Taxpayer Dollars to Foxconn, a company that made $140.55 billion last year?

It's important to understand how Scott Walker and Paul Ryan are the biggest sops for "crony capitalism" ever, and how Wisconsin taxpayers will be unmercifully fleeced under the guise of their twisted vision of "free markets," bringing Foxconn to the state. Here's the definition, see if you recognize any part of it...:

Crony Capitalism: An economy that is nominally free-market, but allows for preferential regulation and other favorable government intervention based on personal relationships. In such a system, the false appearance of "pure" capitalism is publicly maintained to preserve the exclusive influence of well-connected individuals.

While we need companies like Foxconn to set up shop in Wisconsin, we can't lose sight of how big Foxconn is. We're going to give billions of hard earned taxpayer dollars to Foxconn, after they made $140 billion last year??? Seriously, and they have the nerve to ask??? And Republicans have a problem with helping people buy health insurance with premium subsidies???

NY Times: If Foxconn lives up to its investment commitment and receives the full $3 billion tax break, it will be the fourth-largest incentive deal in United States history, according to Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a nonpartisan nonprofit research group in Washington that tracks economic development subsidies.

“We can only describe this as a gift from Wisconsin taxpayers to Foxconn shareholders. This is a guaranteed loser for the state.”

Check out this Wisconsin Budget Project analysis:

And there's a reason Foxconn never fulfilled their promises building plants and creating jobs in other states and countries:

Unlike Wisconsin, Foxconn said, other states like Pennsylvania and countries like India and Indonesia had not given the company the incentives it considers necessary to make the projects work.

NOTE: There's a reason Scott Walker is drooling over the deal; he can use taxpayer money to cinch his reelection by bringing Foxconn to Wisconsin. Who needs campaign cash?

Foxconn's Crony Capitalism is Back with a Vengeance: Back in May of 2016, I wrote this:

What was Paul Ryan's most recent political con: Ripping on crony capitalism. He said that all the while Republican governors were creating crony "capitols" in every red state.

President Barack Obama’s most recent tax overhaul for corporations is just “crony capitalism,” Rep. Paul Ryan says. “It’s a raw deal and I think it’s more crony capitalism. The president likes to pick winners and losers. He lets some businesses off the hook…”

And yet, Ryan's dislike of Crony Capitalism didn't slow him down at all...

Mr. Walker and Mr. Ryan, along with state elected officials, had dinner with Foxconn executives to hammer out details. Aides to Mr. Ryan also lobbied state officials including Robin Vos, the speaker of the Wisconsin assembly, to support an incentive package for Foxconn.

But Ryan wasn't done BS'ing Wisconsin voters. He took a bizarre shot at Obama's failed "trickle down economic" agenda. Yea, you read that right. 

ALERT: Ryan is stating emphatically, trickle down economics doesn't work, the core policy of the Republican Party;

"I think the Federal Reserve has given us, in combination with Obama policies, more regulations, higher taxes, more uncertainty; has given us trickle-down economics ... that growth is not translating down to the middle class. It's not lifting people out of poverty ... This is what we're practicing right now."”

It was such a surreal and contradictory statement that even Thomas Frank had to chime in:

WSJ-Thomas Frank: He savages "crony capitalism," pausing to note the "resentment" it is inspiring. Mr. Ryan fondly recalls the great deregulatory campaigns of the past (leaving out the embarrassing story of how he and his colleagues overturned Glass-Steagall and then watched the banking industry explode in a fireball of freedom).

The way to bring big business down is by deregulating even more. If this sounds twisted and counter-intuitive, that's because it is ... the tail-chasing logic behind the "down with big business" rhetoric probably won't make any difference … we may be heading for the greatest burst of fake populism...

Walker politicizes Civil Service Reform, Ignored Warnings by his own Department!

Remember when Governor Scott Walker's reason for reforming the civil service rules focused like a laser on the "silliness" and "ridiculous stuff." You'd have to be crazy not to want to get rid of that:

"What we keep intact is the good. We keep intact the merit (hiring). We keep intact the just cause. What we get rid of is the silliness and the ridiculous stuff," Walker said.

Funny thing, his own Department of Personnel Management never found anything that bordered on silly or ridiculous. WSJ:

The personnel agency in Gov. Scott Walker’s administration privately blasted changes to the state’s civil service days after they were proposed, telling his office the overhaul would slow hiring, turn away qualified job applicants and trigger more lawsuits against the state, public records show … Walker has touted the law as a signature achievement … a bid to put state hiring more tightly under the governor’s control.

