Scott Walker not really into Wisconsin!

If you are one of those anti-government types, then what Scott Walker is doing makes perfect sense to you; its just politics, where the ends justify the means, people get hurt but that's life.  

But when policy ignores growing state problems, we've got a problem. Here's a quick rundown of ignored problems any responsible governor would be on the front lines facing, and proactively solving...except Walker. Could he even acknowledgment or show just a little concern?

We're the dairy state for god's sake:

JS: Dairy farming has been Kyle Kurt's livelihood, and his passion, since he graduated from Lodi High School 18 years ago. But come Monday, he's having an auction to sell his cows, his milking equipment, his tractors and other farm machinery that he's spent years acquiring. “It’s probably the toughest decision I have ever had to make,” Kurt said. "Something's got to change or the small farms are going to be gone."

Scores of Wisconsin farmers are in a similar predicament. And with them, a way of life that has defined much of the state for more than a century and a half is disintegrating. 

Entire communities are falling apart as small farms go under, said John Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders, a Madison based advocacy group. Grain mills, car dealerships and hardware stores suffer. The local tax base erodes. Churches and schools struggle or close. “The multiplier effect on the rural economy is huge. It’s why you are seeing all these boarded-up small towns,” Peck said.

Wisconsin lost 500 dairy farms in 2017, and about 150 have quit milking cows so far this year, putting the total number of milk-cow herds at around 7,600 — down 20% from five years ago. Federal court data shows the Western District of Wisconsin had the highest number of Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies in the nation in 2017. Some farmers cover up taking their own life by making it look like a farm accident, said Joel Greeno, president of Family Farm Defenders and a farmer near Kendall in southwest Wisconsin.

Rural Broadband? Walker in No Rush: Remember this...

The state is turning down $23 million because state taxpayers would have been on the hook for the entire amount if the state could not meet the grant's precise requirements, Mike Huebsch, secretary of the state Department of Administration, said.

Blind to Business Opportunities, Walker spends dwindling state taxpayer money: There's no rush, nothing wrong with almost being last in the nation:

Wisconsin ranks 49th among states and the District of Columbia in the average download internet speed for a wired connection, according to the report from Speedtest, a Seattle technology firm.

WHA: Ask Dan Corbin how badly northern Wisconsin needs broadband internet, and he’ll tell you some residents in his town are still using dial-up. The chairman for the Town of Summit said residents have yet to see the expansion of broadband service to rural areas of Douglas County and the City of Superior ... Superior residents are paying the same monthly rate as residents of La Crosse for slower internet service. Northern Wisconsin officials also expressed concern over discrepancies between the speeds that providers advertise are available and what service is reflected on the FCC’s broadband map.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is committed to improving access, Dickison said. He held listening sessions

In rural areas, it’s about $8,000 per subscriber, said Jeff Lee, operations director at Norvado in Cable, Wis., which has been working with fiber optic cable installations since 1983 ... With fiber optic cable and copper hardline so expensive to install across long distances, wireless options are being considered … fixed wireless also rely on sending data over short distances, and can't handle "high data" activities, like video streaming, very well.

The Wall Street Journal reports, approximately 39 percent of the rural population in the country, about 23 million people, don't have "fast" internet, which is defined as having the speed to support "email, web surfing, video streaming, and graphics for more than one device at once," the Journal writes. On the other hand, only 4 percent of urban dwellers lack fast internet. Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler concluded that Americans should have access to both fast home Internet and mobile broadband.

Walker's Coal Dust Kids: Imagine a thin film of coal dust on everything around you. How safe, how healthy, how nervous would you feel daily?

In 2008 before he was governor, he signed the Koch-backed “No Climate Tax Pledge,” by Americans for Prosperity, that he will oppose any legislation relating to climate change—presumably a cap-and-trade plan or a carbon tax—that would result in a “net increase in government revenue.”Walker has argued, based on a study funded by the coal company Peabody Energy, that the new rules are “unworkable” because they would be too expensive for manufacturers and residents.

Urban Milwaukee: You might call Walker the King of Coal. Just nine states in America are more dependent on coal than Wisconsin. The state now gets 63 percent of its energy from coal, up from about 55 percent when he took office. That’s largely because the Kewaunee nuclear power plant was closed, but it’s also because the state has been asleep on solar and wind power for six years.

