Scott Walker’s Record on Politics

"Scott Walker couldn't get enough people to pay to cruise Alaska with him when he actually had power and influence," said Analiese Eicher, executive director of the liberal One Wisconsin Now. "I guess we'll find out what the market is for a failed, ex-governor in Hawaii."

Liberal group One Wisconsin Now tweeted that Walker should speak on “How I Crashed and Burned a Presidential Campaign in 71 Days.”

He is clearly happy those laws will be challenged by the likes of the ACLU, One Wisconsin Institute and other respected groups that have announced such plans.

Will there be a lawsuit? Yeah, probably. Scott Walker signed the three #LameDuckCoup bills into law today and Scot Ross may sue as part of One Wisconsin Now.

“Scott Walker is yapping on social media about ‘transparency’ so he’s going to have to tell the people of Wisconsin how restricting their right to vote is creating more transparency,” Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, told The Progressive. One Wisconsin Now was the lead plaintiff in a 2016 federal case that put on hold a Republican plan to limit early voting in the last election. Massive early voting in Madison and Milwaukee and other areas of the state led to presidential-level turnout, and helped Democrats win every statewide race.

Tensions are running high in state politics as Governor Scott Walker considers a package of bills passed in a special legislative session.

Wisconsin Republicans appear to have settled on an explanation for why they lost every statewide race on the ballot in the November 6 elections: Too many voters voted. As part of his alarming post-election assault on checks and balances in state government, Assembly Republican leader Rep. Robin Vos is seeking to address what the GOP sees as their problem, proposing a law change to limit voter participation in a critical 2020 election for Wisconsin State Supreme Court.

In September 2018 Scott Walker charged Wisconsin taxpayers over $6,500 to fly from Madison to Milwaukee to Omaha, Nebraska and back to Madison. On the agenda for the day was a stop in Omaha, Nebraska for a conference hosted by Gov. Pete Ricketts. It turned out to be a profitable endeavor for Wisconsin Republicans as Rickets mother, Marlene, just week later gave a maximum $20,000 contribution to Walker’s campaign and two contributions totaling over $1 million to the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

A report from the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Public Integrity found Scott Walker’s haul of $11.5 million from donors not living in Wisconsin through early October led the nation for out-of-state contributions for state level office seekers. Walker continued the trend of snagging big money from people who do not have to live with him as their state’s governor with his latest finance filing made public on Monday evening, bringing his total raised for his gubernatorial campaigns since 2010 to over $109 million.

Eric Trump will be flying in to Wisconsin today as Republicans experience electoral turbulence across the country and here in state. Whatever the potential bumps at the ballot box for the party of Donald Trump, his son from the first of Trump’s three marriages, should enjoy a smooth landing for his stop in Wisconsin Rapids. Thanks to a 2017 budget provision approved by Wisconsin’s frequently flying governor Scott Walker, the runways have been upgraded at the small central Wisconsin airport to accommodate luxury jet travel to an exclusive golf resort owned and run by for a major Republican donor.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements on the latest anonymously-funded Marquette University poll.

Trailing in the polls and desperate to continue his quarter century political career, Scott Walker is, as he said during an appearance on Republican radio station WISN-AM this morning, “getting back to basics.” Part of his strategy reset means recycling lines about how unions will be opposing him and whining about spending against him.

When Vice President Mike Pence jets to Wisconsin today on Air Force 2 to raise campaign cash, he’ll be greeted at the airport by frequent flyer Gov. Scott Walker. With Walker’s political future experiencing turbulence after after One Wisconsin Now’s report last week detailing Walker’s misuse and abuse of the state plane, Executive Director Scot Ross said a plane photo-op would probably create more baggage for the 25-year career politician.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements on the latest Charles Franklin poll, held a week after approximately 104,000 more Democrats voted in the gubernatorial primary than voted in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) has entered the November electoral fray dropping nearly $1 million on a television ad attacking Gov. Scott Walker’s general election opponent, Tony Evers.

Last week, after admitting he was losing the race for governor and before he even knew who he would face in the November election, Scott Walker personally launched a desperate, racist attack on Democrats. Today, Walker released his first general election ad based entirely on a poll conducted by his campaign the last week of July, which One Wisconsin Now obtained a copy of the questions asked. One Wisconsin Now provided the following fact check on the ad.

Gov. Scott Walker has a list of reasons he says he should be re-elected to a third term. And over the past year he has traveled the state and spent millions on campaign ads to drive that message home. But the eight Democrats running against him have their own list of reasons he shouldn’t be re-elected. The Wisconsin State Journal asked each of them to lay out their best case against a third Walker term. The written answers — from Tony Evers, Matt Flynn, Mike McCabe, Mahlon Mitchell, Josh Pade, Kelda Roys, Paul Soglin and Kathleen Vinehout — include many arguments that will likely be featured in TV ads and other campaign spots in the run-up to the Aug. 14 primary.

The Natural Resources Board approved a land swap with a major donor to Republican Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday after balking last fall at the outright sale of publicly owned lakefront property. The state will give up 1.75 acres with waterfront access next to an 11-unit condominium owned by Elizabeth Uihlein on Rest Lake near Manitowish Waters in exchange for about 43 acres on Mann Lake in the town of Boulder Junction. George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wild-life Federation, had criticized the original plan because it meant giving up waterfront property. Meyer told the board Wednesday that if the state is going to give up waterfront it should obtain waterfront in return.

As incumbent Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seeks reelection to a third term, he may be in for a rough road ahead that reflects the GOP’s struggle to hold onto its identity in the age of President Donald Trump.In fact, a new NBC News/Marist poll shows Tony Evers, the state superintendent of schools who’s poised to win the August 14 Democratic primary, leading Walker, a Republican, by 13 points in what’s bound to be a competitive race. After surviving a 2012 recall election and a failed 2016 presidential run, Walker has attempted to appeal to both Trump supporters and moderate voters — an approach that may cost him reelection this fall.

In the latest sign of the extreme desperation of career politician Scott Walker to hang on to his government paycheck, the state Republican Party he controls has begun running negative ads against a number of potential Democratic opponents. The state political news service WisPolitics.com this morning reported the Republican Party of Wisconsin is hitting the radio airwaves with ads attacking four Democrats seeking their party’s gubernatorial nomination in the August 14 primary election.

Walker led state school Superintendent Tony Evers, his best known Democratic challenger, by 4 points in a June poll by the Marquette University Law School. But he trailed Evers by 13 points in a July survey by Marist/NBC and by 7 points in a survey released Monday by Emerson College in Boston. The Marquette poll in July didn’t do head-to-head matchups between Walker and his eight Democratic challengers. Walker has a negative approval rating in the Emerson poll but a narrowly positive one in Marquette’s polling.

One Wisconsin Now reports that more Foxconn contracts are being awarded to Walker campaign donors.

Poll of the week: A Marist College poll gives Democrat Tony Evers a 54% to 41% lead over Republican Gov. Scott Walker in the Wisconsin gubernatorial election. This poll is more optimistic for Evers, the most likely Democratic nominee, than the only previous nonpartisan poll of the race. Walker led Evers by a 48% to 44% margin in a June Marquette University poll. The average of the two puts Evers ahead by 4.5 percentage points.

A new poll from NBC News and Marist College shows Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker trailing a Democratic challenger by double-digits, part of a raft of rough results for Republicans across three Midwestern states. The poll showed Wisconsin state education superintendent Tony Evers, the Democratic primary front-runner, taking 54 percent to Walker’s 41 percent in a head-to-head matchup. Walker has warned for months that Republicans need to be active and vigilant as he runs for a third term, with Democrats winning a series of down-ballot elections in Wisconsin earlier this year.

The poll comes as Walker’s campaign has spent more than $2 million and Americans for Prosperity spent almost $1 million on ads across the state touting the governor’s record, according to research by liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, which tracks campaign ad spending.

State schools Superintendent Tony Evers holds a strong lead over Republican Gov. Scott Walker in a hypothetical fall match-up, according to an NBC News/Marist College Poll released Thursday. Evers leads Walker, 54 percent to 41 percent, the poll showed. Just 34 percent of registered Wisconsin voters say Walker deserves re-election, while 61 percent said someone else deserves a chance in the job.

The liberal One Wisconsin Now, which tracks media buys, says Walker’s TV buys running May 1-Aug. 19 are up to $2.3 million between broadcast and cable. The group said Milwaukee was Walker’s biggest market at $817,000, followed by Green Bay at $626,000.

A review of campaign finance records reveals companies with connections to Gov. Scott Walker’s political campaigns continue to be awarded contracts as part of the $4.5 billion taxpayer-subsidized Foxconn project in Southeastern Wisconsin. According to reports and reviews of campaign finance information, individuals associated with companies receiving contracts announced today have donated over $44,000 to Scott Walker.

Gov. Scott Walker has attended a White House ceremony with President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet focused on bolstering American workers including at the planned Foxconn Technology Group project in Wisconsin. Walker was among many other elected officials, business leaders and others who were at the event Thursday. Trump signed an executive order establishing a new council focusing on creating solutions for the country’s most urgent workforce issues. It is to be charged with creating a national strategy for making sure Americans have access to affordable, relevant education and job training.

The eight remaining Democrats running for governor mostly avoided taking shots at each other in their first televised debate Thursday night and instead trained much of their fire on Gov. Scott Walker. … Walker, speaking to supporters at a nearby event before the debate, said Democrats are focused on what they are against, and he will focus on an optimistic message. “Their rhetoric is increasingly not only becoming more and more dangerously liberal, they’re increasingly talking with rhetoric that’s filled with more and more hatred,” Walker said. “We need to counter that but not with more of the same. We need to counter that with optimism and organization.”

No other Wisconsin politician has crossed the threshold Scott Walker is expected to when he discloses his most recent round of campaign fundraising — shaking down donors for over $100 million for his campaigns for governor. In advance of a Walker media availability today to try to distract from the Democratic gubernatorial debate One Wisconsin Now Executive director Scot Ross denounced Walker for incessantly whining about campaign spending, while he has amassed $100 million since 2009.

He stressed that even though he’s running for a fourth time, it won’t be an easy race. He said he thinks the Democratic side is angry and he wants to counter that with optimism and organization. … “I think things are good in this state,” said Walker. “More people are working, property taxes are down, schools have more money, more extra dollars, a lot of people take it for granted.” He also shared his plans if re-elected for another term, saying he will focus on making Wisconsin a great state for both retirees and millennials. “Overriding strategy is to try and figure out how to keep more of our graduates here in the state,” he said. “How do we do more to attract even more millennials.” He says Foxconn is one of the ways he thinks Wisconsin will attract the younger generation.

Incumbent, Republican Scott Walker, meanwhile, made a stop at an LED manufacturer in Manitowoc. He said he’s confident, saying the technique he’s had in past campaigns will work again. “I think the people in this state want leaders who tell them what they’re for, not who they’re against, and I think that’s the biggest differential – and that’s why we’ve been successful in the past, we always lay out a clear plan about what we’re for and where the states at,” said Walker.

Gov. Scott Walker hasn’t officially endorsed anyone in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, but there are numerous signals that his preferred candidate is state Sen. Leah Vukmir. The latest? A smiling Vukmir joined Walker in a conga line at a Fourth of July party Saturday night at the governor’s mansion and blasted a photo of it on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s former corrections secretary, Ed Wall, is endorsing Democratic candidate Tony Evers in the race for governor. Wall, appointed by Walker in 2012, resigned from his post shortly after it was reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had taken over an investigation into abuse at the state’s youth prison in 2016… In a statement, Wall said he is endorsing the state Superintendent of Public Instruction because “we need a Governor who is a true leader — an adult in the room, who unlike Scott Walker, will put Wisconsin before his own political ambitions.”… Wall says in the ad that he went to Walker’s chief of staff with concerns about the facility, but was told the governor was having a hard time raising campaign funds with negative headlines in the news. He also says he gave Walker several plans to fix the situation, but that Walker “didn’t want to deal with it,” and that cabinet secretaries were encouraged not to create written records. “I thought Scott Walker would help me protect kids, but I was wrong,” Wall says in the ad. A spokesman for the Walker campaign referred questions to the state Republican Party.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker is using taxpayer resources to stage a “major” announcement this morning at a business run by a major GOP donor, in the midst of today’s special election in the Green Bay media market. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross said this “taxpayer-funded photo-op” was designed to influence today’s senate special election and is a clear violation of laws against the use of tax dollars to support political campaigns.

