Tag: wisconsin

The DNC seems to be sitting out the Wisconsin recall.

Alternate title: Eau de Flopsweat from #wirecall Democrats.

Alernate-alternate title: DOOM.

You know, when I saw this secondhand whine from Wisconsin Democrats upset that the DNC apparently wasn’t prepared to throw half a million dollars at the general recall election, I assumed that this would be resolved.  I mean, really: the Left has  already thrown away tens of millions of dollars; what’s a bit more?  Admittedly, not throwing utterly horrible money after bad (we’ve passed the ‘throwing good money after bad’ stage already) would be the right answer, in a strictly utilitarian sense; but the state party is in a bad way right now.  They sort of need an indication that the President cares for more than his own election, right?

Well… that’s apparently not going to happen.  MSNBC’s Chuck Todd asked Obama’s deputy* campaign manager Stephanie Cutter whether the DNC would be sending money earmarked for the recall, and Ms. Cutter said… nothing in particular. And definitely nothing that would commit the DNC to giving out money. Continue reading The DNC seems to be sitting out the Wisconsin recall.

Gov. Scott Walker (R, WI) brings in a budget surplus! #wirecall

Second year running.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s administration said Thursday that its new revenue projections show the state will finish the 2011-2013 budget years with a surplus rather than the deficit predicted earlier this year.

The projections were based on stronger-than-anticipated personal income growth last year, Walker officials said. The numbers could give the governor a boost as he heads into a June 5 recall election against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Gee, you think?

Continue reading Gov. Scott Walker (R, WI) brings in a budget surplus! #wirecall

The DOOM that came to Wisconsin Democrats.

Here are the final results of last night’s primary contest, and presumably a variant of this[***] will end up on Democratic political operatives’ desks across the breadth of Wisconsin:

Barrett 390,109
Falk 228,940
Vinehout 26,926
La Follette 19,461
Huber 4,842
Total 670,278
Walker 626,538

Note that that total does not include the almost 20K of ‘Republican’ votes accumulated by ‘Republican’ Arthur Kohl-Riggs, given that the use of square quotes in both cases is justified.: he’s not a Republican, and neither were his supporters. And let me make this one point: Kohl-Riggs demonstrates why I don’t really believe in strategic opposite-side voting and/or Operation Chaos-style shenanigans.  I am not convinced that such things worked, and yesterday’s results seems to back me up on that. Yes, I know that Republican spoiler Isaac Weix came in second in the LT-GOV primary recall (which is why nobody on the Left is bring that race’s total voters up); but I should note that he did not, in point of fact, actually win. Continue reading The DOOM that came to Wisconsin Democrats.

#rsrh WI-RECALL update: Barrett, Falk acting like… Wisconsin Democrats, actually.

The Democratic Wisconsin recall primary battle continues to show all of the dignity and maturity levels of a high school Prom C0mmittee slap-fight:

A prominent Democratic Party leader is warning gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk not to go negative in her primary campaign against her rival Tom Barrett. Falk says she won’t change her strategy.

Dave Obey served in Congress for 41 years, and now supports Tom Barrett in the primary. Wednesday, Obey reacted to published reports that Kathleen Falk, behind in the polls, is going to take aim at Barrett.

Seriously, here’s a thematic translation of all of this: Continue reading #rsrh WI-RECALL update: Barrett, Falk acting like… Wisconsin Democrats, actually.

WI-GOV Recall Democrats running on… property tax hikes?

Wait, what?

If states are really the laboratories of democracy, then apparently Wisconsin is the place where all the mad scientists go to cook up the latest abomination of science with which to terrify the populace. And one case in point is the way that the Democratic party in Wisconsin has decided to run with the novel platform of explicitly offering to raise other people’s taxes in order to maintain certain Democratic cronies’ current-but-threatened standard of living.

I simply cannot come up with a sarcastic comment worthy of that particular brainstorm.  Sorry.