Walker: "This is really about bringing Wisconsin into the 21st century when it comes to recruitment and retention."

Walker ignored his own personnel agency because ideology trumps reality every time.

And proving once again just how bad Republicans are at governing, the civil service bill’s author never even saw the critical memo from the personnel department:

The bill’s sponsor, Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, said he read the memo for the first time last week when it was provided to him by the State Journal.

Still, at the time he pushed the bill he did say...:

"We can't afford to be working with the same rules as we have for 100 years." 

Of course not, because things were so bad....?

Walker has always favored cronyism, so developing a civil service reform plan had to become easier to manipulate and game. Remember this...:

A Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report last weekend found that the administration made sure that the new get-tough top cop at the state Capitol got a hefty raise by moving him and his top deputy into phantom jobs for a couple of weeks before returning them to their real posts.

Now it's easier, and anything goes:

The memo is dated Oct. 16, or 15 days after the bill was introduced … undercuts several key contentions … that it will streamline and expedite the hiring of state workers. And it raises questions about the speed with which lawmakers planned to pass the law. “Notwithstanding such unpredictability, it is reasonable to forecast that hiring in the state generally will take longer (under the proposed changes) than it does under the current statute.”

The memo questions the bill’s shift to a resume-based hiring system for state employees, predicting it will “increase the number of qualified applicants inadvertently turned away and the number of unqualified applicants who inappropriately reach the interview stage.”

It also decries the law’s new standard for what is “just cause” to seriously discipline or fire a state worker, saying it is “unclear, limits the agencies in being able to administer discipline and creates the potential for increased litigation.”

Never taking responsibility, Walker decided to hide away from the media this one, or at least until he can come up with a way to blame former Gov. Doyle: 

Walker’s office initially asked to meet with the State Journal on Friday to discuss the memo but later declined to do so. 

Another "Anecdotal" Fairy Tale results in Major changes to Civil Service Job hiring opening door to Cronyism.

The blatant move toward complete political cronyism under Scott Walker, without one critical peep from conservative voters statewide, is downright frightening. It appears the authoritarian underpinnings in the Republican Party elite are taking hold in the minds of everyday conservative voters who are happy to do whatever it takes to stay in power. Even fool themselves.

It's now shockingly common place to come up with the craziest anecdotal stories heard wherever to justify public policy, while fact based evidence and historical examples are rejected as partisan. The consequences are breathtaking and real.

The Civil Service Reform Con: In a brief almost unnoticed story by the Journal Sentinel's Jason Stein, the last straw came from this revelation:

One of the examples used by Gov. Scott Walker to argue for overhauling the state's merit hiring system is proving difficult to document on paper. A spokesman for the Walker administration said that state officials relied on their memories when describing a 2013 case used by Walker and GOP lawmakers in recent weeks in arguing for the civil service bill … The case involved an unnamed 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.

Never mind that Scott Walker also had fast food service work on his resume; or that it in some way suggests the short-order cook isn't allowed to move up the jobs ladder; or that perhaps they might have been between jobs at the time.

Republicans are never short of excuses with their arrogant "can't touch us" attitude, as seen below. We're supposed to mindlessly believe whatever anecdotal story they think will help move their agenda forward. Sadly, it's been doing gangbusters so far, so let the fairy tales continue:

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel requested the personnel file for that financial examiner hire to better understand what happened in that case. 

Administration spokesman Cullen Werwie: “We have no records to release in response to the specific question about a resume for a short-order cook.  It is worth noting that disclosure of prior job type could have been made in a number of different ways...”

The Journal Sentinel made its open records request after the Department of Financial Institutions declined to name those involved in the case.

"We respectfully decline to provide the name of the successful applicant, because it is not relevant," Financial Institutions spokesman George Althoff said in emails last month. "...The relevant point is that a candidate who lacked the necessary skill set made it through a flawed and antiquated hiring process.”

Can Goldilocks breaking into the house of three unarmed bears be next?

GOP Lobbyist Bill McCoshen: "...hold some listening sessions so it gives the appearance the administration is reaching out."