We asked Gov. Walker what he thinks, and he agreed with the Democrats. “I thought they should do all 10, and if anything I would’ve proposed adding an hour so that you get enough time, even if they did five and five to divvy it up. I still think for the voters it’s important for people to hear about the ideas of all the candidates and certainly hopeful that there will be formats for them to do that,” said Walker. “At a time where it’s wide open, it’s important that if they do it in its original format, it was very possible that someone who was not on the stage might actually have won the primary.”

No matter who wins two special legislative elections on June 12, Gov. Scott Walker is cautioning against reading too much into the results. Walker hasn’t endorsed a candidate in either race and told reporters Wednesday he’ll “look at the race between now and the 12th.”… Walker has referred to the two elections as a “wake-up call” for Republicans ahead of the November midterms. “I think in the end, nothing compares to what you’re going to see in November, even the spring special election,” Walker said when asked whether the June 12 elections could be a bellwether for the fall. “A special election on the 12th, be it nearby here or up in the northeast, I don’t know that you can read too much into it, regardless of whether a Republican or a Democrat wins. It’s a much, much bigger field come November.”… Walker initially refused to call special elections because the two seats are both on the ballot in November, but was ordered by several judges to do so…. Walker also reiterated that he would campaign with President Donald Trump if the president were to visit Wisconsin to support Republican candidates, but said he hasn’t asked him to do so. “I would certainly campaign with him if he’s campaigning for the ticket. Usually a president or vice president comes in particularly closer to the campaign to help someone who needs name recognition. That’s not a problem I have,” Walker said. Walker said Wisconsin voters are “some of the best-informed in the country,” and said he expects they will cast their votes in the gubernatorial election based on who they want to lead the state, not their feelings about Trump.

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker stopped at a Shopko department store in the Waukesha County village of Sussex recently to promote his new $100-per-child tax credit, the mood was relaxed, and so was Walker… Walker said the child tax credit was another way to give back to taxpayers. He said Democrats who call the checks election year bribes are really just knocking him. “Let’s just be honest here, state Democrats — you fill in the blank — they’re opposed to whatever I’m for,” Walker said. “I think voters want people who tell you what they’re for and do it as opposed to people who tell you what they’re against.” As Walker seeks his third term as governor, and pursues his fourth general election victory in the past eight years, it’s events like these that are defining his campaign… Walker has even gone so far as to suggest this year that Democrats are filled with “anger and hatred” toward him, referencing a comment by state schools Superintendent Tony Evers, one of the many Democrats running for governor, who said Walker was an “idiot” for rejecting federal Medicaid funds. “I think a lot of voters are shocked to think that people who hold office would call other people in office things like that,” Walker said…But Walker downplays suggestions that Trump makes his case more difficult. “You know, Washington is a whole different place,” Walker said. ” I think the contrast is, if people don’t like what’s happening in Washington with anybody – Democrat, Republican alike – if they don’t like the tone there, we’re the cure to that. In Wisconsin, we get things done.” It’s a fine line for Walker, who supports Trump and has said he would campaign with the president if he returns to Wisconsin.

Foxconn Technology Group has selected a company led by a Republican megadonor with close ties to Gov. Scott Walker to develop the master plan for its massive campus in Wisconsin. Foxconn announced Monday that it chose Hammes Company to be the lead developer on the project that will house a display-screen factory on a campus spread over 2,900 acres.

Starting May 15, parents in Wisconsin can log on to a state-run website, answer a few questions and sign up to get checks worth $100 per child. To Gov. Scott Walker (R), who drove the one-time tax payout into law, it’s a chance to turn a state budget surplus into a bonus for parents who could use extra cash. To his critics, who note that Walker is a few months away from a tough reelection bid, it looks like campaign-year bribery of the up to 671,000 families who could receive checks.

Gov. Scott Walker said Monday that he would campaign with President Donald Trump if he comes to Wisconsin, despite recently saying he was unlikely to appear with national Republicans for the rest of the year. The Republican governor pushed back against reports that he was trying to distance himself from the president as he campaigns for re-election during a Midwest Conservative Summit event at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. Walker said he expects Trump to visit the state to campaign, and insisted he would happily join him. “If he’s here — I would imagine he’s probably going to be here for a U.S. Senate candidate — sure, I’d be with him,” Walker said during an interview with conservative pundit Charlie Sykes at the event, which was hosted by The Weekly Standard. That’s in contrast with what Walker recently told the New York Times… But on April 13, Walker told the New York Times the appearance with Pence would “probably” be his last one with a national figure, according to emails Walker sent to the newspaper that Walker’s campaign released Monday. “As for me, I’m not likely to campaign with anyone on the national level,” Walker wrote… Trump repeatedly criticized Walker on the 2016 campaign trail, and Walker endorsed Ted Cruz a week before Wisconsin’s primary. Walker skipped a Trump event in Green Bay in August 2016 so he could survey flood damage. But their relationship has improved since then, and Walker has been hesitant to criticize Trump since he became president. Walker spoke on Monday about working with the Trump administration to bring the massive Foxconn Technology Group plant to Mount Pleasant.

 The increasingly desperate campaign of Scott Walker has upped the ante from issuing wake up calls to hitting the panic button. According to media reports, Walker has reserved television ad time beginning May 1 and running into July in the La Crosse and Green Bay media markets.

It’s pretty clear that Vice President Mike Pence stands with Gov. Scott Walker, who faces a potentially tough re-election fight in the fall. “I think he’s the best governor in America, which I can say with much greater confidence now that I don’t have my old job back,” said Pence, a former Indiana governor, during a fundraiser for Walker Wednesday night at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee.

With the midterm elections just over six months away, Vice President Mike Pence came to Milwaukee on Wednesday to rally conservatives, bolster public support for the Republican tax overhaul and raise campaign cash for Gov. Scott Walker… Woo, who received a standing ovation from the audience, talked about the pro-business policies of the Trump administration and saluted Walker, who helped put together the deal to bring the Taiwan-based manufacturer to the state. “We owe it to Governor Walker,” said Woo, special assistant to Foxconn’s chief executive officer.

This is Scott Walker’s 15th campaign in 28 years, and he can see which way the wind is blowing. “The wind’s not at our back. It’s not at our side. It is firmly in our face,” the governor said at a Lincoln Day Republican dinner last Saturday… “My number-one concern for almost a year has been complacency, not just of (GOP) voters but even of activists,” Walker said in an interview during his stop at the Boscobel Bowl and Banquet. The governor cited a recent state poll by the Marquette Law School showing a 10-point “enthusiasm gap” between Democratic and Republican voters. “People say to me all the time: … ‘You got this’ … ‘We’re fine, there’s nothing to get worked up about.’… We almost needed the jarring effect of a statewide election (loss). Because suddenly people go, ‘He’s not kidding!” said Walker, referring to the double-digit win April 3 by liberal candidate Rebecca Dallet in a highly politicized state Supreme Court race… This is the first time Walker has run for governor when his own party controls Washington, which can be a major disadvantage in mid-term elections. Finally, there are the added complications of running as a Trump-era Republican. “I think it’s even more complicated than people think,” Walker said in the interview. Democratic voters not only detest Trump, but the president’s nonstop media presence keeps them perpetually stirred up, he suggested… The left is “more motivated than any time I’ve seen in the last 25 years,” he told Republicans in Boscobel attending the Lincoln Day dinner for Grant and Crawford counties in swingy southwest Wisconsin. On the right, meanwhile, some Trump voters are mad at Republicans in Washington for not getting enough done. “That’s to me another subtext,” said Walker. “Right now, I think they’re more upset with Republicans in Congress than they are with those (lawmakers) on the left, because they just assume the left is not going to be with (Trump).”… “He’s being responsive to what the public wants,” Walker strategist Keith Gilkes said at a recent Wispolitics.com forum. “We are compassionate conservatives.”

The former campaign manager to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential bid has joined Donald Trump’s White House campaign. Rick Wiley, a GOP strategist with deep ties to the Republican Party, is joining the campaign as its national political director, deepening its bench of veteran GOP operatives with national political experience.

The Democratic Governors Association on Thursday launched a “Where’s Walker?” website dedicated to highlighting Gov. Scott Walker’s travels throughout the country during his second term, as he seeks re-election for a third. The push comes as Walker is set to headline a fundraising dinner Thursday evening for Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, who is seeking a second term in November. The effort from national Democrats comes days after the Republican Governors Association announced that it has booked $5.1 million in television ad buys to support Walker in the fall. Walker has spent the last week appealing to supporters in hopes of preventing a “blue wave” from sweeping Wisconsin and cutting into the strong Republican majority that stretches across state government… Walker’s travels ramped up dramatically in 2015 as he explored and ultimately ran a short-lived presidential campaign. The DGA map reflects that portion of his second term, with 47 documented visits to Iowa and 29 to the New Hampshire area. After his presidential bid fizzled, Walker served as head of the Republican Governors Association — a role that sent him across the country as he stumped for Republican candidates and and incumbents.

“I talked to him before a while back when it was kind of the start of the rumblings this might be the case. At that point, he made it clear he had made a decision,” said Gov. Walker. “I prayed with him quite a bit when he was being considered for Speaker,” said Walker. “Paul never wanted to be Speaker. He’s not a political guy, a political junkie. He’s a policy wonk, through and through. One of the biggest things he wanted to do was reform the tax code. Obviously that was a big part of the work he did at the end of last year.” Walker also discussed Ryan as a vice presidential candidate for Mitt Romney in 2012. “Paul was always a policy guy. It inflated a bit when Romney asked him to be on the ticket, but the reason Paul was on the ticket was that he believed…Mitt was serious about governing, that he had a clear plan and he thought Paul wasn’t a political asset, but a policy and and intellectual asset…that he could convince Congress to act on some of the really important things he felt at the time needed to happen in this country,” said Walker. “There is barely a person in that first district, Republican or Democrat alike, that Paul hasn’t worked with, talked to, touched along the way,” the Governor added. “Paul has always been well connected to his district, and more importantly to his family.”

The Republican Governors Association said Monday it has booked $5.1 million in television ad buys for the fall in Wisconsin as Gov. Scott Walker warned on conservative talk radio that winning re-election will be more difficult than when he overcame a recall effort in 2012… Walker, who is up for a third term in November, has repeatedly warned in recent months that Democratic wins in other state elections should alarm Republicans. He called a Democratic special state Senate election victory in January a “wake up call” and cautioned after the liberal’s choice for state Supreme Court won in a landslide last week that a “blue wave” could be coming to Wisconsin. “The left, man, they’re motivated,” Walker said Monday on “The Jay Weber Show.” ”Unfortunately, anger and hatred is a pretty powerful motivator. We’ve got to match that, but we’ve got to match that not with that anger and hatred. We’ve got a great story to tell.”

Governor Scott Walker visited Door County for a Lincoln Day Dinner event Saturday, sharing the state’s accomplishments to his supporters. On his way to the event in Sturgeon Bay, Governor Walker was greeted by ‘blue wave’ protesters. This after Governor Walker tweeted Tuesday that the state is at risk of a ‘blue wave’ and the far left is driven by anger and hatred. “After the election results came in on Tuesday night, Governor Walker said the left was motivated by anger and hatred and we took exception to that. Since he was going to be here tonight we wanted to focus on a positive message that we love our country and we love our state,” said Pam Harvey-Jacobs, one of the protest’s organizers… “It’s largely a waste of taxpayers’ money, but it’s what the court ordered so we’re going forward with it. Our focus is going to be in the fall because that’s where we need to get the vote out and get our positive message out to counter the negative one we see from Washington,” added Governor Scott Walker.

