With A Mighty Blow, Walker Blackens His Own Eye

Scott Walker, feeling the pressure from dwindling poll numbers, decides to go stupid in his negative campaigning and sends off a mailer that accuses his primary opponent of voting for a bill that *gasp* transportation! The mailer, which targeted the Fox Valley, where I've heard Walker is doing exceptionally poorly, also accuses Neumann of voting for the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" (I guess Sarah Palin turned down his pleas for help), a highway in Canada, and being like Nancy Pelosi.

Such a dolorious blow to deliver. Now, there is nothing wrong with hard hitting campaigning, or calling someone on their record, but for the candidate's sake, you don't want to go over the line and appear as a pompous ass.

Alas, for Walker, his aim is about as accurate as his campaign boasts, and he ended up pummeling himself instead.

Illy-T points out that the U.S. does not pay for highways in Canada, not even Quebec. He does note that Walker does buy his buses from Canada however.

Walker's inanity has caused even some of his most ardent supporters, including one squawker, to call him out on his foolishness. If even his most loyal people are calling him out, what do you suppose that does to people that don't listen to the Republican machine, or to the people that were on the bubble on who to vote for?

But all is not lost for Walker. He still has some that drink of the Kool-Aid served in Walker's Cult of Personality.

Some Labor Day Videos

The first one, via Chris Walker:



And the old, NSFW one:

Reagan Speaks Out Against Profiteering

Amazing:



My, how he lost his way over the years.

Now We Know Why Scott Walker Runs From Rain Storms

James Wigderson tells us that lightning strikes those who keep lying.

Run, Scott, run!! No one likes the smell of burnt weasel.

Walker's Brown Bag, Side B

Walker's been carousing around the state for months touting his rehashed brown bag gimmick (is anyone even buying it anymore?). One one side, he's got some cutesy, borrowed slogan about cutting taxes, even though he's yet to cut one tax that I'm aware of.

But did you ever wonder what's on the back of those bags. I did, and wasn't too surprised by what I found:


At least the bags can serve a useful purpose, after people get nauseous listening to his hypocrisy and flat out lies.

Happy Labor Day

Have a happy and safe Labor Day.


As you sit around enjoying a good barbeque, watching the MDA telethon, or whatever other plans you have, remember to thank a union worker.

Without the unions, as Cory Liebmann pointed out last year, some of things people take for granted which came from the blood, sweat, tears and sometimes the very lives of union workers:

Here are just a handful of examples that come to my mind: The Eight Hour Workday, The Weekend, Child Labor Laws, Basic Workplace Safety Laws, Basic Benefits Like Vacation time, Paid Sick Days and Health Insurance.

And if you think unions have outlived their usefulness, look at how far things have deteriorated, such as the diminishing middle class, since the well- moneyed special interests have been working to weaken the unions and the labor laws they fought for.

David Clarke Admits To Poor Leadership

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an article highlighting the Democratic primary race for Milwaukee County Sheriff. In said article, they point out that both the D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R. incumbent David Clarke and his challenger, Chris Moews, are running on Clarke's record. If that's true, Clarke just gave the race away.

We already know that Clarke is a poor excuse for a law man, when he not only tried to aid a drunk driver get back on the road, but then tried to cover up his error by smearing a good deputy who happened to be the one to prevent further tragedy.

Then there was the failed GRIP program which diverted officers and funding from the normal duties so that Clarke could bathe himself in glory by taking all of the guns off of the mean streets of Milwaukee, which is normally the jurisdiction of the Milwaukee Police Department. But despite all of the money and manpower spent on this project, it netted only six or so guns.

Clarke also violated his deputies' Constitutional rights by having religious groups preaching to them during roll calls.

Then there was the problem with Clarke's office not collecting DNA samples like he was supposed to and then lying about the problem. Even more telling was the reason why they failed:

Again, sources in the department who are familiar with the situation gave a very different story. They said they are certain that inmates and others were released without giving DNA samples. In addition, the sources said, there are many more individuals at the County Jail who may have been missed.

"This wasn't done intentionally," said one source, who suggested the problem was due to lack of staff and supervisors. "It fell through the cracks."

[...]

Not usually the self-effacing type, Clarke acknowledged that his department had slipped up. He said he didn't have the manpower to assign someone to DNA duty full time.

Now from today's article, we see Clarke shooting himself in the foot by admitting his poor leadership:

"You can lead by fear all you want and people are going to follow you - to a point," said the 38-year-old Moews, accusing Clarke of an autocratic style. "But if you are an effective leader that gains the respect of your peers and workers, they are going to work that much harder for you."

His rapport with deputies and other local law enforcement officials would bolster his effectiveness, Moews said.

Clarke, 54, said Moews was just plain wrong.

He believes in strong leadership and admits to rubbing some deputies the wrong way over his efforts to overcome years of complacency, Clarke said.

Keep in mind that Clarke has been the sheriff since 2002. Either the complacency developed while he was sheriff or he has failed to straighten the ship in eight years. Either way, it is an admission of failure.