Isthmus: Out of step with average voters: 70 percent believe the U.S. should put more emphasis on wind energy production, and 76 percent support increased solar. 60 percent of conservatives support taking action to accelerate clean energy use.

Republicans to allow Businesses to hire based on your Politics, Non-Religion, Prior Wage History...etc!!!

Scott Walker's recent ad campaign asking out-of-state young people to move to Wisconsin for jobs is just one side of the story, and a deceptive one.

"Don't Live in Wisconsin" ads? It's time the "left" fought back. We should have some well-funded group running ads to counter the deceptive ones put out by Walker. Yes, an anti-Wisconsin ad, where minimum wages are forced, benefits laughed at, mass transit discouraged, and protected class status wiped completely out so employers can mistreat and take advantage of your situation. Basically, tell the truth about the market here, and see how their policies help or hurt their state's economy.

Insulting "Equal Employment Standardization Act" does the Opposite:" See this previous blog post. Digging deeper in Rep. Chris Kapenga's big government Republican plan to establish a one-size-fits-all labor standard, it looks like employers will have the opportunity to bring back the kind of coercive serfdom they've been craving for decades.

...prohibit local municipalities from establishing and enforcing their own employment discrimination laws.The protected classes that would be eliminated include gender identity, non-religion, homelessness, source of income, lack of a social security number, physical appearance, political beliefs, student status, domestic partners, citizenship, unemployment status and credit history.

"Political beliefs?" Wow, I didn't expect that one, but then again, it makes sense since Republicans only allow businesses in Wisconsin that fit their narrow corporate agenda. Nothing overtly fascistic here.

Here again is a video showing a stumbling bumbling Kapenga struggle to explain his earlier purely ideological bill in Feb. 2014 to Dane County Executive Joe Parisi.

  

Remember, Republicans recently repealed and then rewrote a regulation that now allows 16 and 17-year-olds to work without a parents permission, while they're still in school.

Eliminated restrictions on 16- and 17-year-olds working more than 26 hours during a school week and more than 50 hours a week during vacations ... but they will not be permitted to join a union without a signed parental consent.

Democrats maintain the bill would allow children to make important life decisions that could adversely affect their educations — against their parents’ wishes.

And remember this:

Seven-day workweeks (are now) allowed and provisions for a "living wage" (were) struck from state statutes.  

Note, this will also spread into Wisconsin someday, maybe tied in with work requirements for food stamps, BadgerCare, and unemployment:

"...in Georgia, thousands of unemployed people are working without a salary in “auditions” for paying gigs."

Getting back to the current bill...:

The city could not enforce employment discrimination in Madison. Between 70 and 80 percent of all cases the civil rights department receives are related to employment. By removing the city’s enforcement ability ... the state would need to absorb over 100 cases, which would likely take longer to investigate.

This is the GOP's plan to end American progress, terminating social and economic ideas that always start at the local level:

1. Create uniform regulations across the state for employment hours and benefits.

2. Give employers the right to ask for prospective employees’ salary histories.

3. Prohibit municipalities from setting a higher minimum wage than the state for contracted employees.

4. Set a statewide standard and prohibit local ordinances regarding wage claims.

  

Big Government Republicans to wipe out Local control over Labor Standards, praising One-Size-Fits-All "consistency" and "stability."

Would you believe...so far, Republican voters believe, and they're willing to give up local control of their own communities for the ridiculous excuse that it offers "consistency" and "stability" to employee hours, benefits, wage and discrimination claims. What, you didn't know this was a big problem?

AP: A Republican bill would prevent local governments in Wisconsin from enacting a variety of ordinances pertaining to employment matters, including limits on working hours, overtime, benefits, and discrimination and wage claims ... the measure is needed to create statewide employment standards to provide consistency and stability both for employers and employees. 

Even though "Democrats and labor unions" oppose the one-size-fits-all attack on labor, this is really a slap at every working stiff in the state, and every employer trying to compete statewide and nationally.  

Republicans aren't hiding anything anymore; it's feel-good anti-worker conservativism, with the added benefit of killing off local control:

(Part of) a movement championed by Walker, who has built his reputation by effectively ending collective bargaining and enacting a right to work law. Since 2016, at least 15 states passed 28 such laws covering everything from barring higher local minimum wages to blocking more generous paid leave provisions, based on an August report from the Economic Policy Institute.

