As I am preparing to celebrate the New Year, I had the chance to reflect on everything that has happened this past year. 2012 - what a year! It was a difficult task limiting myself to just ten but here it is - my list of "Top Ten GOP Lowlights of 2012".
10) GOP Senator Glenn Grothman, who became mildly famous (or infamous) for calling Wisconsin protestors and union members "slobs", named Senate Labor Committee Chairman.
9) Gov. Walker declared "Wisconsin Open for Business" then reneged on Wisconsin's multi-million dollar contract with Talgo which cost Wisconsin good jobs and damaged the state's credibility in honoring its contracts.
8) Tea Partiers encouraged retaliation against citizens who signed recall petitions against Governor Walker and GOP Senators. Many of these same Tea Party "patriots" had no problem targeting Senate Democrats for recall after we had the courage to stand up and fight for working families.
7) The GOP's newly created Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation fails to track tens of millions of dollars in business loans for over a year. Gov. Walker responded by, of course, blaming it on former Democratic Gov. Doyle and his administration.
6) GOP Senator Alberta Darling claimed Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney would have won Wisconsin if not for thousands of fraudulently cast votes. Shockingly, she can't back up her statement when asked to provide proof.
5) Gov. Walker showed how much he cares for foreclosure victims when he siphoned tens of millions of dollars from the state's foreclosure settlement to "balance the budget".
4) Gov. Walker claimed his administration created nearly 100,000 jobs since he took office - Politifact broke out the extinguisher when they rated his claim, "Pants on Fire".
3) GOP Senator Glenn Grothman commented that, "Money is more important to men," after he voted to eliminate equal pay for women. This is after the GOP said "there is no war on women" and they confirmed it when they also eliminated funding for women's health centers.
2) GOP Representative Roger Rivard, when asked to respond to a question about sexual assault, said his father told him that, "Some girls, they rape so easy." 2012 Highlight: Voters easily voted him out of office.
1) Gerrymandered district maps give the GOP control over both the Senate and Assembly, even though Wisconsin went "blue" in re-electing President Obama and electing to the US Senate progressive Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.
What did she miss?
How in the world did Mary Lazich not make this list. C'mon Julie!
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, we need Bruce Murphy to re-do his "best/worst legislators" list. I'm thinking there's plenty to update with this crew.
It was actually Tea Party Kim Simac who INITIATED the recall process in Wisconsin, targeting Senator Jim Holperin for recall. That's a FACT, and she failed, miserably.
ReplyDeleteI agree that redistricting ranks #1 in the list of horrible, deceitful actions of Wisconsin Republican legislator. Just think, Robin Vos got all legislators to sign oaths of secrecy and asked them to NOT listen to input from their constituents. Then, he spent $1.9 million (the tab is still running) of taxpayer money to ram it through. Result? Democrats received more votes than Republicans in the most recent elections, yet the seats went to Republicans. Not very representative of the people. No less than three Republican judges read the riot act to Mr. Vos, who apparently is so arrogant he thinks his ethically challenged ass is above the law.
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