To further enforce the suspicion that Clarke's leadership style is more about egomaniacal control than anything else, I recently learned that Clarke has suspended an officer for twenty days without pay. The officer's penalty to receive such a harsh sentence? Taking off for his father's funeral and putting the time off in the wrong slot on Ceridian. That's something that could have been fixed in less than minutes. To give a grieving officer who just lost his father that much time for a silly mistake is beyond excessive.

All of this only serves to show why Chris Moews is having a groundswell of support from all corners of the county. We are in need of responsible leadership, not grandstanding narcissists.

Truer Now Than Then

Via Milwaukee County First, a Stuart Carlson classic:

I Agree With Tim Carpenter

From Milwaukee News Buzz:

Work on a proposed $1 billion expansion of Interstate 39-90 running from Madison south to the Illinois border wouldn’t get underway until at least 2015, but state officials are already planning in earnest. That’s prompted State Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) to object to the project. He says the money would be better spent on local roads.

“We have to rethink relentless freeway expansions made at the expense of our local infrastructure,” he says. The infrastructure in Milwaukee sorely needs the funding. Milwaukee Ald. Bob Bauman, a former transportation consultant, estimates that $200 million would be sufficient to resurface the 21 percent of city streets found to be in “poor condition” by a 2008 audit, according to a February story in Milwaukee Magazine.

Instead of floundering around on senseless talking points like the right does when they say the money for high speed rail should be diverted, let's do something that we do have control over.

Some "Revealing" Facts About Walker's Donors

Greg Kowalski, aka Mr. Franklin, thought he'd do a little research into who from his hometown of Franklin, WI, was donating to Scott Walker's gubernatorial campaign ahead of a stop Walker has scheduled tomorrow.*

Kowalski's findings were, shall we say, rather revealing.

Walker has received over $1500 from the Hay family (Gerald, Sandra and Danny E.), who all happen to be in ownership of and work at "On The Border" strip club.**

But there's more.

Kowalski also found this tidbit about Sandra Hay:

Perhaps I found one of the reasons why: In digging a little deeper on how Sandra Hay could be listed as "self employed" by "self", I came across an article from the Chicago Breaking News Center, which is a news collaboration of the Chicago Tribune, CLTV & WGN. The article focuses on a controversial methadone clinic in Waukegan, which Mrs. Hay was a co-owner, that closed last year after a death prompted Illinois authorities to inspect the clinic. The article reports that the business likely closed due to the strong possibility of its license being revoked after it did "very poorly" on those inspections. Towards the end of the article, published August 25, 2009, it noted Hay's ownership of On the Border and that IL authorities were investigating a possible connection between the club and the clinic. It is unknown if they closed the case.

I would think that Scott Walker just might want to return that tainted money, what with him supposedly being the son of a preacher man and all.

*Rather telling that Walker won't be at Laborfest. But we already know that he doesn't support working men and women.

**Another possible reason why some members of the local talk radio/right wing blogosphere like Walker.

The Not-So-Great Deer Hunter

Walker has complained about there not being enough things to shoot in the woods:

Walker also pledged to “put more deer in the forest” with the help of the trustee and other changes. Walker said he has been hunting for three or four years and has not killed a deer.

Standing outside the shooting range at West Town Archery in Milwaukee, Walker said that like many hunters, he got tired of standing in a tree stand during last year’s season and not seeing deer.

The Republican candidate for governor hunts in Crawford County in western Wisconsin.

Walker's solution is to privatize deer sex. (If you think that it's bad that he wants to try to control deer going into rut, imagine what he would want to do in the privacy of our bedrooms.)

But something tells me that the problem with Walker's deer hunting prowess, or lack thereof, has nothing to to do with the DNR or the extreme weather we've been having for the past few years.

I have a feeling that the problem lies more with Walker himself:

Walker's Not The Only One That Can't Follow The Law

Kohler Company accused of unfair labor practices:

The union representing about 2,300 Kohler Co. employees has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.

The charge alleges Kohler Co. acted in bad faith by distributing a letter to all employees outlining what kind of wage and benefit concessions the company is seeking during negotiations with the union. The letter, signed by company president David Kohler, was sent out Monday.

That's the same thing Walker has been doing for about a year now. He illegally tried to negotiate the contract with AFSCME through his deficit budget, through the media and through emails to county employees on the county's internal email system.

The only difference is that AFSCME has already filed their complaint with the state's version of the NLRB, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.

With all of his grandstanding, Walker has already cost the tax payers millions of dollars in lost savings. And if AFSCME prevails, the tax payers will have to pay for that as well.

Walker is all show and no substance.

Phony Candidate, Phony Ad

From FOX6Now:



Not only is the bar phony, but so is the premise, considering that Barrett has brought in hundreds, if not thousands of jobs, while Walker has constantly pushed jobs out of town.

Walker's Serbian Irony

From MKEPolitics:

Scott Walker, Milwaukee County executive and Republican candidate for governor, will conduct his “Primary Election Victory Party” on the night of the election, Tuesday, Sept. 14, at American Serb Hall in Milwaukee.

In case you weren't aware, Serb Hall is an union shop. But Walker doesn't know how to deal with unions very well, so I doubt he'll be leaving a tip.

At least some union members will get to see first hand Walker's disappointment as his gubernatorial hopes get dashed.

RoJo Lied? Say It Ain't So!

Sorry, but it is so:



WISDems press release regarding this video.