Walker thugs use Walker Recall Blacklist in attempt to discredit Ethical Ruling favoring Happ!!!

Here comes the Walker Recall Blacklist, and another blatant Brad Schimel desperation pass. He’s hot into what appears to be a smear campaign unbefitting anyone seeking the office of the state’s attorney general. Dare we say he's not the impartial Republican candidate he says he is? 

This juvenile angry cheap shot headlined his campaign site yesterday and today:

Wrong way Schimel misjudged another one. 

As expected, Schimel’s bumbling came just before Happ was exonerated of any wrong doing in that past case. Schimel apparently has more of an issue with the Supreme Courts directives, than with Happ, who used their screening process exactly.

jsonline: The state agency that regulates the conduct of lawyers has thrown out a complaint against Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ, the Democrat running for attorney general. Happ said that she followed state Supreme Court rules by screening herself from the case as soon as she saw that the defendant was a man she and her husband were involved with in a real estate transaction.

"Our ethical rules require this," she said.

Here’s where the Walker Recall Blacklist reared its ugly head, attempting to smear a Walker Authority opponent for their personal political position:

But Republicans immediately questioned the agency's finding because they said the investigator who looked into it had signed a petition to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2012.

Isn't it time we end this long running gag that portrays Republicans as poor defenseless victims?

Walker’s Shocking Disrespect for Women!!! Says “People around (Burke) have to set her up to be angry at me,” and debate was “largely to ignore my opponent.”

A double Romney moment for Walker? You won't believe...

Scott Walker made it very clear where he thinks Mary Burke belongs, and it wasn't standing next to him as a respected candidate for the governorship.

In a stunning moment of rightwing authoritarian arrogance, Walker couldn't hide his glee over the resulting GOP spin regarding Burke’s hesitation to compliment him, as if he deserved it. jsonline:

Republicans noted after the debate that Burke appeared ungracious when the candidates were asked to name something that they admired in the other.

Walker said, "You think usually when you go second you get a moment to catch your thoughts. I think that's probably a reflection of the people around her (who) have so set her up to be angry at me."

Yea, we need to fill Burke's empty head with anger. Reflecting his attitude and ruling style that relegates the opposition to second class status:

Walker said his goal during the debate was "largely to ignore my opponent and really just spend my time talking to the people of this state."

Seriously, did he just say this?

PumpkinStein invasion?

What an amazing idea for Halloween, even though it's a bit expensive. NY Times:

Like Victor Frankenstein, Tony Dighera was determined to bring a new creature to life. Though he was fairly new to farming, Mr. Dighera saw profit to be made in strangely shaped pumpkins.

So he created a “pumpkinstein.”

Grown in a plastic mold, the pumpkins bear the distinctive face of the Frankenstein monster, and Mr. Dighera has harvested roughly 5,500 of them this year.

Dighera sold out his crop to suppliers months ago, offering the pumpkins wholesale for $75 each. Retailers expect each to fetch $100 or more in the weeks leading up to Halloween. He learned that he could shape only the first two fruits of a vine — subsequent pumpkins were too big. He worked with a local plastics company to develop a mold. in the coming year, he plans to turn over almost his entire farm to the endeavor, aiming to harvest between 30,000 and 40,000 pumpkinsteins.

Sen. Fitzgerald cites fellow Republican accused of 13 counts of Voter Fraud as reason why we need ID.

Remember 50-year-old health insurance executive and Republican Robert Monroe, who was caught and charged with 13 counts of voter fraud? Voter photo ID at the polls would not have stopped this guy, and more importantly, current safe guards led to his arrest. He did register to vote in Milwaukee using his mothers address and a false Social Security number to vote there, leaving open the question as to whether a photo ID might have stopped him. But nobody is saying fraud doesn't exist, it's just rare.

Yet to hear Sen. Scott Fitzgerald version of the story, you'd think voter photo ID would have solved the problem. Fitzgerald was even eager to throw this fellow Republican under the bus to make his phony argument. I put together this Upfront with Mike Gousha audio only slide show:

WisPolitics: The Senate majority leader told "UpFront with Mike Gousha" he believes the upcoming election will yield examples of voter fraud. Fitzgerald pointed to news accounts that revealed a Republican advocate voted multiple times in a previous election as evidence of the need for the changes enacted by the blocked law.

