The Only Petition That Matters Now

Just when one might think that Scott Walker has reached his pinnacle in turning Fitzwalkerstan into a theater of the absurd, he comes up with something that makes you realize just how badly you underestimated his absurdity.

A prime example is the way Walker has reacted to the ruling by the Honorable Juan Colas, in which he struck down the unconstitutional union-busting Act 10.

Despite the fact that Judge Colas' decision is based on law and his reasoning his constitutionally sound, or maybe because of these facts, Walker acted like a four year old who got caught doing something naughty.

Instead of just owning up to his misdeed and apologizing, Walker turns around and viciously impugns the reputation of the judge, trying to infer that the judge's decision was based on politics instead of the law:

The people of Wisconsin clearly spoke on June 5th. Now, they are ready to move on. Sadly a liberal activist judge in Dane County wants to go backwards and take away the law making responsibilities of the legislature and the governor. We are confident that the state will ultimately prevail in the appeals process.

As everyone knows, this is pure poppycock.

The judge made his ruling based on the facts of the case, the law and most of all, the Constitution. The only one trying to politicize this case was Walker, who is trying to win over public support against this obviously major blow to his reputation and his agenda.

Undaunted by his own absurdity, Walker then came out over the weekend with a most pathetic fund raiser email in which he doubled down on his nastiness and upped the absurdity to new levels.

He again called Judge Colas a "liberal activist judge" and accused him of having political motivation. (Walker must have been thinking of Justice David Prosser when he did that.) That was a rather stupid thing of Walker to do considering that he still has matters before Judge Colas, as he is asking for the court to put a stay on its ruling.

Walker also tried to claim that the recall election was about the constitutionality of the law. Funny, I don't remember Act 10 being mentioned anywhere on my ballot. Not only that, I don't think that would be exactly legal either, not that that would matter much to Walker.

Now, one might have thought Walker hit the peak of absurdity with that fundraiser email. One would have been wrong. Walker was just warming up.

Even my jaw hit the floor when I saw this pop up in my email:

If you can't make it out, here it is:

Dear Friend,

Today, in response to an activist judge's decision to put politics ahead of the people, we are asking you to stand up and make your voice heard...again!

Governor Walker's reforms are saving state and local governments over $1 billion (and counting), and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this week that Milwaukee Public Schools could save $1 billion on its own.

These reforms have passed the test before. Numerous legal challenges and a recall election weren't enough to take them down, and we are confident they will prevail once more. But we can't let one activist judge overturn the will of the people.

By signing this petition today, you are showing your support for Governor Walker and his reforms that are working for Wisconsin families.

Thank you!

Tom Evenson
Communications Director
Friends of Scott Walker

Yes, you read that correctly. Walker is asking people to sign a petition saying that his supporters are going to will constitutionality into his unconstitutional law.

And no, I don't think this is one petition drive that the wankers from Verify the Petition are going to be bothering with.

Now, I don't believe that even Walker is stupid enough to believe that a petition is going to change the court's mind. The petition is obviously a way for Walker to build his database for future fundraising emails. Walker probably figures if people are gullible enough to think that a petition would somehow make the unconstitutional law constitutional all of a sudden, they're probably gullible enough to send him money.

It reminds me of a televangelist saying that God told him that if he didn't raise millions of dollars, Got would strike him dead. Sure enough, people would send him money.

Right on cue, the brilliant Scot Ross and his equally brilliant team at One Wisconsin Now came out with their own petition. You just gotta love the header of their petition:

Patrick Marley, writing for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, also covered this story and points out that both petitions are really just fundraising/campaigning tools. Marley also points out that even though Walker had just won the recall, he faces reelection in two years.

Normally, I would agree with Marley. But right now, it's not adding up so neatly.

There are some serious races going on in Wisconsin right now which the Republicans have been pouring their all into. Besides numerous elections for the state senate and the state assembly, there is also the race for the US Senate seat and, of course, the presidency.

These races aren't going as well for the Republicans as they might wish.

Tommy Thompson is starting to drop like a rock in the polls and it's being reported that he doesn't have the money to make a big push in these last few weeks. Likewise, all the polls which came out this week show Obama with a lead over Mitt Romney, one showing a 14 point difference.

One would think that if the Republicans were serious about winning these seats, they would be having an "all hands on deck" moment, focusing on nothing but these races. Walker's fundraising is a slap at both Thompson and Romney/Ryan, not to mention all the other Republican candidates.

So what would make Walker endanger the good will of all of his fellow Republicans? An election two years off doesn't seem worth it. It would have to be something sooner than that to cause Walker to start with all of this fundraising.

When Walker came out with his fundraising letter over the weekend, I hypothesized, somewhat tongue in cheek, that Walker was getting funds for his legal cooperation fund. Now I'm starting to give that hypothesis a more serious consideration.

Consider these facts:

• Kelly Rindfleisch has run out of stalling tactics and will be in court in mid-October.
• Tim Russell has a court date coming up for his final pretrial, and the full blown trial in December.
• The facts that will come out in these two cases have the high potential to be very damaging to Walker and will likely be used in a complaint against him.
• Walker has probably already run up a legal bill heftier than the $300,000 he's already paid out.

In summary, it would not be a great leap in logic to day that Walker is thinking more about raising funds for his legal cooperation fund rather than an election two years down the road, which he might not even be available to run in.

In other words, the petition that Walker really is focused on has nothing to do with Act 10, but is the one that will be filed by prosecutors and names him as the defendant.

In that light, I won't tell the gentle reader to sign either, neither or both petitions. I have faith that the gentle reader is cognizant enough to know what they would be getting into. But if the gentle reader did feel compelled to sign Walker's petition, perhaps they would take their cue from this reader's submission:

I'm sure that Walker would appreciate it.