In a WKOW Digging Deeper investigative report by Greg Neumann about withheld emails by the Walker administration, Wisconsin voters learned a valuable lesson about those Republicans sham "listening sessions." Listening sessions, like their attack on Common Core, that never seemed to change their minds.

One of the most unashamed bottom feeding lobbyists, Bill McCoshen, arrogantly pulled back the curtain on Republican listening sessions in a just released email. Hat tip to Rock Netroots for pointing it out:

GOP lobbyist Bill McCoshen advised the administration to take a step back: "Delay the collective bargaining changes until the recalls are over. Maybe even hold some listening sessions so it give the appearance the administration is reaching out." 

That's right; the "appearance" of "reaching out." Would you believer there wasn't one word of outrage in the comments section by conservative viewers duped by their own party's scam? It's not a surprising development either, from this outwardly authoritarian Republican administration.

Awhile back I featured McCoshen's jaw dropping ads that clearly admitted to Wisconsinites that money does the talking now at the state Capitol:

Just as obvious is this graphic at McCoshen's lobbying firms website, where he brags, "He has since become the capitol's quintessential insider lobbyist, in a good way." Go ahead laugh, it really is that openly crass and surreal: 

News outlets roll over again; let Walker off the hook with Bradley appointment to Supreme Court.

It didn’t take long for Wisconsin media to act oblivious to Scott Walker’s outrageous partisan behavior again. Remember, the only reason this guy is governor is because news outlets kept letting Walker off the hook for every obvious blunder, bad policy decision and flat out failure since he was County Executive. Criticism is “liberal.”

In the case of appointing Judge Rebecca Bradley to the Supreme Court bench, red flags and jaws should have dropped, and accusations of cronyism should have been flying, knowing what Walker had done for Bradley career in the past.

In fact, Bradley would have not much of a career if it wasn’t for Walker:

Walker appointed Bradley to the District 1 Court of Appeals in Milwaukee in May. Before her stint as an appeals judge, Bradley spent three years on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, after Walker put her on that court in 2012.

Really? 3 jobs, 3 Walker appointments, and no one thinks that's odd? So the media didn’t feel duped again when Walker pretended to “consider” other candidates?

The final insult was this additional media quick mention, and pass. WKOW:

AP: Rebecca Bradley's campaign for Wisconsin Supreme Court reserved the website domain name "justicerebeccabradley.com" the day before applications were due for an appointment to the state's highest court she eventually received.

Nothing? Which leaves the truth about Walker’s actions up to the “left,” allowing right wingers to discount out of hand this troubling expansion:

One Wisconsin Now, says reserving the website name that early is "further proof the fix was in from the start."

Melissa Mulliken, campaign manager for Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg, said, “It gives the appearance of the kind of cronyism that has defined Scott Walker’s administration.”

Claude Covelli, a Madison attorney who sought the appointment but lost out to Bradley, said it appears that Walker may have instigated a “sham application process.”

Welcome to Walker's Crony Capitol!!!

Cronyism continues to expand in the Walker administration, on the heels of gutting civil, this time at the DNR. Never looking farther than arms length, all we need is another "land use" manager from Scott Walker doing the Wisconsin Realtors work for them:

The state Department of Natural Resources has tapped a former aide to Gov. Scott Walker to fill its No. 3 position at the agency … Ed Eberle has been named the deputy assistant secretary … has been the administrator of the division of intergovernmental relations at the Department of Administration … previously worked on the staff of a state Assembly committee and on the staff of the Joint Finance Committee … also was deputy chief of staff for Gov. Scott Walker when Walker was Milwaukee County executive.

Republican anecdotal "stories" guide Civil Service reform: Beware of cooks who do their own accounting!!!

What do Republicans have against short order cooks, or even for that matter, upward mobility?

State Sen. Roger Roth on applicants for an accounting position: "The number highest scored exam for an account position turned out to be a short order cook with no accounting experience..." 

Luckily, having short order cook on my resume didn't keep me from getting my two third shift jobs in the 70's at W.A. Krueger as a fork lift driver, and another at RTE in Waukesha lifting and cleaning transformer containers for painting. I mean, what we're they thinking hiring a former cook?

It's another one of those anecdotal stories Republican policies are always based on now. So the state couldn't just move on to the next highest applicant with accounting experience, instead of changing system into something that invites cronyism and partisan politics? Maybe the cook does all his own bookkeeping and is a genius with numbers.

