"I would be embarrassed"

By Jeff  Simpson

Capper told us all about the latest ridiculous attack ad that Scott Walker is currently running, using children as props, and desperately trying to scare WI into voting for him again.  

Here it is -

 In other words, career politician Scott Walker(whose name is never mentioned) and who self declared Wisconsin "open for business" has a problem with people who have made a career and  money working for the family company(unless you pay WMC dues).   By strictly attacking Mary Burke, Scott Walker is telling you to be very afraid and that he is the lesser of two evils.  

As for attacking Trek, probably not the best idea he has ever had. This ad has even drawn the ire of Trek President John Burke(Mary's brother):

"When people make blatantly false accusations about a company you've spent your lifetime building and you have 1,800 employees who are proud about what they do every day, that just isn't right," John Burke said.
Trek was founded in Waterloo in the 1970s by John and Mary Burke's father and is now the second-largest bike manufacturer worldwide. Mary Burke worked as an executive at Trek twice, leaving the company in 2004.
John Burke said all decisions about where to locate jobs were his and not his sister's. Mary Burke worked for Trek as the head of its European division from 1990 to 1993 and again from 1995 until 2004, with her most recent job being director of planning and strategic planning.
John Burke said Trek does not employ children at its overseas plants. He said Trek has manufacturing plants in China, Germany and Holland and they all strictly follow local labor laws.
"We produce product in a lot of places and there are different wages for different jobs," he said when asked whether workers at the China plant earned $2 an hour. "We always pay in accordance to labor guidelines and rules and what's the standard wage for the area. We're very concerned for workers' rights and the workers' environment."

But John Burke said if he were governor, he would take the ad down.
"It's embarrassing," he said. "I would be embarrassed."

Scott Walker's stance on being called out for an blatantly untrue attack ad? Exactly what you would expect it to be:

Walker's campaign stood by the ad running statewide and said it won't be taken down

Scott Walker, willing to lie and attack good Wisconsin companies to reach his goal.   Is that the kind of person we want representing us to the rest of the world?

Good News and Bad News

By Jeff Simpson

H/T Jud Lounsbury:

The bad news first:


 

Mary Burke will have to answer for the outsourcing of jobs @ Trek, and As John Nichols points out, this issue is not dead and be prepared to get hit often by it.  

At least Christian Schneider thinks its great!   


The Good News:

Rob Zerban can use the same attacks on his opponent! 

Did Burke Outsource Jobs Or Not?

Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a report that Trek might have outsourced jobs to China:

If you're around Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke on the campaign trail, you're going to hear a lot about Trek Bicycles and the 1,000 jobs it has created in Wisconsin.

This you won't hear:

Trek — a company founded by Burke's father and a place she worked for nine years — is fighting a petition filed by a state official saying the firm outsourced some 15 to 20 jobs from its Waterloo plant to China earlier this year.

In August, Lynda Paasch, a staffer with the state Department of Workforce Development, submitted a petition for special federal aid for the former Trek workers through the Trade Adjustment Assistance program in the U.S. Department of Labor.

The program provides such benefits as government subsidies for job retraining and relocation expenses for people who have lost their jobs due to foreign competition or outsourcing.

Paasch wrote that most Trek employees working second and third shift making composite lugs and mountain bike frames were laid off March 16. These are the only layoffs the company has had this year.

"The Workers were told if production numbers would not start to rise, then Trek would have to close the line down and shift the line to China, after all the bike frames (were) produced," Paasch wrote. "The production numbers could not be met due to the decrease in orders."

Federal officials are currently investigating the matter to decide whether the ex-Trek employees are entitled to benefits.

A spokeswoman for the company said it is fighting the petition.

Sigh.

But to be fair, the timing of this story seems rather convenient, especially on the trail of the return of Walkergate.  But then again, I have been hearing about Trek outsourcing jobs for a long time, so it is equally plausible.

So far, the leading candidate in my mind is still "None of the above."