But this kind of fraud is already as rare as Sasquatch sightings.

Just as interesting, in August, Monroe admitted what we already knew about conservative voters in general:

A Shorewood man charged with illegally casting multiple votes in various elections, including five in the 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall, has entered an insanity plea.

Great punchline, right? But I thought the following down-the-rabbit-hole example proving Monroe's insanity was also worth a mention:

Monroe's girlfriend, Nicole Mueller, had recalled several "brief amnesic episodes," including one occasion in which Monroe ordered a large pajama suit for her and had no memory of it later.

How insane is that?

Schimel to blindly defend all state laws no matter what! What about law banning coordination with third party groups? "I'm not sure."

Waukesha DA Brad Schimel's scatterbrained answers in Friday's Attorney General debate was an unnerving revelation for this viewer. Lazy and simplistic, Schimel hopes to hide his inability to make sound legal judgments by making the ridiculous pledge to defend all laws passed by the legislature. Who doesn't see through that one, really, we're grownups here aren't we?

Saying Schimel is unprepared for the job as the state's top cop would be understatement. Even at this late date, he's still waffling on the issues. The shocking clip below, completely missed by the media, shows Schimel already contradicting his promise to defend all state laws. Asked if he would simply defend the state law banning coordination between third party groups and political candidates, like Scott Walker did, Schimel is suddenly "NOT SURE." Am I the only one who noticed this mind-bending flip flop (at 2:48 in the video)?

Cudos to Mike Gousha for pursuing Schimel on this question. Schimel even forgot what law Gousha was talking about. Truly frightening:



It's likely Schimel will never be prepared for the job. Even unenlightened self absorbed radio talk hosts like Vicki McKenna nailed it early on. I put together a number a audio clips that proves McKenna right for once:



Thanks to the Mic's Devil's Advocates for coming up with the McKenna clips.

Republican AG Candidate Brad Schimel forgets to uphold the Constitution. Promises to fight EPA, then blames Democratic candidate DA Susan Happ of activism. Doh!

It was both sad and funny the way AG candidate Brad Schimel tried to paint his Democratic opponent DA Susan Happ as an activist.

Schimel's "I'll defend anything passed by the legislature" attitude isn't just scary, but completely ignores his pledge to also uphold the constitution. A pledge Democrat Susan Happ brought up a couple of times. It was a major mistake for Schimel, who's trying to appeal to a party that lives and dies by their mistaken interpretation of it.

Host Mike Gousha must have been just as surprised when Schimel, just after branding Happ as an activist, started to bash the EPA, opposed new standards, and rambled on about coal and jobs.

Happ couldn't help but mention Schimel's plan to put in place a solicitor general, a political appointee to take on the federal government, from the EPA to ObamaCare:

Happ: "I don't think that our attorney general should be engaging in those types of activist approaches."

Here's an edited clip to prove my point:



One of the funnier moments came when Schimel put his hand up with his fingers crossed saying, when you take an oath to uphold the constitution, you don't say "except for these ones I don't like or I don't agree with." So Schimel won't even think about a laws constitutionality? Yes.

WKOW: Schimel said, "We've got to enforce the laws the way they are written and we've got to defend Wisconsin law.  Happ sees the position a little differently. If elected AG she wouldn't defend laws that she feels are unconstitutional. During the debate she cited laws such as Wisconsin's same-sex marriage ban and the Voter ID law. 

"The attorney general is not a robot. The attorney general has to be able to look at the law, compare it to the constitution and determine if it passes constitutional muster," Happ explains.

Schimel is playing for keeps, with this "classy" campaign strategy. This is what we can expect from the next attorney general?

Walker and J.B. Van Hollen try keeping voters confused and wary of ID's impossible return before election.

Scott Walker could not explain away his continued attempts to suppress voter turnout, except to say in the most contradictory way:

Walker: "The law in the state of Wisconsin is simple, it's easy to vote, and hard to cheat." 

As casual observers know, elections are getting overly complicated and regulated by the party of

ACLU voter regulation chart.

deregulation. Voter photo ID is just one of many restrictions.