Who knows where these anecdotal myths are coming from too. Like this one....

Sen. Roth: "We have stories of individuals filling out this exam, and they write 'see my resume' on the exam, not knowing that gets them a zero, that doesn't count for anything." 

Ah, the "stories." Who could argue with those? WKOW's Greg Neumann:

Billionaire Bucks Arena gets funding from Debt Collections and Penalty Fees from the Poor.

Corporate welfare has now completely displaced public funding for the common good. Like our public colleges. Although not a direct exchange of money, it's awful close, and highlights what really matters now in our Republican hellhole of a state.

Now word is getting out that the poor and fiscally strapped Wisconsinites will be the ones paying for the Buck's arena. As WPR's Shawn Johnson explains, the idea is ruthless:



This is outrageous beyond words, so I'm glad Think Progress saved me from having to write about this:

Wisconsinites Blast Scott Walker’s Stadium Deal As ‘Outrageous’: Building a new, publicly financed basketball stadium for the Milwaukee Bucks is either a horrendous example of corporate welfare and official corruption, or a chance to reinvigorate an economically depressed city. Several local officials are also speaking out against the county’s promise to collect $4 million per year in unpaid debts from residents, plus a penalty fee of 15 percent, to contribute to the stadium. For example, a woman who owed $1,000 for an old traffic ticket would be charged $1,150.

Milwaukee County Supervisor John Weishan, Jr. called the proposal to go after unpaid ambulance rides, delinquent property taxes and court fees “crony capitalism.”

“This plan shifts the cost of the new arena from the state and the Milwaukee Bucks’ new wealthy owners to the poorest in our community. I will not foreclose on someone’s home or shake down a senior for unpaid medical bills in order to build an arena for millionaires and billionaires.”

Whether or not it’s morally right to collect these debts to pay for the stadium, some county officials say it may not be possible, because most of the residents that owe that money are indigent.

Really Bad for other Local businesses: Redistributes wealth upward:

Economics professor Michael Rosen at Milwaukee Area Technical College said, “People have a fixed entertainment budget. So if they go see the Bucks and spend $60 or $80 on a ticket, that’s money they’re not using to go to the theater or movies or out to eat. It’s not new money, it’s just redistributed. That’s why stadiums have no positive impact on economic growth.” He also noted that most Bucks player don’t live year-round in Milwaukee, so “millions of dollars in their salaries will leak out of the community.”

Walker's corporate Socialism; otherwise known as neo-fascism: The major media is now sounding the alarm as well:

Scott Walker, Our First Socialist President: First, the Communists: Socialism is "a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government." It's the state of Wisconsin using tax dollars to build a sports arena for the billionaire owners of the Milwaukee Bucks, and its main proponent is Governor Scott Walker.

If Gov. Walker is to be the candidate of the true believers, the free market, Ayn Rand, and austerity bugs, he's got some explaining to do. What's going on is something of a hypocrisy test. If socialism is bad, if Obamacare is bad, if income redistribution is bad, well, how can two hundred million in corporate subsidies be good? Obama, by the way, has jumped onto the sports as socialism issue and proposed an end to federal tax subsidies for sports facilities. He's absolutely right as a matter of economic policies. We can't get our roads fixed, but we can subsidize the richest and most successful corporations in America. I don't think so.

State Republicans refuse to take Walker policy heat, described in new video.

What an odd coincidence? The same day Scott Walker told the nation how much we would love his massive cuts to education (actually unpopular in every community throughout the state), this video presentation featuring the Republican legislatures outright rejection of his policies came out.

A fitting "tribute:"

Scott Walker's op-ed on K-12 education: Act 10 'changed that broken system: Gov. Scott Walker said in an opinion column this week that changes to Wisconsin’s education landscape under his governorship are types of “reforms” that could be pushed across the country.

That "broken system" year after year places Wisconsin in the top three highest ranking states for education.

Here's American Bridge 21st Century's nice compilation of rejected policies:

Big Oil's Scott Walker wants you to spend your tax savings on higher energy bills.

Both Scott Walker and Republican legislators have been very upfront about their intention to stuff insurance company pockets with lots of money, by forcing poor people into the private sector health insurance market. From IRIS to BadgerCare, they want you pay insurers. 

A similar method of cost shifting is now jacking up your energy bill. You want to save energy? Don't bother, it won't be worth it in Wisconsin, where over consumption is encouraged.