But let me give you the background.  Believe it or not, average property taxes went down in Wisconsin last year for the first time in over a decade. This happened because Scott Walker and the state legislature – not being idiots – knew that if they didn’t impose strict limits on property tax increases then local governments would simply hike said taxes up in order to maintain their current (and quite unsustainable) budgetary spending. Good news, right? Continue reading WI-GOV Recall Democrats running on… property tax hikes?

#rsrh Now THIS is an entertaining anti-Falk WI-GOV recall ad.

Not so much for the ad itself, but because I’m blatantly not giving a courtesy link to PolitiFact for it.

PolitiFact has been stepping in it with regard to their blatant partisanship lately, and the only way that they’re going to learn better is if they start getting negative feedback.  So… no link.  Links are for honest sites.

Moe Lane

PS: I support Scott Walker in the recall election, of course.

PPS: Hey, quick question: does Kathleen Falk think that stay at home moms don’t actually work?  Tom Barrett, too, for that matter – after all, they’re both Democrats, so it’s a valid question.  And one that should be asked, preferably when there’s a camera right there to get their instant reactions.

Tom Barrett (D), biting the hand that saved his city.

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth is an ungrateful Democratic mayor.

Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee would like to have it both ways, it seems.

The background is this: Barrett is contemplating running against Scott Walker in the upcoming recall election, despite the fact that Walker beat him like a drum in 2010 and the governor of Wisconsin is in a pretty good position to do the same again.  Still, there’s always 2014 to consider, and goodness knows that there’s nobody as credulous as a Wisconsin progressive, so Barrett is actively fundraising off of his ever-so-principled opposition to Walker’s reforms.  The Journal-Sentinel excerpted this quote from Barrett’s fundraising email: “By his actions from his first days in office to today, Scott Walker has put special interests ahead of the common interest.”

“Special interests ahead of the common interest.”  Well, Brian Bolduc of National Review Online notes something interesting about that: which one of those two best describes Milwaukee residents? Continue reading Tom Barrett (D), biting the hand that saved his city.

Judge David Flanagan linked to Scott Walker recall. Twice.

Quick background, as to why you should care: Judge Flanagan has placed a temporary (although you can count on the Democrats wanting to put that adjective in scare quotes, and right quickly) restraining order on last year’s Wisconsin voter reform law mandating that voters show picture ID.  There are a few “this just happens” involved, here:

  • This just happens to prevent Voter ID from being implemented in Wisconsin’s open Presidential primary in April 3rd.  Normally that wouldn’t be all that big a deal, except that this year the Democrats are openly calling for disrupting the Republican nomination process.
  • This just happens to be a judge who last year signed a recall petition against Governor Scott Walker.  And Flanagan neglected to admit to this event, prior to making his decision.
  • And this just happens to be a judge who has former Kathleen Falk (and current Wisconsin Education Association Council) adviser Melissa Mulliken as his campaign manager.  This is important because Falk is of course running against Scott Walker in the recall election – and WEAC has preemptively endorsed Falk.  Also, Mulliken has been prominent in the anti-Walker crusade.

Continue reading Judge David Flanagan linked to Scott Walker recall. Twice.

Update on the Scott Walker recall shenanigans.

So, let me tell you of the wickedness of the world… or, more accurately, of the abject stupidity of the anti-Scott Walker forces in Wisconsin.  Which is really not the same thing, but it at least sounds good.  Or at least jovial.

Anyway, here’s the background: the Wisconsin Left, having managed to allegedly get enough signatures to force a recall election against a governor enjoying a 51% approval rating (and this, after several years of nigh-relentless demonization) is now trying to figure out how to actually win a recall election with the schlubs, has-beens, never-weres and other political detritus that would make up their, and I use the term loosely, ‘talent pool.’  In this particular case, it doesn’t help that there’s an important fault line within the Left being revealed by events.  One the one hand, you’ve got the public sector union leadership, who are even now starting to feel the first signs of withdrawal from not being able to directly mainline mandatory union dues into their veins; on the other, there’s the actual Democratic party leadership, who are still hooked in with their source of ‘free’ money, and so are able to think more clearly. Continue reading Update on the Scott Walker recall shenanigans.