Walker's Ad Touting Work in Wisconsin...a Lie: Have you seen that Scott Walker ad campaign telling workers in other states how much different and better Wisconsin is? Nope, Wisconsin wants to be like every other low wage state. That's not all, Republicans think workers aren't too smart and are easily confused by the different local standards. And you won't believe the line of ideological word salad bullshit from the bill's lead sponsor State Sen. Chris Kapenga:

Kapenga said the restrictions were needed in the face of cities in other states enacting ordinances covering such things as wages, benefits and other issues that result in a patchwork of requirements creating confusion. Having a variety of different local requirements would make Wisconsin a less competitive and more costly state to do business, he said.

"We're talking about doing what's right for Wisconsin knowing what's happening around the country," Kapenga said.

Doing What's Right? Kapenga isn't the only self-righteous Republican:

Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield: “There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good."

Put another, better way...: 

Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer for the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO: "This bill is about power, the power to overreach and tell citizens in their own communities that they don't know what's best for them."

MUST SEE VIDEO: Check out this debate between Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Chis Kapenga from Feb. 21, 2014, when Kapenga first came up with this statewide idea after the Milwaukee County Board brought up a living wage ordinance.  One guy is intellectually honest, the other struggles to make any sense. From WKOW:

Blatant Kapenga Conflict of Interest? Get this, Rep. Chris Kapenga is CEO of Integrated Time Systems, and originally wrote a similar law to protect his own company in Brookfield:

"My company is in Milwaukee and the second I saw the news story come out that there may be an ordinance put in place, I started working on this," said Rep. Kapenga, who owns a computer software business.

Here's what this amazing Republican bill does, supported by the usual list of big monied special interests, like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce ... the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, and groups representing independent businesses, restaurants, the tourism industry, hotels and staffing services:

1. Prohibit local governments from setting higher wages in deals with contractors.

2. Prohibit labor peace agreements, which are deals in which employers agree not to resist a union's organizing attempts

3. Bar the enforcement of licensing regulations that are stricter than state's standard

4. Forbid the enactment or enforcement of employment discrimination standards.

Walker's Big Government Budget wipes out Local Control again, taking with it Public Safety!!!

Republicans hate liberal big government policies. That doesn't mean they hate big government though. How would you like an overbearing, know-it-all, one party, dictatorial, authoritarian state? Coming right up. 

Heck, why don't I let a Republican explain the concept:

Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield: “There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good.”

Kinda takes your breath away...or at least it should.

Former Republican State Sen. Mary Lazich redefined "local control" this amazing way:



Question of Balance? Totally destroying the idea of local control, Republican weasel Rep. Robin Vos resorted to the old standard, "it's just a question of balance," to do away with local control:



GOP Making Liberal Big Government Look Really Really small: This authoritarian one party vision has been rolling along for the last seven years. Take a look at the Republicans latest takeover bid that would kill the spread of those liberal-leaning walking/bike trails that takes cars off our now crumbling roads:

A provision added to the 2017-2019 state budget denies cities, villages and towns the ability to use condemnation — acquiring private property from unwilling sellers for public use — to expand or build new sidewalks, bicycle lanes and trails.

An incensed Madison Mayor Paul Soglin blasted GOP lawmakers: "We happen to think it's important that children going to school not get run over. But obviously we've got legislators who just don't give a damn about issues of safety. This is driven by bitter people who hate the rest of the state.

It's just one more example where with millions of people in this state there's one or two property owners upset about the ability to condemn for public safety. And now we've got a Legislature that disregards the safety of millions of people from one end of the state to the other."

Soglin also labeled the lawmakers supporting the provision as "anti-economic development," noting that Amazon recently issued a request for proposals for cities interested in being home to a new $3.7 billion headquarters facility. The specs include bike accessibility. Not only would the provision put Wisconsin out of the running, he said, but "nobody would be able to put bicycle paths or sidewalks into the Foxconn deal." 


The city intends to file an open records request to get any correspondence about the provision and “the special interest that’s going to be at work here,” Soglin said.“We really have not learned and had a good explanation from the perpetrators of this as to their motivation and what they’re trying to solve,” he said. Madison City Engineer Rob Phillips said the measure allows a single property owner who doesn't want to sell a right-of-way to kill several bike path projects, some in the works and some planned for the future. It's unclear who inserted the provision into a transportation budget amendment before last week's committee vote. 