Gov. Scott Walker’s former campaign manager, pollsters and digital team ganged up to form a super-PAC, ostensibly for the benefit of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir. But, based on the recent ad the PAC says it is spending $625,000 to air on statewide cable and television and digitally, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross wondered for whom are they working?

On the heels of a major swing in Democrats’ favor in a state Senate race in Wisconsin earlier this year, it’s the latest indication that the political ground has shifted since President Donald Trump and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson won there in 2016. Walker, who is up for re-election to a third term next fall, tweeted that the results were another sign that the GOP is in trouble. “Tonight’s results show we are at risk of a #BlueWave in WI. The Far Left is driven by anger & hatred — we must counter it with optimism & organization. Let’s share our positive story with voters & win in November,” he tweeted.

The ex-fiancée of a political operative with ties to Gov. Scott Walker and House Speaker Paul Ryan alleges he battered her and had her sign a five-page contract stating that she would be his “slave and property” shortly after they met… Sparks served as a Wisconsin spokesman during Ryan’s 2012 vice presidential run with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and on Walker’s effort to fight a recall challenge.

Those close to Walker insist his first priority is reelection in Wisconsin. But they also acknowledge that Walker is methodical and strategic about his endorsements, and that a governor whose political identity is rooted in a clash with organized labor and public employee unions puts a priority on helping candidates who embrace conservative principles consistent with his brand. “Gov. Walker endorses candidates who are willing to go big and bold, with reforms to state government that take on the big government special interests,” Brian Reisinger, a senior adviser to Walker’s political team, told BuzzFeed News. Walker’s activity is not unusual for a former presidential candidate or governor who’s still regarded as a bright prospect within his party. But it does underscore the complicated relationship Republicans have with President Trump as midterm elections approach. Many borrow from Trump’s anti-establishment playbook and hope for his support in tough primaries; others hope he keeps his distance, especially in the fall. And that creates some space for an old 2016 rival such as Walker — who, unlike, say, John Kasich, is not seen as a threat to challenge Trump in 2020 — as a safe alternative.

Gov. Scott Walker has vowed to remain neutral in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. But for a short time Friday it looked as if Walker had endorsed state Sen. Leah Vukmir over Delafield businessman Kevin Nicholson. It was a mistake… Walker campaign spokesman Brian Reisinger said: “The governor is remaining neutral in the U.S. Senate race and plans to support the Republican who wins the primary and becomes the nominee.”… Even though the governor is neutral, his wife, Tonette Walker, has endorsed Vukmir and their younger son, Alex, has a job on Vukmir’s campaign. During a fundraising event Tuesday night, Tonette Walker said that Vukmir is a “wonderful candidate” and she “wanted to see a woman” face Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. But she also indicated the endorsement was intensely personal. Without mentioning Nicholson’s name, she said that Nicholson refused to shake her son’s hand when they were together at an event.

Gov. Scott Walker, who has created a constitutional crisis in Wisconsin by canceling special elections required under state law, was himself elected in special elections to two of the three offices he has held during his nearly 25 years in elected office. With a hearing on Walker’s constitutional end-around bill set today for the Senate Elections and Utilities Committee, Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director, reiterated Walker’s “galactic hypocrisy,” adding that Republican committee member and likely committee deciding vote Chris Kapenga was also elected to his current office in a special election.

A Wisconsin sales tax holiday appears all but dead in the state Senate and an impasse between GOP lawmakers is putting the entire tax cut bill at risk… GOP Gov. Scott Walker has pushed hard for that child tax rebate, making it the centerpiece of his re-election agenda as he heads into a difficult fall campaign.

Two political funds Gov. Scott Walker is associated with took $255,000 in contributions from Steve Wynn, the ousted Republican National Committee finance chair and casino magnate accused of repeated instances of sexual assault and misconduct.

Eleven days after a special election turned Wisconsin’s 10th Senate District blue, the mood was scrappy as La Crosse County Republicans — with help from Gov. Scott Walker — opened the state’s ninth GOP field office for the upcoming election cycle… With nine field offices already open, Wisconsin Republicans are far ahead of their pace of two and four years ago, when there were two offices in 2016 and four in 2014 up and running at the same point in the campaign season. “We just need to be little ambassadors for Gov. Walker,” Courtney said, urging personal contact with friends and neighbors recounting Republican accomplishments such as tax relief and a state college tuition freeze. Walker concurred. “We’re doing good and important things, but we can’t assume our neighbors know about it,” he said. “The most effective tool is talking to people.”

The analysis found Walker’s campaign collected nearly $7.2 million in donations in 2017, with nearly $6.6 million coming from individual contributors. About $4.2 million, or 64 percent, came from Wisconsin donors. Nearly $2.4 million, or 36 percent, came from out-of-staters.

Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign has reimbursed the state $135,000 for the governor’s taxpayer-funded security detail during his presidential run last year, the Department of Administration said Monday. That brings the total recovered by the state for his political travel-related security last year to nearly $260,000, which Walker and his administration say represents the total amount the state has billed to his campaign.

In the State of the State speech peppered with campaign slogans and a grab bag of poll tested proposals, Gov. Scott Walker declared he want to enact a “child tax credit.” But instead of real reforms to help families with budget busting expenses like child care or student loan debt, Walker’s election year scheme would send a one time check to Wisconsin families, conveniently timed to be paid out around the November 2018 election.

On the heels of an historic election defeat for Republicans in a special election, and, as his election campaign ramps up, Gov. Scott Walker today delivered the annual State of the State speech.

Career politician Scott Walker is in full election mode, ensuring today’s State of the State speech will be loaded with campaign slogans and election year promises, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. But Ross warned that Gov. Walker’s record shows election year promises have a long, documented history of expiring right after the polls close on election night.

During his brief career as a lawyer, Michael Screnock worked as part of legal teams defending Gov. Scott Walker’s divisive policies attacking workers’ rights and the Republican rigging of legislative district lines. Now that Screnock is running for the state Supreme Court, Gov. Walker’s campaign team is all in working to get him elected, based on a review of campaign finance records.

A Democrat’s victory in a special election to fill a vacant seat in the Wisconsin state Legislature is “a wake-up call for Republicans in Wisconsin,” Gov. Scott Walker wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Patty Schachtner, a Democrat, was victorious in Tuesday’s special election for Wisconsin’s 10th Senate District, a Republican-learning district in the northwest part of the state along the Minnesota border.

Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign began the year with nearly four times as much money as the sprawling Democratic field after out-fundraising his potential rivals by more than two-and-a-half times last year. Walker raised $7.2 million last year compared with the $2.6 million cumulative haul of the eight Democratic candidates who filed campaign reports with the state Ethics Commission on Tuesday.

Jacque is the first candidate to announce plans to run since Lasee resigned last week to take a job in Gov. Scott Walker’s administration. Walker said he won’t appoint anyone to fill the seat this year, leaving it open until the November election.

Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein is garnering scrutiny for pouring big campaign cash into the effort to elect pedophile Roy Moore to the United States Senate. But Moore’s take is dwarfed by the millions Gov. Scott Walker has snagged from Uihlein for his own campaigns and political groups with which he is associated.

Roy Moore, Republican U.S. Senate candidate and accused pedophile, is reported to be the beneficiary of a $100,000 contribution to a Political Action Committee (PAC) supporting his candidacy from Richard Uihlein, an Illinois business magnate. Uihlein’s political giving also extends to Wisconsin, where numerous Republicans politicians and the groups that support them, including Gov. Scott Walker, have raked in his campaign cash. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross today called on the recipients of Uihlein’s campaign cash to give the money back in light of his outrageous support of pedophile Moore.

As reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a consulting firm owned by Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign treasurer Kate Lind received a state contract for services, after being the only one to bid on it. The firm, Solutions KCB, is slated to get at least $35,000, and possibly much more, to raise money for a party celebrating the 100th anniversary of the State Capitol. The firm also subcontracted for work from a new public relations company opened by Gov. Walker’s campaign manager.

It’s that time, again. Scott Walker, who’s been running for political office for nearly his entire adult life, since 1992, is running for office again.

Why would the right-wing, Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) produce and distribute a high-quality, 4-minute-long campaign-style video to promote Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his agenda as he prepares to announce his long-expected re-election bid? The Bradley Foundation, Walker’s close ally and supporter of his political ambitions, has given FGA nearly one million reasons, doling out at least $925,000 to the group from 2013 through 2016, the latest year for which donation information is available.

According to a media report, the Gov. Scott Walker-led Republican Governors Association (RGA) has launched a propaganda website masquerading as a legitimate news outlet to spread negative attacks on Democrats and promote Republicans. The website was promoted in an RGA fundraising appeal obtained by One Wisconsin Now as, “fact-checking the liberal media,” but includes a mix of stories from legitimate media sources in addition to right wing news outlets and the RGA’s own press releases.

Any doubt campaign politics is the driving force behind Gov. Scott Walker gambling $3 billion on a subsidy for Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn has been dispelled by the creation of a single job. According to a report from Wispolitics.com, the lobbying firm hired by Foxconn has brought on Keith Gilkes, Walker’s longtime campaign manager and the head of the Unintimidated PAC that supported his presidential ambitions, to do “public affairs and communications.”

Gov. Scott Walker – the worst governor in the nation on the student loan debt crisis – will host Donald Trump – owner of a scam for profit “university” and whose administration is currently repealing consumer protections for student loan borrowers at an event today at the Waukesha County Technical College. According to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, Walker and Trump may be a perfect match for each other, but over 43 million Americans with student debt, including nearly one million in Wisconsin, deserve better than the policies of this duo.

Many politicians would seek to distance themselves from someone the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation not only called a liar, but also testified under oath before a U.S. Senate committee engaged in untoward if not illegal conduct. But not Gov. Scott Walker, who is set to welcome Donald Trump to Wisconsin next week to raise campaign cash for his gubernatorial bid.

Gov. Eric Greitens on Tuesday signed legislation banning local governments from giving preferential treatment to union contractors on public construction projects. And sharing the stage with him when he signed it was Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Walker, who was in St. Louis for a fundraiser as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, rose to national prominence after a series of fights with labor unions in Wisconsin and surviving a recall attempt in 2012. He was seen as a strong candidate for president in 2016, but he faded quickly in the crowded Republican field and dropped out months before states began holding primaries.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker recently celebrated expansion plans with a couple of companies whose employees contributed more than $100,000 to his campaign. Last Friday, Walker was in Milwaukee where MillerCoors broke ground to expand its 10th Street Brewery. MillerCoors employees contributed about $72,000 between January 2010 and December 2016 to Walker’s three campaigns for governor. Topping the list of MillerCoors executives who contributed to Walker were:

When Gov. Scott Walker laid out a plan in his state budget address urging people to take steps to avoid welfare, it mirrored a platform of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which has pushed for greater personal responsibility and more stringent welfare requirements. Documents hacked from the Bradley Foundation’s computer server show the connection is not just philosophical — it’s financial.

A new survey from St. Norbert College shows how the state feels about President Donald Trump, Gov. Scott Walker, and topics like climate change and the Steven Avery case. The Wisconsin Survey was conducted April 24-May 8, with 303 Wisconsin adult residents sampled via landline and cell phone.

There’s been continued speculation on who might challenge Gov. Scott Walker in 2018. Walker has indicated that if he will run for a third term, he’ll announce this summer. Since the beginning of the year, a number of well-known Wisconsin Democrats decided not to run for governor in 2018 – dramatically thinning the field. They include Congressman Ron Kind and state Sen. Minority Leader Jennifer Schilling, along with former state Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville. Cullen concluded he could not generate what he’d need to challenge a two-time incumbent.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker drew a few hundred people to a Monday rally with Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert — and a few hundred union members to protest outside the event. Walker, whose moves to restrict labor unions have made him a polarizing figure nationally, said there’s a clear distinction between Stothert and challenger Heath Mello. The governor came to Omaha in part as a response to last week’s Mello rally with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Do you want Midwest common sense?” Walker asked about 250 attendees. “Or East Coast radical values?”