It's ironic too. Minnesota’s Xcel Energy tried and failed to get their own state to approve a customer base rate increase, the industries new way to soak consumers who may be creating their own energy with solar panels or saving energy with new appliances. No longer based on usage, big energy is doing everything they can to discourage customers from supplying their own power and selling that surplus back to the utility. But unlike Minnesota, Wisconsin will give Xcel Energy everything they want, including the money you saved with Walker's tax cuts.

This obvious power play by energy suppliers hasn't worked other states. But funny thing, Scott Walker’s crony packed PSC is more than happy to consider a rate hike, stripping customers of their hard earned cash.

Xcel is following the example of several other large utilities in asking to increase the flat fee applied to all residential, farm and small commercial bills. If approved, the customer charge would more than double -- from $8 a month to $18. In the past two years, three of the state’s five largest investor-owned utilities have significantly hiked customer charges. Madison Gas & Electric went from $8.70 a month in 2012 to $19 this year. Wisconsin Public Service nearly quadrupled its charge. Since 2001, the average customer bill has risen by about 25 percent after adjusting for inflation.

Critics say increasing these flat fees unfairly penalizes those who use less energy and creates a disincentive for home-based alternatives like solar panels. Kira Loehr, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board said “It hits those who use less and makes them pay more. That’s the exact opposite of what we think should be happening. It encourages increasing consumption, which raises costs for everybody in the long run.”

While acknowledging it favors big users. Don Reck, regional vice president of rates and regulatory affairs said, “We’re trying to make ourselves the provider of choice.”

Love the honesty, hate the utility.Walker is making sure whatever money you saved tax wise is going to campaign lobbyists and fossil fuel industry supporters in the form of higher monthly bills:

Wisconsin has been ground zero … The Wisconsin Public Service Commission has made it clear that it welcomes requests for increased fixed charges and related measures … The Minnesota PUC denied the monthly fixed rate increases. The Alliance for Solar Choice spokesperson Amy Heart. “That this isn’t necessarily a trend in the Midwest. The decision in Minnesota demonstrates just how out of step the Public Service Commission is in Wisconsin.”

Their rate hike does not compute: How out of step is our PSC? It’s hard to argue with the following explanation and big PSC problem:

The fixed-rate portion of an electric bill is meant to cover the cost of grid infrastructure … Since Minnesota essentially rejected that argument, and since the grid infrastructure delivering to Wisconsin Xcel customers is largely the same system as in Minnesota, experts say Xcel would have a hard time justifying higher fixed charges for Wisconsin customers. In other words, if it costs only $8 a month to deliver electricity to Minnesota Xcel customers, it doesn’t compute that it would cost much more to deliver to customers only a few miles away over the Wisconsin border.

Oh but it gets better Wisconsinites:

The Minnesota PUC decision was in keeping with the June 2014 findings of the state commerce commission and the December ruling of an administrative law judge, which both said that Xcel should reduce its rate increase requests. The PUC also approved the state’s first decoupling program, a structure where the utility does not get more profit the more energy it sells. That program should theoretically alleviate the need for the utility to increase its fixed rates.

As RENEW Wisconsin program and policy director Michael Vickerman and others see in Wisconsin ... the staunchly ideological position of the Public Service Commission, “It’s really the Public Service Commission in Wisconsin that’s driving the rate restructuring change, more-so than the utilities.” Vickerman said, “This commission has rang the dinner bell.”

Republicans Liquored up with Power, Cronyism, and Corporate Welfare.

One of my biggest pet peeves is giving credit to conservatives to who finally wake-up, a little late, to the things Democrats have been warning them about for years.

But in Scott Walker's Wisconsin, I'll take what I can get. You won't believe this special interest deal. Oh, didn't Walker brag to the nation how he's been successfully fighting special interests? Just not the conservative kind:

RightWisconsin: WisPolitics’ PM report confirmed that the Republican co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee, State Sen Alberta Darling and State Rep John Nygren are considering allowing a special interest provision that would benefit liquor wholesalers to be slipped into the “wrap-up motion” for the state budget.

Check out this incredibly uncompetitive setup for liquor distribution:

In Wisconsin, we have a three-tier system of producers, wholesalers and retailers. This is supposedly to make it easier to collect the liquor taxes. It also is a protectionist measure as the wholesalers must be Wisconsin companies … producers cannot terminate their contracts with the wholesalers without “just cause.”