Mining Taking control of Local Governments:  Right now, the legislative Republican environmental bulldozer Sen. Tom Tiffany is trying again to trash small local communities. Is it any wonder rural voters hate government:

• Limit public opportunities to contest DNR decisions, eliminate an automatic hearing with an administrative law judge and rolls back a judge's authority to halt mining activities if such a hearing was granted.

• Ends DNR authority to require a mining company to provide evidence that its solid waste disposal process will protect ground water indefinitely.

• Repeal a law requiring the DNR to deny a mine's request for a high-capacity well that would unreasonably harm the ability of others to have drinking water or enjoy lakes and streams. Instead require the mine to replace a dried-up water supply or temporarily shore up the water level in an affected lake or stream.

•  Eliminate rules that address the specific problems that a mining project can cause by disturbing the flow of water above and below the surface.

Here's something that ignored and affected a whole bunch of local communities:

WPR: Wisconsin residents can no longer challenge state Department of Natural Resources permits for a high-capacity well if state officials failed to look at what the well might do to overall groundwater in the area. Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker got rid of the cumulative impacts challenge when they passed the state budget a year ago. 

Here's a great, but now outdated, list that was posted awhile back:

Wisconsin Republicans Consolidate Power, Erode Local Control Republicans Add to List of 100+ Measures that Harm Local Decision-Making; Republican legislators continue to propose even more bills that would tie the hands of local governments. “Republicans say they are the ‘Party of Local Control’ but their actions show the opposite,” Democratic Rep. Shankland said. 

Reporter Matthew DeFour wrote this nice summary:

Since consolidating control of state government in 2011, Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature have enacted a series of laws that upend a bedrock of their party’s conservatism: the principle of local control. The GOP has wrested from local government’s control of cellphone tower siting, shoreland zoning restrictions, landlord-tenant regulations, public employee residency requirements, family medical leave rules for private companies and large soft drink bans, among other things. It instituted a statewide voucher program opposed by many school boards and has kept tight property tax caps on school districts and municipalities. The latest and perhaps most disconcerting example for many local officials is a bill introduced by Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, that would limit a municipality’s ability to regulate certain aspects of frac sand mining operations, such as blasting, damage to highways, and air and water quality.

“Many (municipal leaders) will tell you how terrible it is and how it’s the worst they’ve ever seen,” said Dan Thompson, executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. UW-Madison political science professor emeritus Dennis Dresang. “But boy, recently, that’s really going out the door. What we see from the tea party types and the radical right types is, ‘I've got an idea, I've got an agenda, and it really ought to apply across the board."

Big Government Walker to Protect Wisconsin with Nanny State Transgender Bathroom Law.

Funny thing, at the same time Scott Walker accused Obama and the Justice Department of transgender bathroom overreach by the federal government...he and Rep. Jesse Kremer want a statewide law usurping local control to create their own policy?

Republican state lawmaker Rep. Jesse Kremer (R-Kewaskum) plans on renewing his push this year for a "bathroom bill" in Wisconsin similar to the one in North Carolina, which would limit people to entering bathrooms that match their birth sex. "Progressive activists have finally blatantly, and unintentionally, unveiled their real war on women." Kremer and Sen. Steve Nass said the measure was needed to protect all students' privacy and safety and reinforce “the societal norms in our schools.”

Nationally, the Republican talking points network spread the precisely worded response. It included "local" and "that's what school boards are for." Scott Walker memorized every word, despite saying something completely different last year. Today...:

"The bottom line is issues like that need to be addressed at the local level. That's what we elect school boards for. It's not an issue the federal government should be involved in, nor should the state. It should really be left up to the local districts."

Or does Walker mean this, from last October:

“I think it’s important to have some clarity about that and I know school districts around the state have just begun to deal with that,” Walker said of the issue. “I understand at least one school district has looked at a separate bathroom and I think that makes some sense but I think with respect to all the other students there’s got to be some clarity.”

Will the "incidental" governor sign Kremer's bill into law because, well it's there in front of him? Anything is better than Obama's overreach, right?

Turning the majority political party into a rightwing socialist sledgehammer is just one goal. Kremer's bill would not just target transgender Wisconsinites, it would also turn liberal supporters into intolerant bigots: 

"In an attempt to appease a few individuals, these (liberal) extremists have overplayed their hand and we, as citizens, must stand up to their intolerance and bigotry," wrote Kremer.

