Wisconsin

Gov. Walker Touts Leadership, But Official Schedule Tells a Different Story

MADISON, Wis. — A One Wisconsin Now analysis of Gov. Walker’s schedules from August 2011 through January 2012 reveals that little time was scheduled by the state’s chief executive for communicating with legislators or working on a legislative agenda but that huge amounts of time were blocked off as “personal”. One Wisconsin Now Spokesperson Mike […]

Scott Walker, Gov. Moocher

A One Wisconsin Now analysis of Gov. Walker’s schedules from August 2011 through January 2012 reveals that little time was scheduled by the state’s chief executive for communicating with legislators or working on a legislative agenda but that huge amounts of time were blocked off as “personal”. [The Political Environment]

Roggensack Decided Case involving her own lawyer

In late 2006, a Grant County jury ordered Daniel Virnich and Jack Moores to pay a $6.5 million judgment, the largest in Wisconsin that year. The lawsuit brought by receiver Michael Polsky had accused the two men of plundering a stereo components company, through excessive payments to themselves. [Wisconsin Watch]

37 Days Since Gov. Walker Announced He “Lawyered-Up” in Criminal Investigation of Administration, Still No Word On Who Is Paying His Legal Defense Bills

MADISON, Wis. — In early February, Gov. Scott Walker announced he had “lawyered-up” in the ongoing criminal investigation of his administration, retaining two high profile criminal defense attorneys. His continuing refusal to disclose how he is paying for his lawyers, whose billing rates could approach $1,000 per-hour, raises troubling ethical concerns, according to One Wisconsin […]

Walker Sets Up Legal Defense Fund

Gov. Scott Walker said Friday he has set up a legal defense fund to pay for two attorneys representing him in a Milwaukee County investigation, under a state law that allows such a move for officeholders if they’re charged or under investigation for election or campaign violations.  [Associated Press]

Gov. Walker’s Legal Defense Fund Announcement Leaves Questions Unanswered

MADISON, Wis. — Thirty-seven days after announcing he “lawyered up” in the ongoing criminal investigation of his administration, Gov. Walker has announced he’s created a legal defense fund. But the questions still remain. Who’s contributing to the fund that will presumably be used to pay for his team of criminal defense attorneys? How much have […]

One Year of Walker = 20,600 Fewer Jobs in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — The numbers are in and Wisconsin lost a net of 20,600 nonfarm jobs in 2011 with Scott Walker as Governor and Republicans in control of the state legislature. While nationally jobs were added the backwards, trickle-down economic policies of Gov. Walker and the GOP cost us almost 21,000 jobs over the last […]

Judge issues injunction against GOP voter suppression ID

Gov. Walker and Republicans in the legislature have spent the last 15 months taking away the rights of Wisconsinites to have a say in their workplace, hold their elected officials accountable in fair elections and, with voter ID, the right to vote. On Tuesday Dane County Circuit Court Judge Flanagan struck a blow against the […]

Wisconsinites Tell Government Accountability Board: Count It and Call It

While Gov. Walker and Republicans continue to seek delays in setting a recall election date – and keep raising unlimited campaign donations from wealthy mega-donors – One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne today urged the Government Accountability Board (GAB) to listen to the thousands of Wisconsin citizens who’ve signed an online petition asking them […]

Why Are Republicans Gutting MATC Board? Power, Money, Control – Take Your Pick

Why do Wisconsin’s legislative Republicans and Governor Walker do what they do?  Looking at their track record it is clear that they’re motivated by campaign cash and political power. If legislation privatizes public assets to help donors, prevents the public from holding them accountable, or places their hand-picked cronies in positions of power, you’ll find […]

GOP Sen. Leibham: “I am not aware of any ‘secrecy pledge”

A concerned citizen contacted us recently over concerns that state Republican Sen. Joseph Leibham was not being completely forthcoming about his involvement in the GOP “secrecy pledge” to keep the public from knowing the truth about their partisan redistricting scheme. Concerned Citizen emailed Sen. Leibham’s office to ask whether or not Sen. Leibham signed the […]

Redistricting Maps Shared with Former Assembly Speaker Jensen

Three days before new election maps were made available to the public, Republicans supplied copies of some of them to former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, who now heads a group that spends heavily to elect GOP lawmakers. The emails show the Republicans drawing the legislative maps were willing to share their work with Jensen and […] [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

2010 ‘Lie of Year’ Award Winner in Madison to Address Gathering of Corporate CEOs

MADISON, Wis. — 2010 Politifact “Lie of the Year” award winner, GOP pollster Frank Luntz, addressed a gathering of CEOs sponsored by the state’s big business lobby today in Madison. One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne said Luntz will have his work cut out for him trying to boost Gov. Scott Walker’s record of […]

Mouthpiece Doesn’t Match the Message

The gubernatorial recall campaign of former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk has gone to an old friend of the candidate to handle its messaging. At the helm will be Scot Ross, Falk’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign communications director and who up until last month was executive director of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, or OWN. [Wisconsin Reporter]

Tactics Resemble 2010 Tea Party Voter Caging Scheme

The tactics used by Fitzgerald to challenge recall petitions resemble a scheme planned for the 2010 elections by the Wisconsin GOP and Tea Party groups, including the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. Some of those same Tea Party groups are also involved in the current recall “verification” effort. Recordings released by One Wisconsin Now in September 2010 […] [PR Watch]

Walker picking up tab for fundraiser without disclosing?

