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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Governor Candidate Scott Walker Missteps, Every Misstep of the Way.



Wisconsin is in real trouble if the people buy the idea that Scott Walker will be good for them. Presenting the case that Walker is incompetent and not familiar with the reality of poverty and struggling families is easy, just look at the following, starting with the jsonline:
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker says he didn't mean to subject sheriff's deputies and jailers to eight unpaid furlough days next year, but others say one of his 2010 budget vetoes did just that. At stake is roughly $250,000 in savings counted toward next year's budget, as well as Walker's credentials as a Republican law-and-order candidate for governor. Walker has already criticized Mayor Tom Barrett for the two furlough days Barrett OK'd for city police officers.

County Board Chairman Lee Holloway said that Walker was skewing his interpretation of the final budget provision on employee furloughs to try to cover a mistake he made with a budget veto. Walker changed his tune "so he doesn't look bad across the state" while appealing for conservative support for governor, Holloway said.

His veto statement makes no mention of a law enforcement furlough exemption.
That's just one big mistake, there's more:

Wispolitics wrote: Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s decision to rely on phantom county employee salary and benefit givebacks has created another looming budget crisis for 2010. Rob Henken, president of the nonpartisan Public Policy Forum, (said) that it was “unlikely the county could avoid another budget crisis in early 2010… without ‘significant service cuts.’” Walker relied on furlough and unpaid days off for county workers – which were never negotiated – in order to balance his budget.

Walker’s budget was already rife with major cuts, including the outsourcing of jobs at Mitchell International Airport, dismantling of the Community Justice Resource Center, and elimination of a bus information call center that would have increased mass transit efficiency. The upcoming budget shortfall could result in
up to 500 jobs loss on top of layoffs already in the budget.
Walker's parting gift to the next county executive is job cuts and budget shortfalls as far as the eye can see. The following numbers, from onewisconsinnow, would normally sink anyone's campaign for public office, but not when you’re a Republican.
Walker’s 2010 “credit card” budget, which actually INCREASES spending from 2009 by 6.3% -- twice the rate of inflation. As pointed out by Eye on Wisconsin: From 2003 to 2010, Walker has increased county spending by 35%, and raised the levy 18% -that’s a $40 million dollar increase.

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