State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, says she is still considering a bid to challenge Gov. Scott Walker in 2018. Vinehout responded to speculation Monday that Wisconsin Democrats aren’t running a candidate against Walker because they don’t think they can win against likely incumbent Walker. “I think that’s a lot of hype,” Vinehout told WPR. “I think the governor wants to put out that image. I think he and his Republican allies want to create a certain image of the Democrats, but that’s not the reality.”

This week, local political talk shows had to ask: Are Democrats afraid to run because they don’t think Walker can be beat? After all, Wisconsin is enjoying low unemployment, Gov. Scott Walker is beloved by state Republicans and he should have no trouble collecting millions in campaign funds, guests on “UpFront with Mike Gousha” and “Capital City Sunday” said.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will appear in Omaha next week to support Mayor Jean Stothert. Walker is expected to appear Monday at a number of events, including a rally, said Dave Boomer, communications director of the Stothert campaign. The time and place have yet to be determined; Boomer said the campaign was working on those details Tuesday.

In front of a live audience at Country Springs Hotel in Pewaukee Wednesday night for Insight 2017, Gov. Scott Walker was asked whether he would run for a third term as governor. “Why wouldn’t I run?” he said after explaining how pleased he was with the state of Wisconsin’s economy and number of people employed in the state.

An Easter egg hunt held each spring at the Governor’s Mansion has been canceled because of threats to the security of Gov. Scott Walker and the public, according to an email sent Thursday afternoon from first lady Tonette Walker. The hunt was scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at the Walkers’ Maple Bluff home but was called off on Thursday “due to a threat toward top government officials” as law enforcement in the area and across the country continue to search for a Janesville man who allegedly stole a cache of guns and wrote an anti-government manifesto threatening public officials.

Scott Walker presents a big, ripe political target for Democrats. So why haven’t they been able to come up with a serious challenger to run against him? Wisconsin’s Republican governor has angered Democrats and many independents with his conservative stances on issues such as abortion, voting rights and, most of all, union-busting. Walker’s approval ratings dipped perilously low as a result of his unsuccessful presidential bid. They have since ticked back up but remain subpar, in the mid-40s.

Congressional candidate Ralph Norman has won the endorsement of former presidential candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. “Ralph Norman knows how important it is to stand with taxpayers against the big government special interests, and his record in both the private sector and the state legislature prove it,” Walker said in a statement.

There will be two big names on the Wisconsin ballot next year, and a few months ago both looked exceedingly vulnerable. The state’s GOP governor, Scott Walker, was dogged by poor approval ratings throughout 2015 and 2016.

In the call with several dozen top donors and fundraisers — the first in a series — the GOP governor stopped short of committing to running for a third term, according to sources who were on the line. But Walker gave his strongest signal yet that he wants to run and wants to have the financial commitments needed to carry out a campaign expected to run into the tens of millions of dollars on both sides. “I’m ready,” sources said Walker told donors. “I’m as excited as I’ve ever been about Wisconsin’s future.”

A potential Democratic challenger Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in 2018 has dropped out of contention. Former Wisconsin state Sen. Tim Cullen told reporters in Madison, Wis., on Wednesday that he doesn’t believe he can keep pace with Walker’s fundraising effort. Walker raised $35 million in 2014 and Cullen said he expects the incumbent to get $45 million in 2018. Cullen said he couldn’t see himself spending multiple hours a day on the phone with donors.

The governor’s approval rating is now 45 percent, according to a Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday. That’s up slightly from the last poll, released in October 2016, when 42 percent of voters said they approved of Walker’s job performance. Since September, Walker’s approval rating has hovered in the low 40s. The new numbers mark Walker’s highest approval rating since just before he won re-election in November 2014. He went into that election, against Democrat Mary Burke, with a 49 percent approval rating.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements on comments by Scott Walker’s Republican Governors Association related to the 2018 gubernatorial campaign.

If there’s one brutal lesson for Democrats in their mounting Wisconsin losses, it’s that a shrinking geographic base invites disaster. It’s a pattern the party can’t afford to repeat in 2018, when GOP Gov. Scott Walker and U.S. Senate Democrat Tammy Baldwin are both up for re-election. “The key politically to winning back governor is a rural strategy in Wisconsin,” says Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the ultra-blue city of Madison but also rural areas that swung from Barack Obama to Donald Trump in 2016. If Walker dominates the rural vote as he did in 2010, 2012 and 2014, he’ll be all but impossible to defeat in 2018.

“We need to earn those votes every single time. I don’t think any vote, particularly those votes are in no way a given,” Walker, a Republican, told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Wednesday. “They were looking for somebody to shake things up. We did it in Wisconsin. To keep earning their vote, Donald Trump as president is going to have to deliver on his promises.” … Walker said Trump will need to focus on fulfilling his campaign promises to keep the trust of people in Wisconsin. The governor said he was most optimistic about Trump’s early push to slash regulations, adding that he believes three-fourths of regulations could get cut or moved to the state level.

You may have to settle for the Dells this year. That’s because Gov. Scott Walker’s Christian cruise to Alaska won’t be setting sail this summer, after all. Officials confirmed they have canceled the “inspirational” cruise that Walker and first lady Tonette Walker were planning to lead on Aug. 12-19. The Walkers were to be accompanied as hosts by a small group of evangelical Christian leaders and musicians.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign launched an effort on Monday to encourage voters to contact their lawmakers in support of his budget proposal. Walker continues to signal his plans to seek re-election in 2018, but has said he will not make an official announcement until after the budget process is complete. The digital push includes a website, WalkerBudget.com, which highlights the governor’s proposals for K-12 education, higher education and tax cuts. The website features form letters on those issues to be sent to lawmakers based on a voter’s zip code.

Gov. Scott Walker’s latest budget proposal has left little doubt that he plans to run for re-election in 2018 and may telegraph his strategy for winning a third term. Walker has said he won’t announce a decision until after the budget wraps up this summer. But after his approval rating tanked during a short-lived presidential run in 2015, he spent time last year hosting private meetings around the state and announced plans to ratchet up his campaign fundraising. The latest sign of an imminent run is a 2017-19 budget proposal chock-full of new spending that offers something for just about everyone.

Walker made his comment in an interview Friday on MSNBC. Walker has not said whether he will run for a third term in 2018, but he’s raising money and taking steps as if he is going to do it. Walker says in the interview “If Hillary Clinton was president of the United States right now, I would not have run for re-election” in Wisconsin. Walker says he looks forward to working with Republican President Donald Trump on a series of reforms, including welfare programs and how federal aid is sent to the states. Walker also calls Trump’s Cabinet picks a “top-notch group.”

In clearing more than $1 million in campaign debt over the past year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got the majority of the money by selling his donor list to other candidates… In 2016, Walker brought in more than $823,000 by selling his donor list to other GOP candidates such as U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida; Ohio Gov. John Kasich; and Ben Carson, the nominee to serve as U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary, Federal Elections Commission records show.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has paid off the last of his presidential campaign debt, clearing the way for a likely re-election bid next year. Walker ended his campaign in September 2015 about $1.2 million in the red. He steadily chipped away at it to reach his goal of paying down the debt by the end of 2016. “This upholds the formidable status of your fundraising operation,” wrote campaign adviser Joe Fadness in a memo to the governor obtained by the Cap Times Friday. “As with your statewide campaigns — your election, the recall and your re-election — by retiring your presidential debt, you have shown that you are able to generate tremendous backing from devoted supporters under difficult circumstances.”

At a recent state economic summit, Gov. Scott Walker slipped on a pair of sunglasses and quoted the 1980s tune “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”… Walker points to the state’s 4.1 percent unemployment rate — the lowest since January 2001 — and record-high employment levels as positive signs. He has shifted gears from his 2010 pledge to create 250,000 jobs in his first term, a mark the state still hasn’t hit, to a new focus on workforce training… Walker also dismisses his low job approval numbers, which bottomed out at 37 percent in September 2015, just before he ended his 71-day presidential election, the third shortest since 1972.

 Gov. Scott Walker was interviewed by members of the state media today, after addressing a gathering of the state big business lobby, the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which has spent millions to support his political career, and before he travels tonight to the tony Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee to fete himself at a holiday fundraiser.

 What’s on your Christmas wish list if you’re a governor with a taxpayer-funded mansion in which to live, a chauffeur to drive you to and from work, state planes to fly you around the state and country (or to avoid pesky I-94 traffic between Madison and Milwaukee), top-notch health care benefits for you and your family and a generous pension? If you’re Scott Walker, it’s a donation of $5,000, $2,500, $1,000 or $500 to his campaign warchest.

Top Wisconsin Republicans U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Gov. Scott Walker have announced they will be standing with Donald Trump on stage this evening as he visits Wisconsin. With their recent statements, Trump’s Wisconsin GOP comrades also have his back when it comes to downplaying rising concerns about alleged Russian sponsored cyber attacks and media disinformation campaign designed to influence the U.S. Presidential election.

In an interview on “Fox and Friends,” Walker accused both Clinton and Obama of making the situation in the city worse, though he did not specify how. “I think comments like that are just inflaming the situation,” the former GOP presidential candidate said of Clinton’s remarks. He continued: “I think people understand in that neighborhood, in Sherman Park and Milwaukee, they want the law enforcement to step up and protect them. The people who live in that neighborhood want police in Milwaukee and the sheriff’s department to step up and protect them. They don’t want the the criminals who are doing those actions against those businesses to do that. I think statements like that and the lack of leadership we’ve had from the president on this issue only inflames the situation.”

In a campaign appearance Tuesday, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump made comments inciting violence as a means to prevent Hillary Clinton from appointing judges to the federal judiciary if she is elected President.

Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump visits Wisconsin today, but top state Republicans like Gov. Walker, Sen. Ron Johnson and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will be nowhere to be found at the event, despite all pledging their support to Trump.

Donald Trump faced an all-too-clear sign of GOP divisions Friday in Midwestern battlegrounds, embraced by party leaders in one state but ignored in another. He unleashed a scathing attack on Hillary Clinton’s character as he tried to overcome deepening concerns about his presidential candidacy… House Speaker Paul Ryan cited a scheduling conflict, while Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he’d attend an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner instead of appearing with his party’s standard bearer.

Wisconsin’s three highest-ranking Republicans won’t be joining their party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, when he campaigns in the state Friday. Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday joined with House Speaker Paul Ryan and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson in announcing he would be skipping the Trump rally in Green Bay… Walker will be touring northern Wisconsin on Friday to meet with residents and local officials recovering from flash flooding last month. It is his third trip to that region since the flooding in mid-July. Walker’s campaign spokesman Joe Fadness said Walker will join Trump in the future as long as the events don’t interfere with his work in Wisconsin.

A rising chorus of Republican lawmakers and veterans groups hastened to disavow Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of a bereaved military family Monday, but the GOP presidential nominee refused to back down. He complained anew that he had been “viciously attacked” by the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain who was killed in Iraq. Coming just days before Trump plans to hold a rally in Green Bay, the controversy is again causing some of the state’s Republican officials to distance themselves from their party’s standard bearer. The Wisconsin visit on Friday, Trump’s first since the state’s April primary, comes a week after Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, campaigned in Republican-heavy Waukesha. “I don’t care what they say. You’ll never hear me question anything about a Gold Star family,” Gov. Scott Walker said on Sunday. “I’ve gone to too many funerals, met too many families. What they’ve sacrificed is just unbelievable…” It’s been an uneasy alliance for both Ryan and Walker, who were both late to endorse him and who previously criticized Trump over comments he made questioning the fairness of a judge because of his Hispanic heritage and his proposal to temporary ban foreign Muslims from entering the country. But Walker and Ryan, along with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, all appeared at the national convention two weeks ago and gave full-throated endorsements of Trump. Walker also appeared at the Pence rally in Wisconsin last week.