Remember, this is RightWisconsin freaking out about this stuff. This is what Scott Walker and his band of legislative plundering pirates are all about. It's cronyism, big government and corporate welfare that even Charlie Sykes can't stomach. Oh, it's hardly a "budget item" is it:

Such a privileged place in the liquor supply chain is not enough apparently for some wholesalers. The proposed sop to the liquor wholesalers would allow them to pass to their heirs the contractual agreements with the liquor producers. It would also allow the wholesalers to sell the contracts to other wholesalers. The producers would then be bound to honor the contract to the new wholesaler even if the liquor producer had no interest in doing business with that company. Such a change in the law would, in effect, give the wholesaler ownership rights in a product they did not create … When a similar change in the law was made in Illinois, alcohol prices went up as much as 20%. Illinois repealed the law but now Wisconsin is ready to make the same mistake.

If Nygren and Darling allow this, they will be responsible for everyone else paying more for alcohol. The retailers will pay more, putting a squeeze on the state’s family-owned taverns and convenience stores. The cost will be passed down to the consumer, of course. Prince and pauper alike will pay more for the privilege of having a drink without any benefit to Wisconsin or the taxpayers. 

Special interest favors like this that put the “crony” in Wisconsin capitalism. Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee need to rediscover their free market principles. That does not mean selling out for campaign contributions.

Oh but it does mean selling out to contributors.  

Walker's unfettered Cronyism.

Not much left to say...WISC-TV:

Walker announced Friday that he has appointed Mike M. Grebe, son of Michael W. Grebe, president and chief executive of the Bradley Foundation, to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.The foundation has backed a number of conservative public policy experiments, including welfare reform and, voucher schools. Michael W. Grebe also has served as chairman of Walker's campaign.

Walker's "Open for Business" should be changed to "Under New Ownership!!!"

So where in the world did big business get the idea they can do almost anything they want in Wisconsin? You don't think it came from the not so subtle messages ballyhoo'd by Scott Walker and his band of plundering pirates in the legislature?

We're beyond warning signs at this point. The following jaw dropping ad demonstrates the actual corrupting influence of money; a former state commerce secretary, now a consultant, is selling his companies lobbying expertise to businesses trying to influence legislation. And if that doesn't work, at least take their case to the state supreme court:

At least Capitol Consultants is upfront about their intentions. 

A business group in Milwaukee, trying to get off the hook for converting a coal plant to natural gas (trying to get regular consumers to pay instead), is getting just what they want. And conservative "stand with Walker" voters and ratepayers will fork over more of their hard earned cash to big energy. jsonline:

Milwaukee's primary business booster group is pushing state lawmakers to cut funding for the Citizens Utility Board, a move that would cripple the group that represents consumers when utilities like We Energies seek state approval for rate increases.

Spearheaded by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce … If approved by the Legislature, it would eliminate a grant that provides $300,000 a year in utility ratepayer dollars to CUB, which was created by state law more than 35 years ago.

Last year alone, CUB — which has a total budget of $771,580 — helped persuade the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to reduce utilities' initial rate proposals enough to save customers a total of $161 million. So this cut would represent savings of less than a penny for every $100 that electric customers pay. "We are truly a bargain," said Kira Loehr, CUB's executive director and general counsel. "There is no other state agency or group in the country that does what we do on the budget we have."

Just so you weren't confused over the intentions of the MMAC big business partners:

The change would also limit funding for CUB and other groups to hire expert witnesses in utility cases. The Republican-dominated finance committee adopted on a 12-4 party-line vote … (saying) they can't see why ratepayers should fund advocacy groups...

...ah, because they saved ratepayers $161 million? What am I missing in this debate? And we as ratepayers have been taking it in shorts for years in Wisconsin, even with the help of CUB:

The move to cut funding for CUB and other groups that advocate at the PSC comes at a time when the state's utility rates have risen faster than the rate of inflation and rank second-highest in the Midwest. 

Walker's crony capitalism ushers in frightening leap into fascism.

Scott Walker made a few brave and bold appointments this week, that prove unqualified donors, lobbyists and purely partisan backers are truly in charge of Wisconsin. It's unapologetic fascism. It's also something a leader like Walker can get away with, as he continues to defeat the liberal-socialist-commie-union-neighborhood organizer-intellectual elites trying bring this country down.  