Kelly Rindfleisch, who is accused of campaigning on county time, worked for Brett Davis’ unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor. The complaint says she left the campaign in July 2010 because she didn’t work well with Dan Morse, who was brought on to do fundraising work the previous month… But a check of Davis’ campaign records […]

Executives Open Pockets to Help Walker Fight Recall

The Walker campaign finished the quarter with a combined total of more than $2.6 million cash on hand in the recall and general campaign funds. The campaign has raised more than $12 million since Jan. 1, 2011. According to the campaign, 16,406 of those contributions were $50 or less, representing 76.5 percent of the overall number […] [Biz Times]

One Wisconsin Now Statement on GOP Redistricting Secrecy Pledge

MADISON, Wis. — One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne made the following statement regarding regarding reports that nearly every Republican state legislator signed a “secrecy pledge”, agreeing not talk about the redistricting power grab legislation being drafted behind closed doors by their leadership: “I don’t know what’s a bigger outrage, the reported Republican legislative […]

GOP lawmakers pledged secrecy over redistricting

As legislative leaders secretly developed new election maps last year to strengthen their majority, Republican lawmakers were told to ignore public comments and instead focus on what was said in private strategy sessions, according to a GOP memo that became public Monday. Other newly released documents also show almost all Republican lawmakers signed legal agreements […]

Former Aide to Walker Pleads Guilty in John Doe Investigation

A former county-level staffer for Gov. Scott Walker pleaded guilty to two felony charges on Tuesday as the ongoing 20-month investigation into Walker’s former campaign staff continues. Darlene Wink, a former Milwaukee County employee under Walker’s tenure as Milwaukee County Executive, entered a guilty plea for two felony charges of soliciting political contributions while working in a […] [Badger Herald]

New Website Tracks Walker Gate

One Wisconsin Now has posted a new website that tracks the scandal unfolding around Scott Walker, his former County Executive staff and gubernatorial appointees. [The Political Environment]

Hyper-Partisan Media Trackers’ Epic Fail

Over at the “non-partisan” rag that is Media Trackers, Collin Roth wrote a piece a few days ago attacking Scot Ross, the former Executive Director of One Wisconsin Now, as being “hyper-partisan.” Roth goes on to allege Ross was the “subject of similar crimes” to those alleged to have been committed by three close aides to then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. [Blogging Blue]

One Wisconsin Now – Meet Uncle RICO

One Wisconsin Now, along with multiple affiliated groups, turned in recall petitions signed, allegedly, by 1 million Wisconsin residents on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2011.  The Wisconsin Government [lack of] Accountability Board finally decided tonight to follow black letter law and release the scanned documents to the public. [The Dinner Table]

Rowen: Charges show Walker was no reformer

Remember that Walker was swept into that office after Tom Ament resigned as County Executive in the wake of a massive recall signature effort. … In the case of Ament and supervisors who expanded fiscally ruinous pension payments, it was a matter of using a publicly-financed system to pad their retirement incomes. With Walker, it […]

Corruption Flashback: Walker stimulated [illegally] by rail tycoon William Gardner

From the One WI Now archives [February 2010]: With rail on the mind as Joint Finance meets today to discuss establishing a high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee, this seems to be an appropriate time to point out that Scott Walker received a $10,000 contribution from a railroad chief who happens to be a […]

Liebmann: Key Questions for Scott Walker

Cory Liebmann from Eye on Wisconsin has some great questions for Scott Walker: 1. When Scott Walker emailed Tim Russell with the above listed message, why did he use his campaign email account?… [Read more] 2. Scott Walker’s email to Russell specifically mentions “no laptops”, so that shows us that he knew that his top […]

Lawsuit Against Walker ‘Voter Suppression’ Bill to Continue

Dane County Judge dismissed motions today that would have stopped the lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker’s voter identification bill, that experts say is both not needed and could lead to legal voters being disenfranchised or subject to a de facto poll tax.“Gov. Scott Walker’s effort to keep legal voters from exercising their right to hold […] [Milwaukee Community Journal]

Scott Walker’s Rhetoric Versus Reality

MADISON, Wis. — Governor Scott Walker failed to tackle Wisconsin’s jobs crisis – posting six straight months of job losses here while nationally jobs are being added – and is now poised to take on “the truth” in his second State of the State address. In Gov. Walker’s one year in office he has failed […]

Scott Walker’s Plutonomy: An Economy for the One Percent

Walker’s choice to be on Wall Street the day of the recall filing is so astounding, for many it goes far beyond the notion of a tin ear. “Walker could not have sent a clearer signal to Wall Street, that he is on the side of the 1 percent ready to do their bidding and […] [PR Watch]

Is ‘It’s Working’ Gov. Walker’s ‘Mission Accomplished’?