Failed Republican presidential candidate and current Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has refused to condemn documented plagiarism by the Donald Trump campaign, which is the exact opposite of Walker’s thunderous condemnations in 2014 over allegations of plagiarism by his Democratic opponent.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Monday that he won’t run for president again as a sitting governor and that he intends to use his prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention this week to argue that “America deserves better” than Hillary Clinton. “The fears and concerns that people have about Hillary Clinton, I think, are going to be the most compelling things that unite Republicans,” Walker told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Cleveland, where he is attending the convention… “My likely next election is re-election,” said Walker, who is up for a third term in 2018. “As I’ve said before, If I was re-elected as governor, I’ve made it clear I would not run for anything else. I would fill that term out.” Walker said he learned from his ill-fated run for president last year that “you can’t run for an office like that while still being governor, unless you’re willing to concede being governor, which I wasn’t. You’re just not able to be the candidate you need to be.”

Gov. Scott Walker’s office has asked legislators, lobbyists, state agency heads and local economic development agencies to help select attendees for the governor’s invite-only listening sessions throughout the state, records show. The records provided to the Cap Times offer insight into the selection process for participants in the governor’s marquee effort to reacquaint himself with Wisconsin voters after his failed presidential bid.Walker announced plans in his Jan. 20 State of the State address to hold listening sessions in 2016, asking for people’s long-term visions for Wisconsin. “I call it our 2020 Vision Project,” Walker said in the address. “The idea is to bring together a diverse mix of people in small group settings all across the state. I want to hear from you about what makes Wisconsin great, where we want our state to be in the next two decades and how we should measure success.”

Gov. Scott Walker’s approval rating remains below 40 percent… The Marquette Law School Poll was conducted Thursday through Sunday, sampling 801 registered Wisconsin voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 points.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he’ll speak at the Republican National Convention… Walker acknowledged he’s now rejecting the idea that Donald Trump could be replaced as the nominee. Walker said two weeks ago that he believed delegates should be free to vote their consciences. But he told WKOW a vote for anyone other than Trump is a “de facto vote” for Hilary Clinton. The governor, who’s been the subject of Trump attacks, says he’ll put them aside for the good of the country.

Two top Wisconsin Republicans with significant roles in this month’s GOP national convention are splitting with their state’s highest profile politicians, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker, in an internal fight over how delegates should vote at the gathering… The Wisconsin GOP activists, Steve King and Mary Buestrin, wrote a letter Friday calling an effort by party rebels to let delegates vote for any presidential candidate “an attempt to disenfranchise the 14 million Republican primary voters who voted for Donald Trump and destroy our chances to win in November”… Ryan and Walker have endorsed Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee… Walker has said, “Delegates are and should be able to vote the way they see fit.” Ryan spokesman Zack Roday said, “Speaker Ryan isn’t going to tell members of the House Republican Conference to do something that’s contrary to their conscience.” That was a reference to Ryan also saying GOP lawmakers should follow “their conscience” in deciding whether to endorse Trump.

Trump University, the for-profit “college” owned by Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, has been under scrutiny by the courts and the press for business practices that left students deep in debt with little to show for their time and money. But according to a media report in the Capital Times, in Wisconsin the shady outfit could have received less scrutiny under a provision Gov. Scott Walker included in his state budget after receiving a then maximum allowed by law campaign contribution of $10,000. Trump had also previously given to the Wisconsin Club for Growth, an organization investigated by state prosecutors for allegations of illegally coordinating with Walker’s campaigns.

Records released Friday by Gov. Scott Walker’s office in response to a judge’s order make clear he sought controversial changes in 2015 to the University of Wisconsin System’s mission statement, known as the Wisconsin Idea. The office made public 82 pages of records late Friday after Dane County Judge Amy Smith said Walker’s office erroneously withheld 12 email exchanges and six of nine attachments from the public… Walker’s release of records on Friday comes as the governor on Twitter has been hammering Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state.

Among Wisconsinites who lack ID cards and other documents proving their identity, race is a key factor in who requests free IDs to vote and whose requests are approved, according to data cited Monday in a court trial of a challenge to the state’s voter ID requirement… On Monday, the plaintiffs highlighted DMV data showing racial disparities in those who requested free IDs, as well as which of those requests were rejected. Two-thirds of the 981 people who used the petition process to request free IDs through April 19 were minorities, who make up 12 percent of the state’s citizen voting age population. That’s according to data submitted by the DMV to Allan Lichtman, an expert witness for the plaintiffs… Gov. Scott Walker earlier this month issued a rule he said is aimed at helping people to vote in the November election if they’re stalled in the petition process.

Wisconsin is joining 10 other states in a federal lawsuit to challenge President Barack Obama’s mandate requiring all public K-12 and postsecondary schools to allow students to use locker rooms and restrooms based on their “gender identity.” Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, backed by Gov. Scott Walker, is leading the state’s entry into the lawsuit, joining Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Some voters might not have been able to cast ballots this fall if not for a new state rule put in place on the eve of a trial over Wisconsin’s voter ID law, the official responsible for issuing ID cards testified Monday. Her testimony came as the federal judge hearing the trial expressed serious concern about voters who have found themselves in a Catch-22 in getting IDs needed to vote because they lack birth certificates or other key documents…Some people have found themselves caught up in that process for months and, at least in one case, for nearly two years. These are the voters who the judge described as stuck. Just before the trial started, GOP Gov. Scott Walker approved new state rules that will allow such people to quickly get temporary receipts with their photos printed on them that they can use for voting while they wait for a determination on whether they can get a state-issued ID… During Monday’s exchanges, lawyers for the plaintiffs homed in on racial disparities, noting minorities make up a big share of those needing ID cards because they don’t have driver’s licenses, as well as a large chunk of those facing the toughest time getting IDs.

More than half of the applicants vying to replace retiring Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser already owe their jobs to Gov. Scott Walker – and now he could tap one of them for the state’s highest court… Walker expects to appoint a replacement by the time Prosser retires on July 31. It will be the Republican governor’s second appointment to the state’s highest court.

Financial penalties for violations of Wisconsin environmental laws fell sharply in 2015 to their lowest level in at least a decade. Data released by a conservation organization show forfeitures paid by individuals and companies for violating state law totaled $306,834 last year. That’s down 78% from nearly $1.4 million paid out in 2014. It’s also the lowest amount paid out for violations dating back to at least 2006, according to data. The figures are the most recent showing Department of Natural Resources enforcement activity has dropped off under the administration of Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who took office in 2011 with a pro-business agenda and a vow to make the DNR more friendly to the private sector.

A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court dealt Gov. Scott Walker a defeat on Wednesday, upholding a ruling that preserves the independence of the state’s elected education secretary and denies the governor veto power he sought over the office… The state constitution “requires the Legislature to keep the supervision of public instruction in the hands of officers of supervision of public instruction,” Justice Michael Gableman wrote for the majority. “To do otherwise would require a constitutional amendment…” That law raised questions about whether it was a violation of the 1996 state Supreme Court ruling that the Department of Public Instruction was independent of the governor’s control.

10:35 a.m. Gov. Scott Walker says Republicans need to “focus like a laser beam” on helping Sen. Ron Johnson win re-election, but he isn’t making the same call to action for Donald Trump. Walker spoke for more than 30 minutes at the Wisconsin Republican Party convention Saturday and didn’t mention the presumptive presidential nominee Trump once. And Walker only made a passing reference to the presidential race when he joked about his own failed campaign. Walker has said he supports Trump because he pledged to back whoever the GOP nominee is. 10:15 a.m. Gov. Scott Walker is taking swipes at University of Wisconsin faculty who have recently been passing no-confidence resolutions targeting the Board of Regents and system president Ray Cross… Walker is also saying he “gets a kick” out of Democrats who talk about student loan debt. Walker asks why they didn’t support his tuition freeze at UW which has been in place for four years.

Gov. Scott Walker was one of several conservative names appearing in popular news stories that were kept from being promoted on Facebook by the social media website’s own employees tasked with telling users which news was trending, according to a Gizmodo article released this week citing unnamed sources. According to a former employee who worked at Facebook, workers often suppressed news stories that would appeal to conservative users from the “trending” section of Facebook… On Twitter, Walker urged people to sign a petition to “stand against Facebook’s attempt to silence conservatives.”

Gov. Scott Walker has approved a rule implementing drug screening requirements for unemployment benefits. The rule implements provisions in the state budget. Under the rule, those who fail an employer drug test or refuse to take one can be denied unemployment benefits. Those who fail would get taxpayer-funded treatment. Walker announced the new rule Wednesday, saying it brings the state one step closer to moving residents from government dependence to independence.

Donald Trump is the last man standing to be the Republican presidential nominee after Tuesday’s Indiana primary, after beating out more than a dozen other contenders throughout the campaign. Here’s a roundup of where elected GOP officials stand on their party’s presumptive nominee… Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker had previously said he would support the nominee and that Trump was better than Hillary Clinton in terms of taxes and government regulations. But Trump’s attack on a federal judge’s ethnicity seemed to change his mind a bit.

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. Documents obtained under the state’s open records law by the Wisconsin State Journal include a memo that sharply critiques a version of the civil service bill passed by Republican legislators and signed by Walker in February.

“Scott Walker has a visceral negative reaction to Trump’s character,” said Ed Goeas, a longtime adviser to the Wisconsin governor.

Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign and a supposedly independent conservative group were “one and the same,” prosecutors told the U.S. Supreme Court in a filing this week seeking to reopen a probe of the governor’s campaign that state courts shut down. The Wisconsin Supreme Court last year halted the investigation in a ruling that concluded candidates and political groups can freely work together. That ruling “is the very undoing of campaign disclosure requirements,” Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and two other prosecutors wrote in their filing…The prosecutors also argued two Wisconsin justices should not have participated in the case because they benefited from heavy spending by some of the groups being investigated. For instance, the groups laid out $3.3 million in 2011 to re-elect Wisconsin Justice David Prosser, who announced this week he will retire in July.

Gov. Scott Walker signed wide-ranging legislation on Tuesday that makes changes in regulations of wetlands and navigable waters that supporters say will benefit waterfront property owners. Walker signed Senate Bill 459, which designates areas as specialized wetlands, allowing property owners to conduct more building activity in these areas. The law will also allow dredging in artificial bodies of water; require disputes over piers to be handled by circuit courts, instead of through administrative hearings; and curb the ability of the Department of Natural Resources to block municipalities from constructing storm-water management ponds… The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters said the law will roll back wetlands protections and lead to more flooding and loss of wildlife habitat. Walker tweeted, “Property owners should be able to improve & enjoy their property in a reasonable manner without unclear and overbearing regulations.” … In a statement, Walker said, “This legislation not only protects Wisconsin property owners, it also helps create an environment where people want to live and raise a family, which ultimately bolsters our economy and job creation.”

Gov. Scott Walker named a familiar new spokesman for his office Monday. Tom Evenson, who has previously served as Walker’s official spokesman, his campaign spokesman and most recently as communications director at the Department of Financial Institutions, is returning to Walker’s office as deputy communications director and press secretary. Evenson was previously Walker’s official spokesman from April 2013 until March 2014, when he moved back to Walker’s campaign ahead of Walker’s successful 2014 re-election. He also served as a personal aide on Walker’s short-lived presidential campaign last year.

Gov. Scott Walker was “shocked” that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was favorably discussing the possibility of Walker as his running mate.In an interview published Monday, USA Today asked Trump about possible vice presidential running mates… “I like Walker actually in a lot of ways,” Trump told the newspaper. “I hit him very hard. … But I’ve always liked him. There are people I like, but I don’t think they like me because I have hit them hard.” Asked Monday in Madison about the comments, Walker wouldn’t rule out being Trump’s vice presidential pick, instead saying he was focused on being governor. He said he laughed when he read Trump’s comments. “It’s kind of interesting to hear that after the things that were said about me a couple weeks ago,” Walker said. “It’s almost breathtaking that I was listed in the first place.” Walker also noted the possibility that the vice presidential nominee won’t be chosen by the party’s presidential candidate, as happens in typical election cycles, because the presidential nominee might not be known before the Republican National Convention in mid-July.

