Walkergate: Two Good Reads

In the onslaught of Scott Walker's damage control propaganda, which has been forwarded unquestioningly by the corporate media, it is easy to lose the ramifications of the revelations and ramifications of the latest document release of the Walkergte saga.  Fortunately, there are plenty of progressive writers that are also keeping track of these issues.  Two of these have written very good posts which the gentle reader should take a few minutes to read.

The first one of these is heralded by the return of Mike Plaisted, who has returned from a long hiatus from writing, and comes out with a very well written post shining the light on how deeply Walker is in trouble:

In fact, if Walker ever exits the cocoon of Fox News and talk radio where he has lived since Thursday and talks to a legitimate news reporter again, someone should ask him about the details of what exactly he was doing back then that he is now so proud of, now that the case is "over", as Walker falsely declared to his friendly interviewers in his desperate last couple of days..  "Was your campaign coordinating with the outside groups, governor?  When did it start?", etc.  I'll bet he doesn't answer the question -- he'd be crazy to do so.

The reason is because Walker and his lawyers know very well that the case is far from "over".   The lawyers for the dark money operators managed to convince one friendly federal judge and one state judge of their novel theory that the part of the state statutes prohibiting coordination between campaigns and outside groups, as written and as always interpreted, was unconstitutional.   But it is by no means guaranteed that the conclusion that dark money groups and campaigns can coordinate with dark money all they want as long as the dark money ads don't say "vote for Walker" will stand in the Courts of Appeals or even the post-Citizens United Supreme Court.

It is not Federalist Society activist Judge Rudy Randa who is going to have the last word on this -- it will be Justice Anthony Kennedy. As an excellent New York Times editorial noted this morning: "Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy promised in 2010 that there was nothing to fear from independent spending groups that raised unlimited dollars. Because they could not coordinate with political candidates, he wrote in the Citizens United decision, they 'do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.'" Having written that, how could Kennedy now follow the right-wing of the Court off the cliff by saying that anything goes for anyone with a checkbook and a candidate in their pocket? Hopefully, the bright line of campaign coordination with dark money is one the Fifth Justice will not cross.

The other post I would point out to the gentle reader is from Jake at his Funhouse. Jake brings up a number of good points, but the second one is the one that really caught my eye:

2. A claim by the Walker folks and other right-wing oligarchs is that the governor's campaign collaborating with "issue advocacy" ("tax cuts are good") is OK vs "express advocacy" (i.e. "vote for/against Walker"). The prosecutors say the problem with that thinking is that this defense was thrown out 15 years ago in case involving a fake front group set up by Mark Block, aka "the Smoking Man" for Herman Cain, (called the Wisconsin Coalition for Voter Participation) could not coordinate with Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign blog has a good rundown of how that played out.

It has been settled law in Wisconsin that this prohibition on coordination between candidates and interest groups applies to organizations doing election-related "issue advocacy." Application of the coordination ban to so-called "issue ad" groups was challenged in the late 1990s in the case involving a group that was found to be coordinating with Justice Jon Wilcox’s 1997 campaign for reelection to the state Supreme Court.

State election authorities heavily fined both Wilcox’s campaign as well as political operative Mark Block, who ran the issue ad-sponsoring Wisconsin Coalition for Voter Participation. At the time, the fines were the largest in state history for campaign finance violations. Block also was banned from involvement in Wisconsin elections for three years. The state's enforcement actions were contested in court, and ultimately were upheld in a 1999 ruling.

After Block's three-year ban ended, he signed on as the director of the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity chapter in Wisconsin (I'm sure that's just coincidence). And there as Mike McCabe mentions in the article, the endgame for the Koch crowd is to eradicate any laws relating to coordination and the subsequent disclosure of donors' names.

There's a second question that should be answered here. Given that the recall election loophole enabled candidates to raise unlimited funds, why did R.J. Johnson and others launder money like this? The only answer I can come up with is to hide the names of the donors to Walker and the GOP Senators, and to allow those people to write off taxes as a "donation" to these alleged social welfare groups. Which would be right down the Kochs' alley.

Given that the special interests' arguments aren't going to hold up in a court of law, it's not a big surprise that Walker and his propagandists are presenting with a rather desperate appearance in their flailing around.

Walker Takes Credit For The Tides

There was actually some good news in Ftizwalkerstan today. The Philadelphia Reserve Bank finally gave a positive note to the state's future.  Of course, Scott Walker took full credit for it;

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank released a new economic growth forecast for states yesterday. The report forecasts Wisconsin to grow 1.95 percent over the next six months. It is the best economic forecast for the state since 2003. Wisconsin also experienced the most improved forecast in the nation. Wisconsin’s three-month change was 2.36 percentage points, moving to a forecast of solid gains.

Governor Scott Walker today released the following statement on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s forecast of solid growth in Wisconsin over the next six months:

“Strong signals suggest we are turning things around for Wisconsin’s economy, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s newest report of state leading economic indexes provides yet one more indication that our pro-jobs policies are moving us in the right direction. Although there is much work left to be done, the forecast along with additional economic indicators such as our state’s lowest unemployment rate since 2008 indicate we are heading in the right direction.”