Right wing lawsuit mills, with bizarre spin filled names that typically mean just the opposite of their chosen special interest, like the “Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty,” pick and choose who’s “liberty” to defend. Suddenly, enlightened social changes threaten the “long-standing practice” of discrimination:

The conservative public interest law firm, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, criticized the mandate as an "abrupt change in long-standing practice" and an unconstitutional overreach by the Obama administration.

Who could have foreseen the “party of small government” requiring a birth certificate to go to the restroom, the ultimate in nanny state social engineering.

Adding insult to injury, Republicans continue to use the most conservative courts to peel back progress. The Justice Department’s lawsuits over N. Carolina’s law requiring people to use public restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate is now a battle they really want to fight?

"This is a question for the legislature or for the courts interpreting existing law and constitutional provisions," said Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel. "It is not a question to be resolved by a bureaucratic command backed up by the blackmail of withholding federal funding."

Is he describing withholding food stamps and unemployment unless a drug test is given? Just wondering.

Here's what the administration wants from our public schools:

The Obama administration directed schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity ... states that Title IX protects students from discrimination based on their gender identity. The Justice Department on Monday sued North Carolina over a bathroom access law that it said violates the rights of transgender people, a measure that Lynch likened to policies of racial segregation and efforts to deny gay couples the right to marry.

N. Carolina GOP's Big Government drug test for 7,600 welfare recipients kicked out 9 users.

The Republican push to punish the poor has degenerated to simple humiliation via the food stamp drug testing program. 

While tightwad conservative voters want to keep more of their hard earned money, they’re perfectly fine wasting cash on humiliating the needy with drug tests for the innocent.

Public policy through intimidation, a roaring success? Nope, the proof is in again; out of 7,600 recipients, 21 tested positive, 12 of which had their food stamps reduced because they had kids. 9 lost their food stamps. Success?

North Carolina revealed early results on Tuesday from a round of drug tests given to those applying for or living with the help of welfare.

From the 7,600 recipients and applicants given an initial screening, social workers referred only 2% for drug testing. That amounted to 89 people. Of those 89, 21 people tested positive for drugs, representing less than 0.3% of the total number of those screened. Of the 21 people who tested positive for drugs, 12 of them will receive reduced benefits because they take care of children in need of support.

Here are a few other "success" stories:

Big Government Republicans eliminate local control in move to Consolidate Power!!!

Republicans used to trash Democrats for liberal nanny state laws, claiming "Madison knows best." Well, the tables have turned. If that were were true, how could Republicans pass over 100 laws that obliterated local control, even adding more to the list?

Wisconsin Republicans Consolidate Power, Erode Local Control Republicans Add to List of 100+ Measures that Harm Local Decision-Making; Republican legislators continue to propose even more bills that would tie the hands of local governments. “Republicans say they are the ‘Party of Local Control’ but their actions show the opposite,” Democratic Rep. Shankland said. 

 Here's just a small sample of the list put out by the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau:

State Republicans attack Milwaukee again: Oppose Locally issued ID card "to empower people to get back on their feet and contribute to society."

What, another big government Republican assault on liberal Milwaukee’s ability for elected officials to carry out the will of the people? Big surprise.

Rep. Bob Gannon made it clear the Republican attacks on Milwaukee are based on their resentment for the black populations effect on the states jobs numbers, food stamp program and poverty rate. It’s making them look bad, and they won't tolerate that. So instead of helping Milwaukee, they’re doing everything they can to hold them back and punish them. WPR: 

The battle is on over a proposed bill in the state Legislature that could affect a local photo ID scheduled to be issued soon in Milwaukee. Two Republican lawmakers from southeastern Wisconsin are looking for co-sponsors of a potential measure that would prohibit counties and towns from issuing photo ID cards to the public. The bill says photo ID cards from all local governments couldn't be used for voting or obtaining state benefits.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said his county isn't creating the local card for voting … he supports a Milwaukee-area municipal ID plan that would make sure the homeless and undocumented immigrants have cards. "In the partnership with the city and county, we have an opportunity to empower a lot of people to get back on their feet and contribute to society."

But Republicans want to do the opposite, hurting their jobs numbers, food stamp program and poverty rate. It’s like they need a villain. 

Goodbye Local Control, Republicans want to ban Rental Permits and Inspections; Kick People out in 5 Days for Suspected Criminal Activity!!!