Wisconsin’s right-to-work law, championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker as he was mounting his run for president, was struck down Friday as violating the state constitution…“We are confident Wisconsin’s freedom-to-work law is constitutional and will ultimately be upheld,” Walker wrote on Twitter. Three unions filed the lawsuit last year shortly after Walker signed the bill into law. Right-to-work laws prohibit businesses and unions from reaching agreements that require all workers, not just union members, to pay union dues. Twenty-four other states have such laws.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, himself a candidate the Republican Presidential nomination for 71 days, has publicly endorsed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in the GOP race for President. But Walker has also rented out his fundraising list to Cruz and Trump’s nomination rival Gov. John Kasich for a fundraising plea hitting e-mail inboxes today.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, appearing with Cruz on stage for the first time since announcing his endorsement on Tuesday, embraced the Texas senator at the GOP’s Milwaukee County Fish Fry. Cruz now holds a double-digit lead over Trump in Wisconsin ahead of the state’s primary on Tuesday.“My reasons are all about who I’m for, not about who I’m against,” said Walker to his home state crowd, taking a veiled shot at Republican front-runner Trump. “I think that’s important in Wisconsin — we like to be for something, not against something.”

Gov. Scott Walker, himself a 2016 Republican presidential candidate for 71 days, endorsed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz today. In announcing his pick, Walker failed to mention the most obvious reason for his support, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross — Cruz is the only candidate still in the race who actively solicited money to help retire his massive campaign debt.

“After eight years of the failed Obama-Clinton Administration, Americans are looking for real leadership and a new direction. Ted Cruz is a principled constitutional conservative who understands that power belongs to the states — and to the people — and not bureaucrats in Washington,” Walker said in a statement released as he announced his decision on Sykes’ show. “Just like we did in Wisconsin, Ted Cruz is not afraid to challenge the status quo and to stand up against the big government special interests. He is the best-positioned candidate to both win the Republican nomination and defeat Hillary Clinton. That’s why I endorse Ted Cruz for President of the United States.” In citing his reasoning for backing Cruz, Walker said, “I just fundamentally believe that he is a constitutional conservative,” in addition to favorably comparing Cruz’s style and policies as more suitable to the middle of the country. “I wanted to make sure I was supporting someone … I wasn’t against someone,” said Walker, who said he plans to campaign on behalf of Cruz ahead of the state’s primary on April 5. “I want to be for something.”

Republicans desperately trying to derail their party’s presidential front-runner Donald Trump have seen the state’s leading Republican and failed presidential candidate Gov. Scott Walker sit silently on the sidelines. Gov. Walker is the only state Republican to have received campaign contributions from Trump, a maximum $10,000 contribution, on June 23, 2014.

Gov. Scott Walker, whose presidential primary front-runner status ended with a spectacular 71-day flame out in early fall 2015, has yet to join establishment Republicans across Wisconsin trying to stop the near-inevitable nomination of Donald Trump as the GOP’s fall presidential candidate. Even a series of memorable attacks against Walker and the Republican-controlled Wisconsin state legislature’s dismal failures, haven’t been enough to get the governor to endorse any of Trump’s fellow contenders.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he’s not interested in a potential Cabinet post if a Republican is elected president, but he wouldn’t rule out a possible run for the vice presidency. Walker, in Green Bay on Tuesday, was quick to say no when asked if he’d be interested in a Cabinet post. But he was much less definitive when asked whether he would be interested in the No. 2 spot on the ticket this fall. “That’s just way too premature,” he said, smiling.

Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday he is considering endorsing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich next week, expressing “high admiration” for both. Walker said he would consider whether his endorsement would make a difference in the state’s April 5 presidential primary and won’t appear with any of the Republican candidates if he doesn’t endorse. “I’m not just doing it for the heck of it,” the governor said of a potential endorsement. “If I think it can have a positive impact, if it can have somewhat of an impact on how voters see the candidates and if that’s someone who aligns with my beliefs, I’ll make an endorsement. But I haven’t made that decision yet.” Walker has made clear in the past that he isn’t a fan of GOP front-runner and real estate mogul Donald Trump, but Walker declined to say whether he would support Trump if he wins their party’s nomination.

While the policy has been in place since at least 2008, the agency’s monthly and quarterly employment data came under intense scrutiny after Gov. Scott Walker promised to add 250,000 private sector jobs during his first term, prompting the agency exert greater control over shaping the message around those numbers.

In advance of Sunshine Week, Gov. Scott Walker is ordering his administration to improve its handling of public records requests, speed up response times and provide mandatory records training for all state workers. The move comes months after he helped draft legislation, later withdrawn, to severely restrict the kind of information the public can use to learn about how state and local governments work on behalf of taxpayers. Walker is also fighting a lawsuit over his refusal to disclose certain records by saying they were part of a “deliberative process.” Walker on Friday issued an executive order that emphasizes a number of areas in the state’s Public Records Law, including responding to requests quickly and not charging for electronic responses to requests when possible.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker, who appointed Bradley to three judgeships in as many years — including as Supreme Court justice last fall — said Monday that “neither the Governor nor our office was aware of the columns.” The spokeswoman did not immediately respond to whether Walker would have appointed Bradley had he known. “Justice Bradley appropriately made it clear today that a column written in college does not reflect her views as a Supreme Court Justice, a court of appeals judge, a circuit court judge or as an attorney,” Walker said in a statement.

Gov. Scott Walker told a gathering at the Conservative Political Action Conference here Thursday that no matter how upset they may be about what is going on in the 2016 presidential race, they shouldn’t give up on politics, and should be “happy warriors.” That was about the closest Walker came Thursday to saying anything about Trump, whose surging anti-establishment candidacy helped drive Walker from the GOP presidential race last fall. “Some of you might be confused, dare I say, upset, about what’s happening in the presidential election, but I want to offer you some enthusiasm, some optimism today,” said Walker, who did not mention Trump’s name. “No matter what’s happening there, the conservative movement is alive and well in states all across America.”

Walker also signed a bill allowing towns in Dane County to opt out of county zoning laws. The bill, authored by Rep. Keith Ripp, R-Lodi, was introduced after the Dane County Towns Association pushed for a way for towns to gain more autonomy over developments in rural areas, and to grow tax bases to pay for services. But officials from Dane County, its cities and villages and a group of towns say town governments lack the financial and staff resources to responsibly administer their own zoning codes, and that allowing an opt-out could unleash irresponsible rural development.

The governor signed a bill allowing farmers, food processors, frac sand mine operators and other operators of high-capacity wells to replace them without a state review of how the wells are affecting groundwater, lakes and streams. The law requires flow meters on wells and mandates study of certain areas affected by high-capacity wells. It waives permit requirements for lake associations that want to install high-capacity wells to pump water into lakes as part of a hydrological study. A bill that bolsters private property rights while loosening protections on thousands of bodies of water in Wisconsin also was signed into law. The law limits local powers over shoreline construction, allowing construction of boathouses, fishing rafts, utility facilities, water towers, rail systems and other kinds of construction to be built closer to bodies of water.

Meanwhile, Gov. Scott Walker made clear that he would prefer Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida or Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas over the New York real estate mogul and reality TV celebrity. But the former presidential candidate steered clear of joining the emerging “#nevertrump” movement fanned by conservative activists on social media. “I signed a pledge and I’m a person of my word,” Walker said. “I wasn’t going to run against someone else and I wasn’t going to support someone other than the nominee.”Walker last fall dropped his presidential bid and called on others in the huge field to do the same in an effort for an alternative to Trump to emerge.

Wisconsin’s decision last week to challenge a fee imposed by the Affordable Care Act set up a comparison not lost on advocates who support the law.The fee has cost the state about $23 million so far. In contrast, Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature’s opposition to the law is projected to cost $678.6 million in state tax dollars through the 2017 fiscal year.

Mr. Walker led a push five years ago to cut collective bargaining rights for most public sector workers, saying he needed to solve a state budget gap. Since then, union membership has dropped precipitously. Long a labor stronghold, the state has lost tens of thousands of union members, leaving Wisconsin with a smaller percentage of union members than the national average, new federal figures show. The drop is most pronounced in the public sector: More than half of Wisconsin’s public workers were in unions before Mr. Walker’s cuts took effect. A little more than a quarter of them remain. The shift has shaken the order of election-year politics. Democrats, who most often have been the beneficiaries of money and ground-level help from the unions, said they were uncertain about what the coming elections would look like, and what forces could take the place of depleted labor groups.

Gov. Scott Walker “was always the principal target” of a now-halted criminal investigation into his recall campaign, the state’s top ethics administrator wrote in a June 2014 email released Friday. The email from Government Accountability Board Ethics Division Administrator Jonathan Becker was written within minutes of special prosecutor Francis Schmitz issuing a statement on June 26, 2014, saying Walker was not a target of the probe. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ended the investigation in July saying the investigation’s legal theory was invalid. “I am thoroughly disgusted by your proposed press statement and it is simply not true,” Becker wrote. “The other side wants to obfuscate the case and make it seem like we are attacking independent (groups) and it needs to be clear that we are investigating a CANDIDATE’S improper coordination.”

The proposed EPA Impaired Waters List for 2016 in Wisconsin contains 1,694 listings, more than double the 761 approved for the list in 2004.The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has recommended an additional 209 waterways for the 2016 list … Critics of Gov. Scott Walker blame the increased pollution in many agricultural counties like Brown, Kewaunee and Manitowoc on his promotion of new jobs in dairy and other agriculture that pollute waterways with runoff from livestock manure, fertilizers, pesticides and byproducts of cheese manufacturing. They claim that Walker has cut the DNR budget to such a low level that, they say, it is nearly impossible for its staff to monitor agriculture runoff that is creating the high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in the state’s waters.

A state Supreme Court justice on Tuesday urged Gov. Scott Walker to allow people to use veterans ID cards to vote after her uncle who fought at Iwo Jima was unable to cast a ballot in last week’s primary election. “It makes no sense to me that this proud patriot with a veterans card displaying his photo would be turned away from the polls and denied the right to vote,” Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote to the Republican governor. In her letter, Bradley said her uncle had fought at Iwo Jima, the bloody World War II battle that was immortalized in a photo of the U.S. flag being raised on the tiny Pacific island.

Taxpayers cut nine checks for five figures — including one for more than $93,000 — to members of Gov. Scott Walker’s security team last year after a federal agency found the state had wrongly withheld overtime pay from them. In all, taxpayers had to pay more than $577,000 to nine current and former members of the team to cover overtime pay from May 2013 to May 2015, according to the State Patrol. That’s a period when the GOP governor was ramping up his run for president — an effort he abandoned in September amid fundraising trouble and plummeting poll numbers.

A Milwaukee lawyer just named to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents by Gov. Scott Walker has been a frequent contributor to his campaign fund, donating $9,639.68 since 2010. Tracey Klein, a shareholder at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, made seven contributions to Walker totaling $7,439.68 in the months running up to his 2014 reelection alone, according to the online campaign finance database of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Klein also has contributed campaign funds to other conservative Republicans.

Citing last week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Monday ordered state agencies not to do any work to prepare for federal climate change regulations that would require Wisconsin utilities to cut carbon emissions from power plants. His executive order follows a decision last week by the Supreme Court to put the regulation — known as the Clean Power Plan — on hold, temporarily, while an appeals court considers a challenge by 27 states including Wisconsin that the rules are illegal.

Political appointees of the Department of Natural Resources discussed disciplining an employee after she provided public records to a Sheboygan County citizens group fighting plans by the Kohler Co. for a golf course on the shore of Lake Michigan, emails show. In the view of at least one top official then serving at the DNR, the employee took the extra step of compiling information the group had requested, presumably in a more understandable form, rather than turning over raw data. The case highlights the sensitivity of open records cases involving the DNR — an agency that under Gov. Scott Walker has come under fire from environmentalists and conservationists for a more pro-business tilt. Walker says the agency enforces all regulations but has sought to rein in what he says is the agency’s overreaching nature. Environmentalists have sued the DNR twice since December over the length of time they must wait for records they have requested.

Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation Friday overhauling the state’s century-old system of merit hiring and firing, gaining the first legislative priority he set after calling off his presidential bid last year. Inking the legislation at the offices of ManpowerGroup, Walker said the rewrite of the state’s civil service law would help the state keep the best possible employees and ensure that the state remains “efficient, effective and ultimately accountable to the people of Wisconsin” … Critics say it could lead to taxpayers being forced to pay salaries to the unqualified cronies of powerful state officials or lead to retribution against state employees who put public service ahead of political demands. Rick Badger, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 32, said the bill gave too much latitude to Walker and future governors.

A Racine County judge warned Gov. Scott Walker’s office in 2012 of severe safety issues at the state’s youth prison, and later the county stopped sending its juvenile offenders to the Irma facility that is now the subject of a criminal investigation. The letter, sent to Walker in February 2012, appears at odds with Walker’s previous statements that he was made aware of allegations of abuse at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls within the past year. Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said the governor was not shown the letter from Racine County Circuit Judge Richard Kreul.

Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Ed Wall has resigned amid an investigation into abuse allegations at the state’s youth prison, the governor’s office said Friday as news emerged that the FBI had taken over the inquiry. Gov. Scott Walker’s staff said Wall submitted his letter of resignation on Feb. 5. He will be replaced by Jon Litscher, who served as the corrections secretary more than a decade ago. The allegations first came to light publicly in December when state DOJ agents descended on Lincoln Hills and a sister facility, Copper Lake, which shares a campus in northern Wisconsin. But two newspapers reported Thursday that a judge sent a letter four years ago warning Walker of possible criminal conduct at the Lincoln Hills School in Irma. Walker has said he was unaware of allegations of misconduct until recently. His spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, has said the governor never saw the judge’s note and that it had been referred to the corrections department.

In the five years since Act 10 was signed by Gov. Scott Walker, union membership in Wisconsin has plummeted. In 2015, the number of union members fell well below the national average for the first time since lawmakers passed measures that all but eliminated collective bargaining for public workers. The percentage of Wisconsin public and private workers belonging to unions was 8.3 percent in 2015 — or 223,000 members — down from 13.3 percent in 2011 — or 339,000 members — according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Since Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2011, Republicans have passed nearly 100 unfunded mandates or measures that restrict the authority of local governments, according to a new memo. Over the last three legislative sessions, lawmakers have enacted 99 provisions that represent unfunded mandates or restrict the decision-making power of local governments, according to a Feb. 4 memo released by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau at the request of Assistant Assembly Minority Leader Katrina Shankland, D-Stevens Point.

Gov. Scott Walker has signed a bill legalizing concealed switchblades and knives. The governor signed the measure Saturday at the annual National Rifle Association and Wisconsin FORCE convention in Weston. Wisconsin FORCE, or Firearm Owners, Ranges, Clubs and Educators, is an NRA-chartered association that advocates for the right to bear arms.

Business executive Richard E. Uihlein has continued to press his case to move a massive floating bog away from his property on the Chippewa Flowage in a meeting involving state, federal and business officials to review the controversial proposal. At a Jan. 28 meeting in Hayward, representatives of Uihlein presented a new option designed to ease concerns about a construction-scale project that initially called for nailing the 12-acre bog to the bottom of the lake. But it remains unclear whether Uihlein, a major financial supporter of Gov. Scott Walker, will proceed with plans.

Gov. Scott Walker says he plans to pay off his presidential campaign debt by the end of the year. Federal reports show Walker’s campaign owed $1.2 million at the end of 2015. The governor told reporters following a speech to the Wisconsin Counties Association at a Madison hotel on Wednesday that he believes his campaign has paid down a third of its total debt so far and he hopes to pay off the rest by the end of 2016.

”One is Trump got into the race and he sucked the air out of Scott Walker, and two, his consultants convinced him they were the front-runner and they were going to overbuild his campaign.” While campaign missteps damaged Walker, Trump was the key external factor that drove him from the race.

Walker formed a nonprofit political organization called Our American Revival that raised $6.21 million in the first half of the year. His political advisers also launched their own Super PAC, Unintimidated PAC, which raised $20 million in the second quarter of the year.

And only 36 percent say they would like Walker to run for a third term in 2018, one point higher than a poll in late September.

Walker’s political operations have reimbursed state taxpayers $260,000 to cover hotel stays, airfare and other travel expenses last year for his security team. But in the future, taxpayers will have to pay such costs when state troopers accompany Walker on political trips, said Jim Dick, a spokesman for the state Department of Administration. Walker decided last year to have his political operations pick up some of those costs while he crisscrossed the country and traveled overseas as he explored and launched his presidential campaign. But Walker is returning to the previous practice as used by other governors of both parties. Democrat Jim Doyle, for instance, brought security along on his travels to political and other events, such as a December 2010 visit to Cancun for a United Nation climate change conference.

Since Walker and Republican lawmakers successfully passed measures in 2011 that rolled back the power of most public sector unions, the number of members has dropped sharply…As of February 2015, a WEAC official told the State Journal the union represented about 40,000 public school employees — down more than 50 percent from the union’s 98,000-member levels before Walker signed his signature legislation in 2011.

The reckless spending of Gov. Scott Walker’s Presidential Campaign drove him from the race a mere 70 days after officially announcing his candidacy and left him with a reported debt of $1 million. A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news report based on One Wisconsin Now’s review of Walker’s state campaign finance report raises disturbing new questions about whether in his desperation for cash to fuel his political ambition Walker tapped his state campaign account to pay the bills.

Scott Walker on Tuesday touted Wisconsin’s comeback from the Great Recession even as the Republican governor seeks his own recovery from an unsuccessful presidential run last year. “There are more people working in Wisconsin than at nearly any other point in our history; state finances are stable; our school students are doing well overall; college tuition is frozen; and property and income taxes are down from 2010,” Walker told lawmakers in a 40-minute speech. The state budget remains relatively tight — and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Tuesday that new estimates on tax revenues would leave it still tighter.

Gov. Scott Walker privately signed a measure Wednesday loosening the state’s campaign finance laws and eliminating the state elections and ethics agency that investigated his campaign for teaming up with conservative groups.

One of the state employees that Gov. Scott Walker and some lawmakers used to argue for broad changes to the state’s civil service system was never a civil servant, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel review has found. In arguing for a proposed overhaul of the century-old system of merit hiring and firing, Walker and some GOP legislators pointed to the example of two railroad commission employees caught having an extramarital sexual relationship on state property and on taxpayers’ time for five months. They said the pair couldn’t be fired because of civil service rules.

Sound farfetched? Trump has now led in New Hampshire nearly twice as long as Scott Walker was a presidential candidate. A recent Fox News poll found him leading in South Carolina with 30 percent of the vote, double the share going to the runner-up. It also showed him climbing higher rather than sinking after his controversial proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States.

Gov. Scott Walker on Monday refuted reports that his administration is doing anything questionable when it comes to Wisconsin ‘s open records law. But those reports brought to light a change made this summer by the state’s Public Records Board that could shield communications like public officials’ text messages and Facebook messages from being made public.

Walker among Republicans against Trump’s idea to ban Muslims: The Associated Press reports: “Gov. Scott Walker joins a growing number of Republicans publicly opposing presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Walker, who abandoned his own presidential campaign in September, was in Chippewa Falls Tuesday where he told WQOW-TV that the country’s founding principles are based on protecting religious liberties, so he disagrees with Trump’s proposal.

Gov. Scott Walker told reporters Monday he forwards all text messages related to state business to his state email account and that his administration complies with the law in handling records. “As you all know in the past four or five years I’ve been in office we’ve gotten tens of thousands of open records requests fulfilled,” Walker said after a menorah lighting ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion in Maple Bluff. “Many of them include information not only from me, but from other individuals that was forwarded or was included in personal texts or emails. That’s been a pretty consistent policy.”

The DNR has come under fire from Democrats and environmentalists under Gov. Scott Walker. Officials have said they are enforcing regulations but also trying to reduce unnecessary costs and red tape by an agency that is traditionally one of the most controversial in state government. The letters also raised questions over whether the DNR is as far along as it says it is in complying with 75 deficiencies the EPA cited in July 2011 over Wisconsin’s handling of water regulations. The EPA ordered the DNR to address the problems, which began before Walker entered office in January 2011. The DNR says some issues have been cleared up. In an Oct. 28 statement, the agency said the rest are moving ahead through a state rule-making process.

The conflicts now playing out on a world stage are also evident in Wisconsin, where the Republican-controlled state government is at odds with public sentiment on climate change. At the same time, industry leaders here are divided, as some businesses see opportunities in curbing carbon emissions while others fear costly new regulations… Gov. Scott Walker and his administration and Attorney General Brad Schimel have been sharply critical of the rules. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would require utilities to move away from coal by cutting carbon emissions at power plants by 34% by 2030… But a Marquette University Law School poll in August found, by a 2-to-1 margin, that registered voters supported rules that set limits on greenhouse gases from power plants, even if it meant electricity prices would rise.

In making his case to Republican lawmakers this fall that the state’s civil service system needed to be overhauled, Gov. Scott Walker cited the case of two state workers who he said couldn’t be fired even though they had been caught having sex in their office. But records released Friday show no efforts were made to fire those workers — and that the only discipline sought and issued to them was letters of reprimand. Walker administration officials declined to address Wisconsin State Journal inquiries about why the workers could not have been fired for their conduct…. Two former state human resource officials said Friday that nothing prevented state officials from more harshly disciplining or firing the employees — one of whom, Doug Wood, is a Monona alderman. Walker’s comments about their case are at least the second instance in which he told anecdotes about state workers to plug the civil service changes that aren’t supported by state records… Walker cited the case of the two state workers caught having sex at the office but not being fired for it — without mentioning Wood’s or Piliouras’ names — in a speech to GOP lawmakers in September. In a statement Friday, Walker’s spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said the case shows “exactly why we need civil service reform.”… State records of the case, first reported on Thursday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, confirm that the employees got scant punishment for their actions. As part of his push for civil service changes, Walker also claimed that a short-order cook scored high enough on a hiring exam to be considered for a state financial examiner job.But when pressed, Walker’s administration couldn’t produce documents to support the claim, the State Journal found.

The state Supreme Court has denied a special prosecutor’s request to reopen an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign, a decision the prosecutor says he plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if he has the money and personnel to do so. However, the state high court also ruled that special prosecutor Francis Schmitz’s appointment was invalid, casting doubt on his ability to represent the prosecution in future court proceedings and raising the possibility that one of the district attorneys originally involved in the case could intervene… Walker told reporters Wednesday that “this was one more instance where (the process) validated what we’ve said all along.”

Nelson said engaging Wisconsinites at the local level to ensure they get health care before Jan. 31 is important because Wisconsin is one of 19 states that did not expand Medicaid. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker rejected the expansion in 2013, instead implementing a plan to move 77,000 state residents off BadgerCare, the state’s Medicaid program, and into the subsidized private health care plans set up by ACA. Another 83,000 childless adults, who were not on Medicaid because of the program enrollment cap, were then moved into BadgerCare. Walker defended his decision, saying the federal government could not cover the costs of Medicaid in the future because of the national debt.

Gov. Scott Walker’s approval rating remains near its all-time low, with just 38 percent of respondents approving of his job performance in the new Marquette Law School Poll. Walker’s approval has fallen sharply since a year ago, when he was re-elected to a second term. April was the last time his approval rating was higher than 40 percent. Since then, Walker exited the presidential race after his support collapsed, and he and state lawmakers handled thorny issues such as funding cuts for universities and a scuttled attempt to roll back the state’s open records law. The poll also examined, for the first time, state lawmakers’ approval. It found Republicans controlling the Legislature with 31 percent approval and 60 percent disapproval, while minority Democrats had 39 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval… Walker’s approval rating in the last Marquette poll — released in September, days after he exited the Republican presidential race — was 37 percent. That was Walker’s lowest approval since Marquette began polling his job approval in early 2012 and matched the lowest approval he registered in any public poll since he took office in 2011. Approval of GOP state lawmakers broke along ideological, as well as partisan, lines in the poll. Republican voters who described themselves as conservative or very conservative gave GOP lawmakers, who control both houses of the Legislature, overwhelmingly high marks.Self-described moderate Republicans were more divided. They gave GOP lawmakers 42 percent approval versus 44 percent disapproval.