Even the press was quick to notice how Walker and J.B. Van Hollen were oddly trying to keep the idea of complication and intimidation alive in the voters minds, by suggesting some magical way to "reinstate the law" sometime with the remaining 3 weeks. That would contradict the Supreme Courts reason to block the law, which is crazy, and the media sensed it.

From WPR, guest John Nichols found the ploy curiously obvious as well. In reaction to a reading of Van Hollen's statement, former Republican state senator Dan Kapanke said "I didn't see that quote...!" Ah, like the show host would have made it up?



Walker thinks voting, the backbone of our democratic republic, is a distraction that takes time away from more important issues? Mary Burke counters, by pointing out how Walker is willing to block 300,000 people from voting to save us all from one fictitious instance of fraud. Pretty simple stuff:



If we're worried about one instance of voter fraud, creating a complicated system along the way, then why aren't we just as cautious with another constitutional guarantee; gun ownership. Walker's tired old line "if just one vote is stolen," could just as easily be "if just one life is taken." And yet, gun regulation is bad, voting regulation is good.

Walker loses debate on Environment, deliberately ignores Sand Mining in Wisconsin, says, "Thanks to God and the glaciers we have some of the best frac sand in the world."

I'm hoping many in the state not familiar with Scott Walker's mishandling of mining in Wisconsin were shocked at what they heard during the first debate.

The one big thing we have going for our state is tourism...our environment. And Walker is giving that away to out-of-state interests with no mining oversight. And this is another instance where "stand with Walker" voters complained the debate panel of reporters were showing their liberal stripes. Really?

Walker has allowed the frac sand mining industry to takeoff in the state without putting in place up and running regulatory oversight to match that growth. First, who the hell would do that, and second, who would think catching up eventually is a good idea? No one but Walker.

Trempealeau County closed down a sand mine operating without a permit? That's right, no permit, they just came in and started digging. Jaw dropping? But Walker calmly promised the DNR would catch up if he's reelected. Walker even blamed staff shortages on tight budgeting, after making major cuts in tax revenue. Huh?

Catching up eventually is not an answer. This was an easy topic for Democrat Mary Burke to win on:

Mary Burke smoked the elusive Scott Walker comeback.

The Wisconsin Broadcaster Association's debate hands down was one of the best managed candidate debates I watched. It was strict in its execution, times were enforced, and followup questions and responses were an invaluable element.

That was quick!

Mary Burke answered her questions confidently and factually, Scott Walker did not. For a guy who doesn't want to go backwards, he sure talked a lot about the past, including the Doyle administration and the Republican Great Recession. He didn't take us out of a supposed Doyle slump, he personalized his own version of what a real slump looks like.

Remember, we're not supposed to question authority...

Sung to the tune of a Christmas song, "these are a few of my favorite tweets..."

--Vos is wrong. The ACA isn't borrowing money to expand Medicaid. Stupid or lie?

Walker makes "Dirty Dozen in the States" list, and still can't move state from bottom of jobs and business creation ranking.

Anything for jobs, including digging up and polluting everything in our state? Sure.

“Stand with Walker” conservative voters might roll their eyes after seeing Scott Walker’s name on the national League of ConservationVoters “Dirty Dozen in the States” list, but they should at least take note as to why. LCV is making a bigger statement about endangering our water supply, outdoor recreation and the massive state tourism industry.

“From letting polluters off the hook when they contaminate our water to making clean energy a thing of the past, Gov. Walker has made one thing perfectly clear: in Governor Walker’s Wisconsin, big polluters are rewarded – and the rest of us are left to pay the price,” said Kerry Schumann, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters Executive Director. To name just some of the anti-conservation actions that put Gov. Walker on the Dirty Dozen in the States program:

Not only did Walker support the mining bill written by an out-of-state mining company that allows mining companies to expose our families to arsenic, lead, and mercury, but the company, Gogebic Taconite, secretly donated $700,000 to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a group actively supporting Walker.

Since Walker took office, enforcement against illegal polluters has dropped 45%. One of those illegal polluters, Herr Environmental, was treating fields with 300% as much human waste as their permit allowed, endangering 40 nearby drinking water wells.

Walker Blew it on Wind: One of Governor Walker’s first legislative goals was to throw wind farm development out the window by imposing extreme restrictions that would have suffocated Wisconsin’s clean energy future.