Democrats previously touted the now outdated Philadelphia Fed forecast as evidence that the Governor’s policies were hurting job growth in Wisconsin.

We'll overlook the fact that he used the governor's office to release a campaign press release for now.

But should Walker be taking credit for this "amazing" turnaround?

In a word: No.

 Not unless Walker changed his name to Barack Obama.

Fortunately for me, and for us, Jake has already skewered Walker's fallacious claims and points out a couple of important facts, including that Wisconsin is still doing worse than the majority of the country:

And Wisconsin's growth is nothing too special. It barely qualified for the dark green shade at 1.95%, and trails the rest of the nation, and is well behind most of the Midwest.

Forecast growth for the next 6 months- Philly Fed
Mich 3.21%
Ind. 3.20%
Ohio 2.96%
Ill. 2.52% (failures, right Scotty?)
U.S. 2.17%
Wis. 1.95%
Iowa 1.16%
Minn 0.88%

So credit Obama for the Wisconsin economy coming back, not Walker. This is especially true when you look at where we've been the last several months. Another big part of the Philly Fed survey is going over the last 3 months of economic performance. And as shown in prior months, Wisconsin remains a standout for the wrong reasons.

In other words, Walker is taking credit for the good ship State of Wisconsin starting to float.  What he won't admit is that the only reason it's floating at all is because the tide from Obama's economic recovery plan is finally able to float what he's been trying to scuttle with his faulty ideology.

And I would be remiss if I did not quote Jake's best lines, which he held for the end:

But Walker is hoping that you'll be as shallow as the average Milwaukee talk show listener and not notice the context that the next 6 months' growth is from a much lower point than it should be, and that it would be merely an effect of the U.S. economy continuing to gain strength under President Obama. Certainly Walker's backers at the Journal-Sentinel are willing to play stupid, giving prominence to Walker's side of the story on the projected growth while burying the fact that the U.S. and most other states are slated to grow faster.

And because you know the corporate mouthpieces at Journal Communications and the Wisconsin State Journal won't tell that truth, it's up to people like me to break these stats down and write about it. It's up to readers like you to call out this bullshit and continue to expose the economic failure that is the Scott Walker Administration to your friends and the public. We'll win if the truth gets out, we just have to do it.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XI

Good news! Thanks to Scott Walker and the Republican legislators, us regular people are already paying more while the poor suffering corporations and megabusinesses are getting some much needed relief:

Those end of the fiscal year revenue numbers finally came out on Friday, conveniently dumped before a holiday weekend. This only shows the numbers through the end of June, but we're already seeing the effects of the Fitzwalkerstani takeover seeping in. As the report notes, one group paid more, and another paid less than expected in May.

Revenues from the individual income tax and the sales and use tax were higher than the estimates by $10.6 million and $19.0 million, respectively. These increases were offset by lower than anticipated revenues from the corporate income and franchise tax ($27.1 million) and the cigarette tax ($15.2 million). The remaining tax sources had smaller variances.

Seems even when put that way, and the FY2011 revenues only came up $12.8 million short of the new and improved revenue numbers revealed last May. (These were the estimates which showed how huge a lie Walker made when he claimed the state was "broke", as $636 million in new revenues for FY2011, 2012 and 2013 were revealed as the result of an improved situation due to the budget passed by Jim Doyle and the Dems in 2009)

Jake at his Economic TA Funhouse breaks it down and shares even more good news!

File Under Old News: Walker Administration Lying Again

Dennis Smith, Scott Walker's Secretary of Health Services, took great pains to try to cherry pick the worst parts of a report about the Affordable Care Act, in an effort to make it look like it was a bad thing for Wisconsin.

But the thing is, what Smith presented in his release was far from the reality of the conclusions of the report.  And it's not me saying this. It's the author of the report, Jonathan Gruber, who is a bona fide economist, and not a hired hack with a history of trying to sabotage public health care plans like Smith:

But that's not the conclusion Gruber came to at all. "They picked out the most negative aspects of the report to highlight," Gruber told me in an interview. "Overall I think health care reform is a great thing for Wisconsin."

A key finding of the analysis -- that 340,000 uninsured people in Wisconsin will gain coverage by 2016 -- was not even mentioned in the press release issued by the state's Office of Free Market Health Care, which is the new department created by Walker to replace Doyle's Office of Health Care Reform, created barely a year earlier to carry out the federal Affordable Care Act.

Instead lists of "key findings" presented in the press release and a slide presentation prepared for reporters details a bunch of negatives using expressions that have become hot buttons in the health care debate: the law will "drastically shrink" the numbers of people in the private insurance market; it will cause "significant disruption" to employer-sponsored insurance; and it will force "working families" to pay a "hidden tax" that will "subsidize" the purchase of health insurance for families earning up to $89,000, a "forced redistribution of wealth."

Sadly, the lies aren't even the most egregious thing.

