Uppity Wisconsin

Neither Scott Walker nor anyone from his staff contacted rail equipment manufacturer Talgo to ask them to consider the Super Steel facility before the company made its decision,Talgo executive Ferran Canals told committee members.-- Journal Sentinel.

Illusory Tenant has more.

UPDATE: That embarrassing sentence has disappeared from the story.

So Tom Barrett is officially the underdog in the race for governor, according to some pointy-headed professor in Virginia (as George Wallace would say), who must know something people in Wisconsin don't know. Maybe he's been reading those phony right-wing polls,, which even claim Mark Neumann would beat Barrett. Anyway, this guy says the statehouse race is leaning Republican.

There is nothing like being the underdog, as a lot of basketball players will tell you this week.

Kind of makes you want to give the underdog a boost, doesn't it?

Scott Walker's blast at Tom Barrett and Jim Doyle over the award of a train contract that is bringing jobs to Milwaukee is hysterical in both senses of the word.

Walker's way-over-the-top news release, accusing Barrett and Doyle of everything short of racketeering, sounds like Walker may be hysterical, if not rabid.

It's also hysterical in the sense that it's laughable. The more you read, and the more you find out the facts, the funnier it gets.

Walker's beef is that a Spanish train company has decided to build its cars at the former A.O.

So it turns out Scott Walker's brown bag idea is stale, copied from a campaign in Ohio.

Two questions: (1) Do you think the sandwiches are fresh?

(2) If Walker's making his own sandwiches at home, as he claims, who's eating all of those Subway sandwiches charged to the campaign as "candidate meals?"

The Associated Press pops Scott Walker's brown bag campaign, reporting on the expensive meals his campaign has paid for while he pretends to carry his lunch.

More on Walker's campaign eating habits.

One more thing: If someone lights one of Walker's brown bags on fire, leaves it on your porch and rings the doorbell, don't stomp on it. You know what it's filled with.

"People create jobs, not government."

                        -- Scott Walker, who has been on the government payroll since June 1993.

When Steve Walters was reporting for the Journal Sentinel's Madison bureau, a lot of Democrats thought he just put Tommy Thompson's news releases -- or Jim Klauser's memos -- right in the newspaper, without bothering to edit them or ask anyone for an opposing viewpoint.

So it was a pleasant surprise when Walters, now a producer at Wisconsin Eye and a WisPolitics columnist, said he has a few questions for Scott Walker about his tax cutting plans if he's elected governor.

Unfortunately, Walters is asking the wrong questions:

By “employers,” Scott, do you mean all Wisconsin businesses? (Scott? Sounds a little chummy, ain'a?)

Specifically, will you recommend cutting -- or even abolishing -- the $700 million corporate income tax?

Scott, would you freeze property taxes only on homes, or also on other types of property (manufacturing, commercial, farmland, utilities)?

Interesting questions, perhaps, but irrelevant to a large extent. Walker has already said quite clearly what he wants to do.

“He [Scott Walker] either has to come up on TV and spend his money to match us or he doesn’t and he allows our message to sink in." -- Mark Neumann to WisPolitics on Monday.

Walker placed a TV buy Tuesday, to start Thursday in every market except Miilwaukee.

And Neumann, who's been on TV already in every market but Milwaukee, starts in that market on Friday.

Milwaukee bus ridership declined 9% last year to the lowest level in 35 years, the Journal Sentinel reports:

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker blamed the economy.

Pointing to high city unemployment, Walker said in a voice-mail message, "If people don't have jobs . . .  it makes it less likely that they're going to be riding the bus to and from work. . . .  We've maintained our routes, and our fares are compatible with other metro systems, and the bottom line is that you've got to get more people working."

David Riemer, Walker's opponent in 2004, said the system was in a death spiral, as service cuts and fare increases result in fewer riders, which hurts revenue, which causes Walker to cut more routes and raise fares again.

Walker is notorious for blaming all of his problems on someone else and never taking responsibility.

He doesn't believe in public transportation; he once said the solution to transportation problems is for everyone to drive a car.

Bad timing for Scott Walker's latest gimmick, a brown bag campaign to highlight what a frugal guy he is. 

Walker says he'll be holding brown bag lunches with regular folks all across Wisconsin to hear what's on their minds and talk about his campaign.

 However, if you want to be part of the  roundtable discussion with Jeb Bush and Walker at the Pfister Hotel this afternoon, it's cost you $5,000. For that you get a photo, too -- and Walker might actually listen to you.

Tonight's real brown bagger will be a $10 event sponsored by the Democratic Party at Ouzo Cafe.

UPDATE: The Democratic Party has launched a new website, BagScottWalker.com

Anyone who's been subjected to my two-minute drill on the fine art of political campaigns and message has heard this: Campaigns are all about drawing distinctions.

Voters ultimately have to choose between candidates. A candidate's job is to make it clear what the differences are, to give people a reason to vote for him/her instead of someone else.

It's that simple. But it seems to be very hard for many candidates to execute.

All too often, the candidate's "message" -- which is nothing more than telling people why they should vote for you -- is something another candidate could also say.

Mark Neumann's for jobs. Tom Barrett's for jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Scott Walker's for even more jobs. So if you think jobs is the issue, who you gonna vote for? You need to hear some distinctions.

So I welcome the "newly aggressive" Tom Barrett who showed up this week on the stump, as described by the Journal Sentinel:

In his most pointed comments to date in his race for governor, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett contrasted the city's help in turning around the Menomonee Valley with Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's handling of the vacant county-owned Park East Corridor.

Good news, Wisconsin taxpayers. There are more swimming pools in your future. Look for one in a backyard near you -- but not at the park. Campaign press release:

Scott Walker, Milwaukee County executive and Republican candidate for governor, told a crowd of over 125 at Sheraton Hotel this weekend that as governor he would keep his promise to “spend taxpayer money as if it were my own,”...

Walker spent a chunk of his own money on a private swimming pool at his suburban home, while taking a 72% pay raise from the taxpayers. But the public pool in Wauwatosa, where he lives,  was closed in 2003 after Walker became county executive. WUWM radio reported:

In Wauwatosa, weeds snake up through cracks in the empty pool at Hoyt Park. The landscape is a stark contrast to the days when thousands of swimmers made Hoyt the most popular pool in Milwaukee County.

It's all part of Walker's focus on budget-cutting at the expense of quality of life services county government can provide. A private group has been working to raise the money to reopen Hoyt. and is close to its goal.

To hear WTMJ television tell it, Scott Walker got off a great line in his joint "debate" appearance with Mark Neumann on Charlie Sykes's "Insight" show in Waukesha Monday night:

"Tom puts his faith in government," Walker said in a clear, strong voice. "More spending, more taxes, more programs. I have had a career doing just the opposite of that."

Ah, yes, great contrast, Mr. Walker.

Except it's not true.

Gentlemen (and I use the term loosely) -- Scott Walker, Mark Neumann, swing away.

And don't be too worried about keeping it clean.

I'll hold your coats.

We suggested earlier that highways must not require any tax support, since Scott Walker supports highways but wants to reject $823-million for rail (and about 5,000 jobs that go with it) because it might require some operating subsidy.

Well, we were wrong.

It turns out that Wisconsin roads actually do get a little money from taxpayers - and not just state taxes, either. Not by a long shot.

This analysis, based on Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) data, shows that Wisconsinites are shelling out nearly $1.5 billion a year in property taxes, sales taxes, and income taxes to pay for the existing road system--over 40% of the entire cost of the combined local/state road system.

That ain't hay. But I digress. Hay is for horses, which has nothing to do with this issue.