The Secret Scott Walker Agenda: it's gotten to the point that Staff and Legislators don't even know.

I'll admit, it's difficult to blog three or four stories a day without getting really depressed.

Let's face it, two thirds of Wisconsinites who are not part of the Borg-like Republican authority don't have a say anymore.

Conservative radio talk hosts are outraged people would protest and speak out against government policy. I'm serious. The other day I heard WIBA's Vicki McKenna blast and belittle stunned Wisconsinites fighting to keep our state parks and public university accessible to all. It seems the 1st Amendment is damn awful annoying to them lately. Who protests anymore, when sugar daddy billionaires are buying our politicians.

My conservative friend in Milwaukee shocked me yesterday when I asked him about Scott Walker's latest budget surprises, you know, dumping the UW and state parks. Ready for this? He didn't know what I was talking about. He follows Benghazi, Hillary's emails, and Obama's lawlessness, but Walker's inflicted pain on Wisconsin? Hey, it's gonna be baseball season he said.

So just in case he reads this, here's what John Torinus, chairman of Serigraph Inc in West Bend said the other day:

The budget surprises and gaffes demonstrate the staff's isolation from the citizens, from the cabinet and even from legislative leaders, who were also out of the loop on some major budget bombshells. 

Cathy Stepp, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, admitted to being surprised by the governor's budget proposal to strip the Natural Resources Board of its traditional policy-making role. She also does not appear to have been directly involved in the major decision to zero out the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund that conserves select lands.

Similarly, Kitty Rhoades, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was caught flat-footed by the budget proposal to completely revamp the state's Medicaid program for long-term health care of the elderly and handicapped. It's a $2 billion program, so this is not a trivial matter.

Before the bombshell budget came out, Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb had gone public with a call for a lot more money for road building, The secretary must have been embarrassed. Instead, Walker proposed in his budget a major bonding program that avoids a tax hike now but will probably raise taxes down the road.

Torinus, who my conservative friend has liked and listened to in the past, also brought up...

Whacking the University of Wisconsin System, trimming K-12 education, jacking up public park fees and cutting state support for parks and killing stewardship. 

So for anyone else like my disconnected conservative friend, think about this: 

Gov. Walker said his primary focus after election would be governing Wisconsin, because that would be the best credential if he were to run for the presidency.

How's that working out for us?