Trashing Recycling: Governor Walker sneaked a provision into his budget eliminating state recycling requirements and all funding for municipality and county-run recycling programs. In a rare occurrence, the members of the Committee chose to go against Walker’s recommendation, ultimately restoring recycling.

#6: Frac Attack: In Governor Walker’s Wisconsin, polluting frac sand mines are being let off the hook while Wisconsinites are left with dirty air and contaminated water … enforcement actions have dropped 55% from an average of 516 notices per year to just 233. (note: Only 30% of sand mines have been inspected).

Is Obama bad for business, destroying economy? Seems GOP proven wrong again when it comes to Wall Street.

Not only are Republicans wrong about Obama's recovery, but you know deep down inside these guys would be touting the same numbers below if Mitt Romney had won. This is a snapshot of the financial industry, along with the jobs trend. Motley Fool:

Meet the Koch...Sisters?

A brilliant strategic move...

Wisconsin Voter ID Blocked by Supreme Court....

Pinch me I'm dreaming. Maybe Rep. Robin Vos will blame GAB's Kevin Kennedy for that too.

Oh, and predictably Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Should we be able to predict their decisions...somethings wrong with that. Here's Rachel Maddow:



Maddow also feature this comedic bit by Lewis Black featuring Wisconsin's amazingly convoluted system of voting:



Here's the ACLU's Dale Ho with Lawrence O'Donnell with an explanation, and warning this isn't a final ruling:

Rep. Mark Pocan: "Let Walker be a full time candidate for president, and elect Mary Burke to be our full time governor."

I'm amazed no one else has taken issue with Scott Walker's use of taxpayer supported benefits, added it to the minimum wage, to eliminate the need to increase the minimum wage. These are the same benefits he's trying to reduce or eliminate anyway, which would again make the case to increase the minimum wage. Dizzy yet?

That's what makes Republican run government so incompetent and mismanaged, feeding the myth that government is bad. Yea, if their in charge.

Big Ed Schultz talked to Ruth Conniff, Rep. Mark Pocan and Wisconsin Jobs Now's Jennifer Epps-Addison about what some are calling Walker's "Romney Moment:"

Immature Men "stand with Scott Walker."

Why is Scott Walker so popular with men in the recent Marquette University polling? Walker clocks in at 62 percent vs a meager 34% for Mary Burke. Even with registered voters, Walker’s love fest with men is still a decent 54% to Burke's 39 percent? Why?

The following study, with map, reveals the obvious answer: "Which U.S. States Have the Most Immature Men?" There we are, rated 10th for immature men. Knew it...

Walker is close to being reelected by guys with the following qualifications. I'm guessing unemployed men are blaming themselves and not Walker's policies:

Estately set out to determine which states have a higher percentage of adult males still sleeping between their childhood Star Wars sheets by using these (typically male) immaturity measurements…

No Job (unemployment rate for each state)

Fantasy Football Enthusiasm (expressed interest for fantasy football by male Facebook users ages 25-65 in each state)

Beer Pong Enthusiasm  (expressed interest for beer pong by male Facebook users ages 25-65 in each state)

Video Game Enthusiasm (expressed interest for video games by male Facebook users ages 25-65 in each state)

Enthusiasm for watching The Family Guy (expressed interest for The Family Guy by male Facebook users ages 25-65 in each state)

Porn Viewership (number of porn downloads per capita in each state)

In the end we discovered the country’s most immature men are congregated in the Midwest, Great Lakes, Southwest, and Appalachia. 

Incidental Governor Walker forced to say something about annoying women's health issues in latest ad.

Poor Scott Walker, always having to deal with controversial issues that are just not on his radar...that he'll be forced to pass into law anyway. Can we just talk about jobs please? Oh wait, that might not be a good idea either. Uh, Mary Burke plagiarism?

Walker has done the same draconian things other governors have done when it comes to women's health care and women's rights, especially choice, but he's wisely let his legislative hit squad do the dirty work.

From WKOW's Greg Neumann:

Walker says in his latest ad he's "pro-life," which I take it to mean others are pro-death? Anyone ask him whether he's for the death penalty or not? Didn't think so.