Turns out the worst news of Gov. Scott Walker’s week wasn’t that one million people signed papers to recall him from office. It was that for the sixth straight month, the state of Wisconsin lost jobs After all, with much of the nation gaining jobs over the last year, Wisconsin sits alone as an island […]

Reforming the Recalls

New bill would make it a felony to sign a recall petition twice, a second bill would only allow a recall if an elected officer committed a crime or violated state ethics. The Government Accountably Board estimated that it could cost local taxpayers nearly $20 million to finance a statewide recall election with a primary. [Menomonee Falls Patch]

Job Numbers continue six-month plummet under Walker failure

Gov. Scott Walker’s failed economic policies have resulted in six straight months of job loss in Wisconsin, despite job creation happening in states across the nation. Gov. Scott Walker has failed Wisconsin. His corporate tax breaks have failed us. His gutting of public education has failed us. His cuts to health care for 65,000 people […]

Wisconsin Recall Elections a Sure Thing, But New ID Law May Block Anti-Walker Vote

Wisconsin will soon witness major election and legal battles to combat Walker-supported laws limiting the rights of public workers and restricting voting booth access. Laws passed in 2011 virtually eliminate public-employee bargaining rights and restrict voting to those with approved IDs, which could potentially disenfranchise tens of thousands of state residents. “First you take away […] [In These Times]

Recall of Walker Almost Certain

The recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seems to be a foregone conclusion, with the news that yesterday, over 1 million signatures, on recall petitions, were turned into Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB).  The number of signatures needed to   recall Gov. Walker, is just over 540,000 signatures. [Examiner]

Organizers file more than 1 million signatures to recall Walker

Organizers of the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday filed what they said were more than a million signatures, a number that nearly matches Walker’s vote total from 2010 and almost doubles the number of signatures needed to trigger another election.  United Wisconsin, the organization formed to recall the governor, said it turned […]

1 Million to Recall Walker, What it Means

Democrats and their leftwing allies are touting the fact that they reached their 1 million-signature goal in the effort to recall Governor Scott Walker. While recall advocates only needed to gather 540,208 valid signatures to force an election, reaching the 1 million mark was a symbolic goal that they set to prove the strength of the movement. […] [Big Government]

Recall Signatures Arrive in Madison

“In just one year, Gov. Scott Walker has failed the people of Wisconsin as no other elected official in our state has. Continuing job loss, while nationally the rest of the country gains jobs. The largest cuts to public education of our students in our state’s history. More than 65,000 people including 29,000 children about […] [Milwaukee Small Business Times]

One Wisconsin Now Statement on Recall Petitions

In just one year, Gov. Scott Walker has failed the people of Wisconsin as no other elected official in our state has. Continuing job loss, while nationally the rest of the country gains jobs. The largest cuts to public education of our students in our state’s history. [WBAY]

Senator Grothman Introduces Bill to Eliminate Campaign Donation Disclosure Rule

Allegations that Gov. Scott Walker improperly reported campaign contributions over 1,000 times since 2009 have come back into the spotlight with the introduction of SB 292. Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now has filed two complaints with the Government Accountability Board over what they say are more than $500,000 in improperly reported contributions to Walker’s campaigns – […] [Dane 101]

Could Walker be More Closely Tied to the John Doe Investigation?

We already know that [Walker’s] campaign improperly reported over $500,000 in campaign contributions by failing to disclose them. This constitutes over 1,000 campaign finance violations, punishable by fines of up to $500. Therefore, Walker could face up to $557,000 in fines, according to the progressive group One Wisconsin Now. [Fire Dog Lake]

GOP Redistricting Fiasco Gets Worse

MADISON, Wis. — One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements on the fiasco caused by the Republicans rush to try and rig election districts in the redistricting process. Since taking power in January, Republicans have systematically attacked voting rights and focused on an extreme, divisive agenda to solidify their political power […]

Placement of WMC’s pro-Walker billboard telling

A Janesville sign company may be regretting its decision on where to place a billboard touting the job creation efforts of Governor Scott Walker. The sign was briefly put up in front of the shuttered General Motors plant in Janesville this week, but was taken down quickly after groups started pointing out the unfortunate placement. […]

Walker Accused of Violating Over 1,000 Campaign Finance Laws

Wisconsin law requires that a candidate disclose contributions which exceed $100 — something that Scott Ross, director of One Wisconsin Now, says he repeatedly declined to do.“Scott Walker has improperly reported well over $500,000 in contributions from inside and outside of Wisconsin,” Ross said. “Scott Walker has absolutely no interest in following the campaign finance […] [Raw Story]