I think I’ve figured it out. There's a reason why Republicans are wiping out the idea of local control with sweeping one size fits all statewide regulations. Heck, they even justify it by saying it makes government less confusing and fair. After all, who wants a patchwork of locally controlled regulations?

Sneaky too, because when Republicans are kicked out of office again, they’ll fire up the base by demanding a return to local control. And around and around we go.

The Republican Authority Targets Peoples Homes: Since Republicans have already bypassed local law enforcement officials with recently passed gun laws, you can now add tenant rights to that list. They’re giving landlords the power to throw people out of their rental housing within five days...on just a whim that there's is illegal activity, bypassing law enforcement again:

Landlords could evict tenants in five days if they suspect criminal activity under a Republican-backed plan to rewrite Wisconsin's landlord-tenant laws. Backers of the plan said that if police don't investigate criminal behavior, it can leave landlords with few options. 

"This is used for criminal activity," said Attorney Tristan Pettit, who represents landlords in tenant disputes. "The drug dealing. The beating somebody up. The threatening. The shooting off of guns. That is what we need this for, because right now, landlords cannot do anything about that."

So what about the unintended consequences...:

Tony Gibard, with Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said "I just want the committee to think about what that means in the life of a domestic violence victim who may have just been beaten, bloodied and brutalized and has five days to figure out what to do."  

WISC had this coverage with one of the cosponsors, Sen. Frank Lasee:

”I feel like if you have bad-acting tenants, often the other tenants living nearby are paying a greater price than the landlord,”

The Republican Authority to Let Rental Housing deteriorate: I know, that sounds crazy right, but I swear it’s true. Killing local control statewide over the quality of rental housing is beyond anything I could have imagine.

According to the WPR report (audio below) Republicans want to ban local communities from requiring rental permits that make sure housing is up to code and provide for routine inspections over a 3 to 5-year period. 

We are after all talking about a businesses that are supposed to provide a safe and healthy place where people live, eat and bathe. No quality control? Just imagine Republicans catering to the food service lobby by banning unfair restaurant inspections…hmm, maybe I shouldn’t have brought that up. 

Walker can't govern without fabrications and lies.

Is there anyway to understand the incredible tolerance level of "Stand with Walker" supporters. Even after finding out time and time again he has either lied or grossly exaggerated "problems" to justify policy changes, they still take him seriously. Let's call it blind allegiance.

Let’s start with the latest discovery. JS-Marley and Stein:

Speaking to GOP lawmakers in September, Walker said that state rules needed to be changed to make clear that employees … could be fired for having sex on state property. He told them about the case and encouraged Republicans to "tell stories like this" to show the public changes were needed … for overhauling Wisconsin's long-standing civil service system.

There was "an instance where two state employees — it's starting to sound like a soap opera here — where two state employees literally were having sex in a number of state facilities, including a conference room, and they couldn't terminate them," Walker said on Sept. 24.

In fact, no one tried to terminate the employees, suspend them, or do anything beyond giving them letters of reprimand, Railroad Commissioner Jeff Plale said Thursday ... a report found no proof that the couple violated the workplace sexual harassment policy with respect to other employees.

What a whopper.

Here are a couple of examples that never quite justify a complete overhaul of the civil service system, starting with a fairness issue:

Supporters chow down on Walker red meat

Walker cited other cases that day to justify overhauling Wisconsin's more than century-old civil service system, including one involving a Shawano probation and parole officer who was fired in 2004 for viewing pornography on his work computer for more than five hours a day for months. An arbitrator reinstated the man to his job in 2005 after finding that the Department of Corrections had given others light punishments for misusing state computers.

Another example used by Walker included a short-order cook who scored so well on a civil service exam for a financial examiner job at the Department of Financial Institutions that he had to be given an interview, even though those in charge of the hiring judged him as clearly unqualified … Cullen Werwie, the administration spokesman, said that there are no records of the hiring and that state officials relied on their memories when describing it.

Desperate Big Government Republican Scott Walker pokes unions to get guaranteed media coverage, and it works.

There's nothing small government about Republicans like Scott Walker. The only thing he wants to cut are liberal Democratic spending programs so he can replace them with Republican corporate welfare programs. Oh, crushing his enemies is also his goal, like...unions.

The lie spewed by these conservative con artists about giving control back to the states, free from federal government mandates, is exposed once and for all as a fraud, with Walker's latest edict: Ramming a federal right-to-work law through in Democratically controlled states? Sweet.

