Now there’s something that you don’t see every day: “Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said Democratic candidate for governor Mary Burke’s position on school choice is “reminiscent of the US Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision.”” Spoken like a man who got 74% of the vote in his last election, and who is perhaps blithely unconcerned that he could be open to charges of racism:
Continue reading Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke links Mary Burke (D CAND, WI-GOV) to Dred Scott.
Which is awkward, given that she’s the Democratic front-runner and everything:
Democrat Mary Burke says she won’t be able to self-fund her campaign for governor, saying she does not have that kind of wealth.
When Burke first floated the idea of running for governor, her personal wealth made her an appealing candidate to some Democrats and made others think twice about entering the race. The former Trek executive, whose father founded the company, has not disclosed her net worth, though she did donate more than $400,000 to her campaign in just its first few months.
But Burke says people should not expect her to spend as much as some of Wisconsin’s most famous self-funded candidates.
Continue reading Mary Burke won’t throw *own* money down WI-GOV rathole.
Does Scott Walker not understand that all that tax money belongs to the State?
The ($531 million) tax decreases — the third round of cuts by Republicans in less than a year — passed 17-15 with GOP Sen. Dale Schultz of Richland Center joining all Democrats in voting against the proposal. The proposal now goes to the Assembly, which passed a different version of the tax cuts last month with two Democrats joining all Republicans in supporting it.
With growing tax collections now expected to give the state a $1billion budget surplus in June 2015, Walker’s bill will cut property and income taxes for families and businesses, and zero out all income taxes for manufacturers in the state.
Conservative Intelligence Briefing reminds me that the RGA carpeted-bombed the Mary Burke campaign today:
Short version: 130K jobs lost, 3 billion shortfall under Burke and Governor Doyle, Burke’s family’s company outsourced jobs to the Chinese (it’s that last one that’s gonna hurt worst in Wisconsin). Welcome to the 2014 election cycle! …Hope you don’t blanch at the sight of a good blood splatter.
Continue reading The RGA is wasting no time in the Wisconsin Governor’s race.
Going up against The Honey Badger King* is hard enough as it is without having to add excess baggage:
Spokesperson for @Burke4WI says Democratic candidate for Governor will not be joining @BarackObama in Waukesha on Thursday.
— Greg Neumann (@gneumann_wkow) January 28, 2014
Maintain your composure, people. No tears! No tears:
The 2011 state law that all but ended collective bargaining for most public workers has hit Wisconsin’s second largest union hard.
The Capital Times reports the latest tax documents available show combined income of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees dropped 45% in 2012. That was the first full year of the law, called Act 10.
In 2011, the four councils that make up the state organization reported a combined income of $14.9 million. In 2012 that dropped to $8.3 million. Dues revenue dropped 40% to $7.1 million.
Turns out that if you give people an opportunity to vote with their pocketbooks, they take it. I’d also note that a hefty percentage of those people opting out of forced union dues are undoubtedly doing it because Big Labor is a lapdog for the Democratic party establishment. Gallup found in 2012 that 35% of union households backed Mitt Romney (34%, government union); while that may not make much of an electoral difference, I imagine that those folks are now happy not to be paying for Democratic attacks on their candidates. I suggest that the unions take a hint or two from this. Continue reading AFSCME in dues freefall after Wisconsin labor union reforms.
I remember when that particular state party was effective. Or even competent.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin scrubbed its website Wednesday of accusations that Gov. Scott Walker was kicked out of Marquette University and student elections there.
The move was in response to a PolitiFact Wisconsin investigation that found no evidence Walker was forced out of either.
In the story published Wednesday, PolitiFact reported that Marquette, with Walker’s permission, released a letter that said he left voluntarily in spring 1990 and was in good standing each term. That means no conduct issues, academic or otherwise, blocked his registration.
Continue reading Wisconsin Democrats forced to retract Scott Walker smears from website.
This is who they got? Really?
Mary Burke, former Governor Jim Doyle’s economic development architect…
(interrupting) Wisconsin lost 133,000 jobs during Doyle’s last term. Even the left-leaning Politifact couldn’t get around that minor detail, though goodness knows that they tried. And even the left-leaning Politifact can’t deny that Wisconsin has gained 62,000 jobs under Scott Walker’s first two years, although goodness knows that they tried there, too.
Hey, remember all those sweetheart under-the-wire deals that Wisconsin public sector unions negotiated with Wisconsin Democrats, just after collective bargaining and public union reform got passed by Walker and the Wisconsin state legislature? Basically, they loaded up in 2011 for the foreseeable future… if you define ‘foreseeable future’ as ‘three years;’ to be fair, most Democratic politicians do.
Anyway. Welcome to the World of Tomorrow! Continue reading Madison, Wisconsin mayor trying to deal with the CHICKENS! ….Coming home to ROOST!
I actually… do not take pleasure in this:
For many years we have had the pleasure of coordinating and organizing our great Labor Day Parade and Laborfest Celebration with the Laborfest Committee and our staff. As you know our great Labor Day Celebration has been a staple in Milwaukee and an event that we not only look forward too, but the greater community looks forward to as well. This year we have cancelled our huge parade and Laborfest and we wanted to be sure that everyone who looks forward to our annual celebration is aware of this. We know there has been some conversation and speculation so we wanted to make certain our message is spread properly.
Continue reading Milwaukee Area Labor Council decides to cancel forced-dues-subsidized party.