Desperately trying to peel away one or two women in the state through simple deception, Walker wants to hide his real record and intentions. But Mary Burke's new campaign ad offers up where Walker will eventually take us, in his own words:

jsonline: Doug Laube, a longtime gynecologist in the state, took issue with an ad in which Walker said that he supported a law "to increase safety and to provide more information for a woman considering her options."

1. In July 2013, Walker approved a law requiring women seeking abortions to get ultrasounds.
2. mandating that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where they perform abortions.
3. Walker and GOP lawmakers have also decreased funding for Planned Parenthood.

Many similar big government regulations closed nearly all the clinics in Texas recently. Safer care?

"Closing health centers that provide women with preventive health care...puts women's health at unnecessary risk. These regulations do not to enhance the safety of patients.”

38% of registered Wisconsin voters favor requiring women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound and 56% oppose the requirement.

But this isn't about representing the electorate, it’s what the authority thinks is best for us. It’s what Republicans admiringly call leadership, and you will be happy with it. Oddly, it's also the never-ending conservative backlash over the 60's. Yes, they're still fighting that battle. These people are truly nuts...from a current bit of PolitiFact research:

State Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, said abortion "became popular in the '60s and it was almost the thing to do. You needed to get one of them to be a woman." And Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, said: "Let’s trust women to make choices for themselves, and for the love of Wisconsin, let’s stay out of their vaginas."

Republican protection racket rolling out!!!

You would find it hard to just can't make this kind of stuff up, but it's happening in real time and voters don't seem fazed by it; Walker first promised to "divide and conquer" workers, elected politicians were sworn to secrecy creating safe gerrymandered districts, Republicans ran phony Democrats during elections, and then created a maze of complicated and frustrating voting regulations to stay in power.

Phase two. 

Lap Dog AG?

With Rep. Robin Vos promising to disband the independent Government Accountability Board in favor of partisan appointments, another facet of the Republican protection racket is in the works. And it’s a big piece of the plan.

It’s the AG’s race. If history is any guide, Waukesha County’s DA Brad Schimel will shine. Not only has he come right out and said he’ll support anything passed out of the Republican administration, but he will also go easy on Republican operatives who blatantly break the law. This isn't the fabricated “easy on sex offenders” bullshit tossed out as election fodder, no, this is a get out of jail card for destroying evidence…by a conservative attorney no less.

Blogging Blue nailed it in their recent post, a shocking story that sets up an almost bullet proof political regime. In summary, it goes something like this:

-Darlene Wink, a former aide to Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, was caught using her taxpayer-provided County computer to do political work for Walker.

-Attorney Christopher Wiesmueller offered to represent her pro bono … advised Wink to remove all evidence related to her political activity … files and emails. Wiesmueller also offered to assist Wink … so Wink left the laptop at Wiesmueller’s office … (who) subsequently deleted the files...

-Wink met with the John Doe prosecutor and investigator … Wink’s political fundraising activities were discussed, and after being informed that the investigation showed emails relevant to the investigation had been deleted from Wink’s computer, Wink denied having any help … attorney Wiesmueller admitted he had advised Wink to delete the evidence, but Wiesmueller did not admit his role.

-In exchange for providing information about Wiesmueller’s role in the destruction of evidence, Wink was offered immunity … The prosecutor referred the matter of Wiesmueller’s destruction of evidence to the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office, (Brad Schimel) agreed to forego filing criminal charges provided he made a thorough and complete report of his conduct to the Office of Lawyer Regulation. Wiesmueller reported his conduct in July of 2012 … did not incur any criminal sanctions as a result of his conduct in destroying the digital evidence of his client’s crimes. 

Uppity’s Zach Wisniewski summed it up this way:

So what I’d like to know is why Brad Schimel decided not to pursue charges against fellow Republican Christopher Wiesmueller after Wiesmueller destroyed evidence that would implicate his client in an ongoing criminal investigation?

Without election oversight and a powerful compliant conservative AG, the red state one party agenda is unstoppable and above the law. 

Paul Ryan's Free Market line of BS Exposed!!!

You’ll find this amusing, and an insightful look at the upside down free market rhetoric of acolyte Paul Ryan.

Get government out of the way? Let the free market work its incredible magic without regulatory interference? Bull!!!