Salon's Joan Walsh had this impression:

The bill he didn't want to sign?

(Walker) announced a brutal assault on labor rights that would strip away worker protections earned as far back as the New Deal. The flailing Walker has ... a policy agenda that includes eliminating unions for federal employees, making all workplaces “right-to-work” unless states opt out, and eliminating the National Labor Relations Board.

The time and place of Walker’s announcement ought to prove to America once and for all that he’s dumb as a box of rocks. Walker is rolling out his anti-union agenda in Las Vegas, one of the most heavily unionized cities in America. Ninety percent of the jobs in Vegas hotels are union jobs, and almost half of all non-supervisor positions in the hotel, restaurant and gaming industries are unionized, compared to 19 percent of such jobs nationwide. Walker is a master of the politics of resentment.

Here's what just one economist noticed:

Ann Hodges, a professor at the University of Richmond who has studied labor law for over 40 years, told the Associated Press, "I’ve never seen anything like this. This will take the breath away from anyone who’s worked in labor relations for any length of time. It’s pretty draconian."

Scott Walker's Broken Jobs Promise wasn't his only failure. It's promises kept....

ABC's Jonathan Karl just gave America a glimpse at the slippery, topic-shifting master Scott Walker at work.

So what about Walker's miserable jobs record, where he only managed half of the 250,000 promised jobs? Oh, but the unemployment rate is down. Huh? It turned out, Walker was just promising to "aiming high." Got it.

Karl: "That was a central promise you fell significant short, so should we expect you to fall short in the promises you're making now?"

Walker: "No, when you look at all the other promises.."

So how did all those other promises work out?

Walker lowered property taxes each year? So that's why we can't pay our bills anymore, prompting massive cuts to the UW, defunding state parks, cutting the already short staffed DNR, and the inability to fund the transportation department. And that of course explains the "budget surpluses," only after dismantling everything the public has investment money in over a last 50 years. And can we really count a $5 property tax cut?

Walker froze tuition, which solved that problem...it did?

Walker even claimed schools are better. Oh sure, after local referendums pass to make up for budget shortfalls, staff turnover, teacher bidding, rural school closings, lost voucher revenue, larger classes, fewer subjects, lost high school college credits, student fee increases, deferred building maintenance, and passing on school accountability again...etc.



And we're not evening counting his failure as CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Tanked big time (here's the latest).

The best list of Walker's mismanagement and failed promises can be found here, at The Political Environment. If this is Walker's record as governor, so far, can you imagine the chaos we would see with him as president? This cartoon continues to haunt me:

Scott Walker denounces Clinton for making lots of money in private sector. Income control the next target for Big Government Republicans?

I've never understood the level of anger and envy republicans like Scott Walker have when liberals, progressive and Democrats making lots of money. It's as if only conservatives have the formula for success and deserve bigger incomes.

Walker joins the ranks of other conservatives who have denounced the minimum wage, all the while claiming their goal is to give everyone a chance to make lots of money.

Mitt Romney made millions closing down companies and off shoring jobs. I guess he should have been president. But Bill Clinton, a former president, making money doing what he does best, speaking? Outrageous?

Will a "stand with Walker" supporter please tell me why Clinton's speaking fee is a problem for our conservative nanny state busybodies?

Over the top wage envy is clearly a problem for conservatives:

Walker's bloody trail of savaged Democratic Wisconsinites endears him to conservative voters everywhere, distracts from failed governorship.

So how has Scott Walker moved Wisconsin forward?

For “stand with Walker” drones, it’s not what he’s accomplished, it’s how he’s successfully attacked Democrats and punished them. 

You’ll notice from the tweets here, echoed by my conservative friend in Milwaukee, that the right wing base doesn't care about the deficit producing bad budgets and unemployment rates that don’t include low participation rates for job seekers.

Walker's "superb record in office" is based on making "unions cry," and pushing back against the "vicious opposition" exercising their 1st Amendment right to redress their government. Walker put in place regulations and fines for protesters, deemed later to be unconstitutional in a court of law for gods sake. Even worse, Walker wrote a book about how he thought protesters were trying to intimidate him:

But Walker's "accomplishments" have little to do with moving us forward or solving problems relating to wage growth, health care certainty, and actual job creation (not corporate welfare). Cap Times:

The biggest applause came in response to comments about defunding Planned Parenthood and passing castle doctrine, concealed carry and voter ID legislation.