Big Energy Takes Over #1: Incredibly, the guy who rewrote environmental law in Wisconsin for a mining company that had to put its operations on hold, will now help guide the states fossil fuel utilities. WPR:

Bob Seitz, a contract lobbyist who represented mining company Gogebic Taconite and helped lead the push for a rewrite of Wisconsin's mining laws … will be an executive assistant on the Public Service Commission, an agency tasked with regulating Wisconsin utilities.

Big Energy takes over # 2: Just as jaw dropping, a former executive of Madison Gas and Electric will take over for Mike Huebsch as Secretary of the Department of Administration, "the top job in most governors' cabinets."

We Don't Need No Qualifications: Like Walker's proposal to recruit school teachers on just life experience alone, the most unqualified big talker of them all, Vicki McKenna sidekick and vice WISGOP chair Brian Schimmingwill take his life experience of partisan politics and head up the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. What could go wrong?

For “stand with Walker” voters, the spread of fascism and the instillation of a lobbyists throughout government means whatever the eventual outcome, their principled conservative positions means everyone else can go to hell. Check out Jake's Economic TA Funhouse for more.

Walker offers state office building construction to squeeze donors just before election.

Pay-to-play government is becoming so common place now that it won't be long before no one is even going to notice...that is until Democrats gets back into office.

After several open records requests for the names of the interested developers for a couple of state office buildings, we now know who they are. But who cares, when Wisconsin is coming back: 

WKOW: A Madison developer who donated nearly $10,000 to Gov. Scott Walker's (R-Wisconsin) campaign, after the state put out a request for proposals (RFP) to purchase and redevelop the state's Hill Farms property, is now one of four finalists being considered for the project by the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA).

You’ll notice the “bidding” process started just before the elections, when campaign contributions were most needed. Even the losers ended up helping Walker win. Nice con:

The RFP process opened on October 13th, 2014 and on October 24th, Wall donated $9,975 to Friends of Scott Walker, maxing out his donations for the year.  

"What I think is very obvious and smacks of pay to play is the fact that the donation came, the donation of $10,000 to the Walker campaign, came 11 days after the RFP was announced and during prime campaign season," said Rep. Terese Berceau (D-Madison), who represents the Assembly district in which the Hill Farms property is located.

"There were two other companies that were part of the T. Wall bid, Potter/Lawson and I believe Miron Construction, also gave money during that same period," said Jenni Dye, research director for One Wisconsin Now … the construction and architectural firms tied to Wall's proposal, gave a total of $3,500 to Walker after the RFP period opened.

Walker Administrations Pay-to-Play Cronyism hits stride after Election...nothing to stop them now.

In what is turning out to be an endless stream of stories tying campaign contributions to government contracts, pay-to-play, we've got another one that stinks to high heaven. What has to happen to get the attention of "stand with Walker" supporters?

Scott Walker's business friendly elimination of competitive bidding for taxpayer funded projects is bearing fruit for some well connected individuals, and is plainly set up for backroom pay-to-play deals. Let's get serious here and admit the obvious?

Keep in mind, the story from WKOW's Greg Neumann starts by saying the DOA is forking over the names of all the parties, but that obscures the fact that despite a long list, it wouldn't matter. The administration had already picked a winner based on a suspiciously timely campaign contribution.

The Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) has agreed to release the names of all developers who have submitted proposals to purchase the state's Hill Farms property, just one day after 27 News reported the agency had turned down records requests for similar information.  The names will be released either late Monday or early Tuesday of next week.

Here's the video story:

The interest from the media is due, in part, to a $10,000 donation Madison developer Terrance Wall made to Gov. Scott Walker's (R-Wisconsin) campaign less than two weeks after DOA opened its Request for Proposals (RFP) on the property in October. In June 2013, The state legislature passed a measure eliminating competitive bids On October 13th, 2014.  27 News wanted to know who was on the tour, because nine days after the registration deadline for it, Terrance Wall made a donation of $9,975 to Gov. Walker's campaign.

In an amazing understatement, at least one Democrats had the time to comment:

"I think we're starting to see a very direct line of cronyism," said Rep. Terese Berceau (D-Madison).

Ya think? Where are the other Democrats we thought learned their lesson from the midterm drubbing? No major offensive? Nothing has changed.