Ryan is starting to sound like my conservative friend in Milwaukee, when I asked him about free market health care; if people buy the coverage they can afford, “what happens if somebody gets sick from something they didn't cover?” He said without hesitation, “insurers should be required to cover everything.” Huh? A big time government mandate? My head hurt for the rest of the day.

Ryan is just as hypocritical, and an outright phony.

The Hill: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) alleged that the Budget Committee chairman's new book, The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea, received special treatment after Ryan criticized Amazon, (and) the web company’s standoff with publishing company Hachette. Ryan’s book is published by Hachette. Amazon had been making the book more difficult to find, delaying deliveries and not offering the option to pre-order it before the August publishing date. The online retailer and publishing company are fighting over the pricing of e-books.

In a CNBC interview in August, Ryan accused Amazon of “making a kind of power play here, in my opinion," against his publisher. “If I were just a private citizen, I would voice just one straight opinion, but since I’m a member of Congress and a policymaker, I’m going to withhold from making comment,” he said, after being asked a follow-up question about whether regulators needed to step in. Shortly after those comments, Amazon made his book easier to find in its online store and is now offering a 25 percent discount.

What, are Amazon's free market hardball tactics considered "unfair" by Ryan? Ayn Rand would be so disappointed.

Like tort reforms anti-free market protection of businesses from lawsuits, Ryan would “help” the free market by getting regulators involved. But thanks to his powerful big government position, the free market squeezed a special favor out of Amazon. 

Hesselbein doesn't hold back....refreshing.

Want to see how a real Democrat answers questions? Check out Middleton Representative Dianne Hesselbein’s responses to the State Journal candidates Q & A.  Believe me, you’ll never hear DPW’s Mike Tate say anything so uncluttered and to the point: 

Q&A: Do you favor making Wisconsin a right-to-work state?

Hesselbein: No. Let’s call it the way it really is: “right-to-work” means “work-for-less” pay and benefits. The intent is to cripple unions and move employees toward the economic status of Chinese and Vietnamese working in virtual slavery. Right-to-work legislation has not benefited the middle and working class families in neighboring states, and it will not benefit hard-working Wisconsinites.

What changes do you want to see in state environmental laws and regulations?

Hesselbein: I want out-of-state companies to stop donating $700,000 to campaign committees that in turn write legislative bills detrimental to the state of Wisconsin. I want clear, rigorous laws enacted by state legislators that provide a better life for Wisconsin citizens, not for outside interests. We simply cannot permit long-term devastation of our environment by corporate carpetbaggers seeking short-term profits.

Come on, tell us what you really think.

Walker/Kleefisch Plagiarism Scandal!!! "Open for Business" lifted from a big campaign supporter.

One more look at "not" plagiarism, the mindless reason why "stand with Walker" voters hate Mary Burke.

It appears the biggest most important slogan used by Scott Walker was plagiarized from one of his biggest supporters and a former Democratic governor:

WSJ: On her campaign website, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch says she is “widely credited” with coming up with the phrase, “Wisconsin is Open for Business.” So did Kleefisch engage in “plagiarism,” the same tag that Republicans have hung on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke over her jobs plan? Kleefisch sidestepped the question, saying you can find “open for business” signs in any home-improvement store. “I don’t think the idea of ‘open for business’ ... is something that any politician would ever have claimed to have invented,” she said. But the biography section of her campaign website reads: “Widely credited for coining the phrase, ‘Wisconsin is Open for Business.’

Oops. Both Kleefisch and Walker appear to have plagiarized others, including super villain and the guy Walker can’t stop blaming for everything, former Gov. Jim Doyle:

But her boss, Gov. Scott Walker, used the exact phrase in his inaugural address Jan. 3, 2011: “And as your governor, I make this pledge: Wisconsin is open for business. Even earlier, former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle was quoted using the precise phrasing in 2005. And Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a major backer of the campaign of Kleefisch and Walker, used the identical phrase in an advertising campaign more than a decade ago. Moreover, variations on the phrase have been used by politicians and states — including New Jersey, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia — to describe their own pro-business policies for at least two decades.

The article went on to say the debate was silly, quoting a few university professors, but isn't that what should have been said before Republicans got so much mileage out it?