The worst part is the way they're trying to control the flow of information and trying to control the press:

Kraig is still fuming after being ejected from the tightly orchestrated press briefing about the report Wednesday. Among the strict ground rules: reporters could not use any quotes provided by Smith and other state officials during the course of an hourlong briefing and PowerPoint presentation (which didn't get to the good news about the increase in coverage for 340,000 people until the last of 16 slides.) Reporters could use only comments provided in the press release or afterwards in one-in-one interviews with Smith. (I was not among the seven or so reporters there; however someone at the meeting filled me in. Here is an AP report with further details of the study's findings.)

Remember the days when people were still trying to kid themselves that Walker was serious about having a transparent government?

This is just another aspect of the Orwellian fascist state that they are trying to create for themselves. Fortunately, with the Internet, it's not as easy for them as they would like.  It also shows why we cannot stop fighting until they are out of power. And this includes dismantling the corporate news sources that spread these lies, like MacIver Institute, Media Trackers and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  Our future as a free land and a free people demands it.

H/T: Jake and his Economic TA Funhouse

Oh! The Horrors of Obamacare!

Jake at his Economic TA Funhouse is having fun tearing apart the false arguments of Scott Walker and friends as they try to do a smear and fear number on the Affordable Health Care Act. My favorite snippet in which Jake repeats their talking point and responds in italics is this:

Individuals will be dropped from their employer’s health plans. It is estimated that 100,000 individuals will be involuntarily dropped from employer sponsored health insurance. (And those employers will now have more funds available to pay employees, expand, or not deal with the uncertainty of higher insurance costs in the future. Again, this is bad because....?)

Do read the whole thing. You can thank me later.

The Kaukauna Lie Gains National Attention

On Monday, I pointed out an article by Jake in which he dissected Scott Walker's lie about the Kaukauna School District.

The story apparently has gotten the attention of Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, who skewers Walker yet again.

I'd say that young Jake has a reason to crow. Job well done, my friend. Job well done.

The Kaukauna Is A Lie!

Yesterday, I shredded the lie being echoed among right wingers like Owen Robinson (not a new thing for Owen, sadly) that Scott Walker's budget busting bill is "awesome" or "a positive impact for tax payers," by pointing out the fact that people will be paying a heckuva lot more but receiving less for their money.

Today, Jake in his Economic TA Funhouse take his turn by showing that the Kaukauna School District, which Walker has been using as a talking point, is nothing but a lie:

So this wasn't a "union costs exploded for 2011-2012" problem. This was a "budget cuts from Scott Walker and WisGOP in Madison are screwing us on the local level" problem. In fact, the original budget proposal from the guv resulted in a drop of Kaukauna's available revenues of $2.16 million (a bit under 5% of their total), and $2.75 million from the state (check out your favorite district's cut here, Kaukauna's on Page 5). The unions responded by proposing $1.8 million in concessions, which combined with the district $345,000 in surplus funds from 2010-11, would have taken care off all of the state cuts put into Kaukauna's budget. The Kaukauna School Board turned them down and asked for layoffs of 14.5 full-time positions instead, and decided to wait on the Legislature and State Supreme Court to do the dirty work of putting the screws on the teachers, and hope for large numbers of teacher retirements.

Which is exactly what happened. The Kaukauna teachers will now have to chip in over 18% of their pay in health care and pension contributions, with no corresponding increase in salary. And for all the talk about "Kaukauna class sizes going down," even Kaukauna School Board President Todd Arnoldussen admits it's projected class sizes being reduced, and those are reductions from huge INCREASES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY PROJECTED. In other words, little to no change will result from what students would have seen this year. Class sizes DID NOT GO DOWN, as much as the deceptive press releases may indicate.

And I'm not even bringing up the fact that I wish Kaukauna good luck in attracting and retaining quality teachers when they're getting a huge cut in their take-home pay. Strangely, those "free-market" types that are always bashing public educators leaves out the free market reality of lower pay = lower quality. (But when has consistency and reality ever been part of the equation for those haters, anyway?)

In other words, like the supposed budget crisis when Walker took over, he "fixed" a problem that didn't even exist until he created it.

Just like when he was county executive, he is selling snake oil and false promises based on a house of cards.  Unfortunately, the corporate press just echoes his false talking points without actually looking into them and the gullible and/or the dishonest buy into them, not realizing their mistake until it's too late.

As Jake points out at the end of his piece, let's see how things are in a year's time. Heck, let's see how things are in two months time. That's when the pain really starts.

Another Look At CRG's Folly

Last night, I wrote about CRG proving to the world that they are fools.

Jake at his TA Funhouse has a bit more forceful take on the situation:

Oh, and the Cretins for Republicans Governance better back the fuck off of Marina Dmitrejevic in Milwaukee County. 1. It won't work, because Bay View actually has a pair and few senior citizens, unlike the Walker front group. 2. We have a lot more reasons to run your boy Scotty than you do Marina. And we're just biding our time to pull out our petitions.

Ya waana bring it? We dare you. You've made the mistake of ticking off people smarter and tougher than you, and that's a deadly combination to overcome.

Indeed.