Walker even took credit for an already healthy state pension system. I guess we should give him Brownie points for not screwing that up...yet.

Touting his record in Wisconsin, Walker boasted of the state's pension system, its 4.6 percent unemployment rate. 

Absent were any mentions of Wisconsin's job growth, which earned him criticism from his detractors during a recent trip to Minnesota. The state ranks at 40th in the nation for job growth and 42nd for wage growth, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the state's job growth has lagged the national average since six months into Walker's first term.

But he sure showed those union loving liberal Democrats. 

Bizarro World: Walker wants Government Run Health Care Plan for State Workers, with Big Price Increases.

Let me get this right:

A Walker administration proposal for self-insurance in 2013 was put on hold last year…

That would be a government run health care plan.

Walker's secret plan...

It was also surreal to read Walker would like state employees to pay more out-of-pocket cost, like higher co-pays and deductibles, the very thing Republicans hate about ObamaCare.

Now they want to increase the price of health care? Am I missing something?

Republicans also want free market competition from private insurers...but not this time?

Self-insurance — in which the state would pay benefits directly instead of buying insurance from 18 HMOs — could save $50 million to $70 million a year beginning in 2017, said a report from Atlanta-based Segal Consulting.

Consider flipping the following statement around; state workers will pay $42 million more, instead of the state. Republicans hate that:

Introducing deductibles for state workers, increasing out-of-pocket maximums, charging more for brand-name drugs and other changes that could save at least $42 million next year.

This is like Paul Ryan's "reform" plan for Medicare. You can check it out here. See if this sounds familiar; creates a marketplace to buy insurance and provides premium support help.

The Small Government Lie behind Big Government Republicans.

The "stand with Walker" trolls and my conservative friend in Milwaukee have given me great insight into what "small government" really means to them. Here's what I've learned so far:

A. Despite policy failures, conservatives will never vote for a Democrat.

B. The founding fathers wanted to limit the size of government? The "size" isn't dictated in the constitution, and is in fact, left up to the "people:"

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Tenth Amendment

C. Big Government Republicans hate big government liberalism: It gets little attention, but have you noticed how red state Republicans have purged decades of progress as a way to fight against the evils of socialism? Liberal influences are erased. This is where "big" government Republicans replace everything with their own convoluted legislation:

1. Tort reform: "Injury" reform basically, that limits the peoples access to the courts and just compensation. This is big government at its worst, because it protects business and insurance companies from being accountable, at the expense of people. It doesn't just cut injury settlements artificially, but steps in and controls a private sector lawyers compensation. Again, it's government telling individuals what the can or cannot make. Big government Republicans. A free market would do away with all limits and open the courts up to everyone, even if it means the end of the offending business, costing hundreds or thousands of jobs.   

2. Health Care: Every other country in the world has a national plan, except for the U.S.. Everybody needs it. Imagine what we could do if we didn't have to think about finding an insurer, shopping every year for a new plan because of rising copays and deductibles. A national health care system would give people more time to deal with all of life's other curve balls and heartbreaks. That's real freedom. 

3. Environment: Big government Republicans want to "balance" the needs of business, with the need to keep citizens healthy. That's a hard one? Is there ever a time a business should be allowed to harm Americans? The EPA's news rules controlling smog, a local hazard that causes asthma, lung damage and other health problems, isn't something that belongs on the negotiating table. With the growth of wind, solar and electric vehicles, we now have the option to move from fossil fuels to cleaner energy, saving people health problems and premature death. Plus, states will have 20 years to comply to the new rules. 

4. Right Wind Authoritarianism: Without going into greater detail, which I could do, let's just chalk it up to who's in "control;" one party dictatorial "leaders." Right now, leaders are allowed to do and say whatever they like. From the big government takeover of local communities fighting mining, allowing companies the freedom to locate cell towers and billboards anywhere they like, controlling the minimum wage statewide, a statewide sick leave ban, retaliating against educators and businesses that don't fall in line with Republican values, and using recall petitions as a blacklist to trash the political opposition. If the Walker Authority doesn't like what you're doing locally, they've got a big government fix for you, like it or not.

We can't forget the judicial branch of government, already politicized by Republican lawmakers who are promising to make the courts more conservative. After all, activist conservative courts rulings are wonderful, but liberal court rulings? Let's not even go there. For Republicans, the courts should be as predictable their party platform. No surprises.