or his policy staff or working on an a specific policy issue. Meanwhile, over the same time period, a whopping 614-plus hours were blocked off as "personal" time. 
Browne said, "Gov. Walker's schedule shows a stunning lack of interest in governing, while massive chunks of time were blocked off for 'personal' time. The old adage that actions speak louder than words certainly applies here. The Governor claims he's working to create jobs, but his actions, or lack thereof, tell a much different story." 
Browne noted that although there is no detail on how Gov. Walker spends his personal time, a significant uptick occurred when he was allowed to start raising unlimited amounts in campaign contributions because of the recall effort against him. It was also at this time that details of the serious nature of the criminal investigation of close Walker aides and associates began to come to light. 
In August, just under 64 hours were classified as personal time, but that climbed to over 120 hours in November when the opportunity to raise unlimited campaign cash began and topped out at nearly 153 hours in January.

So, let me get this straight.  The file clerk who works 40+ hours a week and takes home less than a quarter of what Walker makes is a "have" and must be punished.  But Walker who makes three times the average salary of any Wisconsinite who is lucky not to have their job driven out of the state yet, and spends most of his time fund raising in other states, is a "have not."

It sounds to me that Walker has joined the same club that reality TV star Sean Duffy and wine connoisseur Paul Ryan belong to.

But if Walker is anxious to get back to the private sector, he can have one of the few jobs remaining, presuming he gets work release after his indictment.  After all, he's already has the uniform for it:



21 comments:

  1. Not enough Cadillac benefits in government after all?

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  2. He looks so good in that paper hat...maybe his next career should be in fast food.

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  3. His wife is right, the easier path would be to bow out and become another Tommy Thompson, or Sarah Palin. Corporate boards, speeches, maybe even a cushy appointment from a repub president. Who knows, VP?. He's very popular with people that can make his life much easier than it is now. I wouldnt want picketers in front of my house daily, armed guards with me everywhere I go. I'm sure Governor Palin has embarrased her governors salary recently. But he seems to want to fight this fight, that shows character. It hard to show him as greedy since he gave back more than 350K of his county salary over the years. The guy is known for his brown bag lunch! No, its gonna be tougher than that to paint him as greedy "have". I will say he does have it in for the public unions, you guys must have really pissed him off when he was running the county!

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    1. He is a "have" in the sense that he doesn't mind cutting pay and Badgercare from people who make much less than he does, while at the same time attending fancy dinners and collecting huge amounts of money from out of state. You are right, there are people who like him, especially in other states. They seem to be the real "haves". We also don't know if his wife really said this, or he was just talking in the way some husbands do. I wouldn't blame her for wanting him to get a different job, in fact, many people within Wisconsin would agree with her. But, I don't think we should take his word that she that, unless she says it herself, I don't think it is fair to bring her into the conversation.

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    2. Can I take a wild guess? Your female and your divorced? Well, and liberal, but I didn't have to guess that :)

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    3. Can I take a wild guess? You will be changing your moniker to Imustbeamisogynist? Anonymous could have simply been anyone of any gender, sexual orientation or marriage status that just realized profits don't go before people, neither in the dictionary or in life.

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    4. Maybe. I'm not saying your gender, orientation, or status disqualifies your opinions. Its just sometimes it shows how much influence they have. I'll keep my guesses to myself.

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    5. You see, I'm learning. personal attacks on the governor and R senators...OK. On Gentle readers...not OK..........got it.

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    6. Do you condone the feces being sent to Sen. Taylor? Your faux outrage is tiresome.

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    7. Of course not, quite immature. But I did predict that your senators were pissing the private sector unions off. "so much for solidarity" Lets hope they take that anger to the voting booth in June.

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  4. Sure, after the republican drones are no longer effective or have been roundly rejected by enlightened voters, they are "corporate boards, speeches,..[think tank offices] maybe even a cushy appointment from a repub president". But those jobs are really just bribery from Republican power brokers to keep the mouths of {soon to be} former Gov.Walker, former Ohio Sec. of State Blackwell, etc. shut.
    The check comes but they are useless tools.

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  5. I didn't think he sounded greedy, just not in touch. He cut the public employees pay, and now he is saying that his own pay is not that high, when in fact it is quite high compared to the people who took the cuts.

    I also think saying "this job is not that important" is not a very good thing to say about his job as governor, although, I presume he is under a lot of pressure, not just from protesters, from lawyers, who are an inconvenience to have to have working for you, even if you had done nothing wrong.

    He must be under extreme pressure to pass agendas for his big donors, I would think. Thus we see laws like "no abortion counseling via internet video" which is odd since it doesn't happen here.

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  6. Walker is a dim bulb even among politicians of a certain stripe. That so many saw promise in him is amazing. The things that come out of his mouth always surprise!

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  7. More personal time.

    "He also left Palm Beach $200,000 richer in contributions, with more to come from pledges following a luncheon Wednesday organized by Town Council President David Rosow and Lee Hanley, who hosted the event at his Palm Beach home. "

    www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/town-council/scott-walker-praises-town-council-for-leadership-cutting-2238217.html

    "Embattled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker strode into the Town Hall council chambers Wednesday afternoon, briefly interrupting a coastal protection discussion, said basically hello, and was on his way. "

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  8. That statement is just another Walker Paradox. Walker is setting the stage for himself.

    For example: If he is forced to step down because of his Walkergate, he can say that he did it for his family. If he is recalled, the job wasn't all that important to him.

    The irony is that when he "left" Marquette he did it to pursue more money for his family. He very briefly hid from scrutiny in the private sector and jumped right back into the what drives him: politics and power.

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  9. How did Mr. Walker pay for his Harley? I am trying to find out much that thing was/is?

    Something about Pastor's Kids, too. Everybody blindly assumes that the dude is all up praying and bible reading all the time, since Dad is the Pastor!

    However, nice as P.K.'s are, I'd watch your backs. Unlike the butcher, baker, or candlestick maker, the Pastors kid doesn't usually have much for skills or money.

    So, some things just don't add up.

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  10. Anonymous 2:36, about Walker saying that he "left" Marquette for his family, you do know that he didn't have a family then, wasn't married then? The man cannot tell a truth -- so let's not help to perpetuate his lies.

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  11. Anon- 4:57am. He is a liar. He left school in 90 met his wife two years later, married then went into politics.

    Notably absent a timeline, here is how he spins his departure:

    "He left school and focused full-time on the position, thinking he would return for his degree in the near future.

    But life got in the way. Walker met Tonette. The two fell in love and got married. He was 25. She was 36. They started a family.

    “In the end, I figured I was in school to get a good job,” he said. “So once I had one, family became more important than getting a degree.”


    Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_da67cf2c-df74-11df-acf0-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1pHlfZlgY

    If the truth ever be told, it wasn't being declared unfit for the presidency that drove him out. There is no coincidence that he was an ALEC copy and paste legislator in the Assembly.

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  12. When has he EVER worked in the private sector? Dude's been sucking on the taxpayer tit since he got kicked out of college!

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  13. Remember, demonize the person. Do not bring up his record vs his predecessor. That would be incriminating to the cause.

    Two legs good, four legs b^Ha^Hd^etter.

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  14. @Anonymous 4:31 pm -- PLEASE don't blame this on Walker being a preacher's kid. I'm a PK (as are my 4 siblings), and I know many others. WE aren't like Scott Walker at all. We like people, we support women as individuals, not child bearers, we are gay-friendly (with 2 gay siblings, it's important), and we love Wisconsin.

    Scott Walker has his own pathology, which has many components. I don't think the fact that his father was a minister (my mom knew him, FWIW) had a great impact.

    Thanks.

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