Gov. Scott Walker pledged Monday that the state “will not accept new Syrian refugees” as he and Republican legislators joined a national chorus of mostly GOP leaders Monday calling on President Barack Obama to bar refugees from entering the United States. Immigration experts said governors can’t legally prohibit refugees from settling in their states but they can establish policies that make living in their states more difficult. Walker said in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris that Wisconsin’s first priority “must be to protect our citizens.” “In consultation with our adjutant general, who also serves as my homeland security adviser, it is clear that the influx of Syrian refugees poses a threat,” Walker said. “With this in mind, I am calling upon the president to immediately suspend the program pending a full review of its security and acceptance procedures.”

Gov. Scott Walker suggested Tuesday he won’t endorse one of the Republican presidential candidates that congregated here for the fourth GOP debate because he plans to work closely with the party’s national fundraising arm. Walker also didn’t disqualify himself from the possibility of becoming the vice presidential pick of the eventual nominee, but he said such talk is “presumptuous.” “My focus is going to be on helping the party get things ready so whoever the nominee is will be fully prepared,”… “They’re going to need infrastructure and grass roots, and I’m going to be actively involved in that regard.”… Walker said he would be taking a more active role with the RNC Presidential Trust — which will raise money for the nominee — because Ryan is now busier in his role as speaker. Walker didn’t say what his specific role would be, but he said it would preclude him from getting involved in another campaign… Walker said he initially appealed to voters because he was an outsider and a governor, but that eventually “along came a few people who were even bigger outsiders.” “We didn’t see a path to get to the nomination and thought the voters are better off if voters have a more narrow field to look at,” Walker said in summarizing the reason for his exit. Walker chalked up the current front runner status of neurosurgeon Ben Carson and real estate mogul Donald Trump to leaders in Washington not getting things done. “People are tired of what they perceive as the same old thing out of Washington, and they want leaders who fundamentally change it,” Walker said. But he also cautioned against reading too much into the polls… Walker also criticized the tone of the second presidential debate in September, which was his last as a candidate, saying “at one point in that debate it felt like being on ‘The Jerry Springer Show.’”… “The big loser in that wasn’t the candidates, it was the voters.” He also said one of the reasons why he had the least speaking time was because many of the questions were focused on having candidates address criticisms they had made about each other, and Walker had focused his criticism on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Walker’s comments Tuesday were his most extensive since he dropped out of the race in mid-September. He had declined numerous opportunities to discuss the race and his exit with Wisconsin reporters. When he dropped out, Walker encouraged other candidates to follow his lead so that the party could coalesce behind a “positive, conservative alternative to the current front runner,” who at the time was Trump. None of the candidates have done so.

GOP Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the Legislature created WEDC in 2011, soon after they were swept into power. The new agency replaced the state Department of Commerce and was aimed at making economic development efforts more nimble and swift. It has been beset with problems. Troubled businesses have gotten taxpayer-funded incentives, and top officials at WEDC have steadily left the agency… Walker and GOP lawmakers cut tens of millions of dollars from WEDC in the state budget they approved in July. Nygren said lawmakers would look at restoring some of those cuts, possibly in the spring. “It’s become a political football and it shouldn’t be,” Nygren said of WEDC.

In 2011, the EPA identified 75 failings in the DNR’s enforcement of the state’s wastewater pollution permit program. Last month, after the residents’ petition was filed, the state agency announced it is working on two rule packages that will address 21 of the issues… “Our state has historically been, and continues to be, a leader in many water-related areas,” DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp said in a news release. But the residents’ petition said the agency’s actions to resolve deficiencies represent a “lack of meaningful response.” The petition also charged that the agency’s authority and staff have been whittled away, citing the loss of 600 positions in the past 20 years. The petitioners claim Wisconsin now lacks the staff to adequately inspect and manage permits for wastewater sources, including large farms, municipalities and industries. EPA estimates show two-thirds of such facilities in Wisconsin are operating with expired waste discharge permits — the third worst rate in the nation. Recent reorganization at the agency by Gov. Scott Walker “raises even more doubt” about its ability to carry out its duties under the Clean Water Act, according to the petition. One of those changes is eliminating a separate water division and consolidating both water and air pollution under a Business Support and External Services Division. “The governor and state Legislature have starved the DNR’s power and robbed the agency’s experienced staff of professional autonomy to make informed decisions,” Wright said in a statement, adding, “Without effective government, we are compounding what our children and grandchildren will face in a world increasingly short of drinking water.”

GOP state senators reversed course early Saturday and voted to let people make political donations without disclosing their employers as part of a broad overhaul of campaign finance laws.Earlier this week, Republicans senators said they were considering parting with their colleagues in the Assembly and keeping the requirement that donors list their employers. But they said Friday that a number of other GOP senators had balked at that idea and convinced their Republican caucus to end the requirement after all… The two bills are inspired in part by an investigation of GOP Gov. Scott Walker and conservative groups backing him. That probe was terminated by the state Supreme Court in July, which found candidate and issue groups have the right to work together — a provision being codified by the legislation.

To rally support for a GOP bill to break apart Wisconsin’s agency that oversees elections and ethics matters, Gov. Scott Walker is casting the Government Accountability Board as incompetent. At one point, he stormed Twitter using the #ReformGAB hashtag. In one Oct. 13, 2015 tweet, he claimed the agency wanted to consider Mickey Mouse and Adolf Hitler as valid signatures on recall petitions — a claim we rated False. In another tweet from the series that day, Walker wrote: “GAB ignored their duties & did not regularly audit the voter rolls to remove all felons – for a span of 16 elections. #ReformGAB”… He said the ignored duty was meant to remove felons. But the post-election felon audit is a final check to see if any felons voted, not primarily to remove them from voter rolls. That effort comes earlier in the process, and is done mainly by local clerks…

Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign failed to submit required employer information for nearly 6,000 contributors last year — by far the most of any committee and 27 times more than his Democratic opponent, according to the Government Accountability Board. But the agency hasn’t penalized the campaign or any other committee that failed to report missing information because officials say they have made good-faith efforts to comply with the law. State law requires campaigns to report the employer of donors who give more than $100 to a campaign committee during a calendar year, although that requirement would be eliminated under a provision in a sweeping campaign finance bill that passed the Assembly, but has stalled in the Senate… In 2014, Walker’s campaign didn’t report employer information for 5,906 out of the 21,801 contributors (27 percent) who gave more than $100, according to the GAB audit conducted in June. The Walker campaign was one of 29 committees that received a GAB warning notice in June because more than 10 percent of donors of more than $100 didn’t have an employer listed… All of the campaigns that received warning notices submitted additional information and are now below the 10 percent threshold, Kundert said. The Walker campaign has submitted about 4,800 corrections, and is expected to fall below the threshold once the information is updated in the state’s campaign finance database, Kundert added… The Walker campaign had the most missing employer information in both years, according to GAB data. In 2013, when he wasn’t running for office, Walker had 155 donors with missing employer information, or 2.25 percent of his donors who gave more than $100 that year. In 2012, Walker had 5,467 donors with missing employer information (25.5 percent), compared with 247 (4.6 percent) for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, whom he defeated in the recall election… “The (Walker campaign) committee is regularly filing amended reports, and we believe they are making a good-faith effort to comply with the law,” Magney said. Walker campaign spokesman Tom Evenson said the campaign is constantly gathering information from donors and is engaged with the GAB to ensure compliance. “Our campaign will always do whatever is necessary to comply with state law,” Evenson said.

On the civil service bill, both sides in the GOP dispute are holding firm, meaning that the proposal is unlikely to pass the Senate until early next year. The bill would overhaul a system begun in 1905 that is aimed at ensuring tax dollars go for competent state employees rather than political hacks… Republican Gov. Scott Walker has strongly backed the proposal, which he took up as a major cause just days after he dropped out of the race for president last month. He has said the civil service rules for 30,000 state workers need reworking to become more efficient and help hiring keep up with the crush of retiring baby boomers. The bill has gotten a mixed reception from others who formerly worked within the state’s system of merit hiring and firing.

Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation Friday curtailing the ability of district attorneys to use the John Doe law to launch investigations like the probes they have conducted of his campaign and his aides and associates. The GOP governor signed the measure a day after documents related to the secret probe of his campaign were released that showed investigators initially believed they had overwhelming evidence of violations of campaign finance laws. The documents revealed a key prosecutor for a time had second thoughts after litigation was filed over the investigation, which the state Supreme Court shut down in July… Walker and other Republicans have called the probe a partisan witch hunt, a claim prosecutors have denied. The changes to the John Doe law — as well as pending GOP legislation to overhaul the accountability board and loosen campaign finance regulations — were prompted by the investigation of Walker’s campaign… As is often the case, the probe of Walker’s campaign was conducted in secret, with witnesses and targets ordered not to tell anyone but their attorneys about it. The law Walker signed Friday will prevent prosecutors from using the John Doe law to look into matters such as misconduct in office and bribery of public officials, as well as many other crimes, such as identity theft and lower-level drug dealing… The probe of Walker’s campaign came after an earlier John Doe investigation — also launched by Chisholm — of Walker’s aides and associates going back to his time as Milwaukee County executive. That one resulted in six convictions, including for campaigning on county time. Walker offered no comment Friday on the legislation he signed curbing John Doe probes. But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) issued a written statement, saying the measure “reaffirms free speech, ends politically motivated investigations and allows investigators to use the appropriate tools when necessary to solve serious crimes.” Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) in a statement said they “should be less concerned about covering up Governor Walker’s political scandals and more focused on helping hardworking Wisconsin families.”

Voter dissatisfaction with the direction of the state has reached its highest level since Gov. Scott Walker took office — 57 percent, compared with 36 percent who say it’s headed in the right direction — according to a new poll. Walker’s disapproval rating also hit its highest mark (60 percent) in the latest biannual survey from St. Norbert College and Wisconsin Public Radio. And only one in three voters say they want Walker to run for a third term in 2018, compared with 62 percent who oppose such a move. The poll’s previous high-water mark for Walker’s disapproval rating was 58 percent in fall 2011 as opponents planned for an ultimately unsuccessful recall election stemming from his Act 10 collective bargaining changes for public employees. The approval rating was 38 percent in that poll, one point worse than the latest poll. But the 57 percent “wrong direction” response is the highest the poll has found since as far back as spring 2003. The previous high was 55 percent in spring 2009. Under Walker it reached 54 percent in spring 2011 at the beginning of his term shortly after protesters swarmed the Capitol. The poll offered some possible clues as to the reason for voter dissatisfaction, such as 58 percent saying Walker’s short-lived presidential campaign has had a negative effect on their view of him, and two-thirds saying it had a negative impact on the state of Wisconsin.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker said he supports overall reform of the GAB, and he “looks forward to working with lawmakers on a replacement for the GAB that is fair, transparent, and accountable to Wisconsinites.”

The proposal, which would reshape how cases of bribery of public officials and other political crimes are often investigated, was largely prompted by a probe into the Republican governor’s campaign and conservative groups that supported him. The state Supreme Court this summer shut down the investigation, which Walker and other Republicans have described as a political witch hunt. Prosecutors deny that, saying they had to pursue evidence they obtained. Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said the governor would evaluate the legislation when it reaches his desk but added he supports “common-sense reforms that protect free speech and ensure transparency and accountability” for John Doe investigations… It would lift past secrecy orders that have been issued for targets and witnesses. That would free up Walker and conservative activists to speak freely about the investigation of them, but prosecutors would be constrained from countering their comments unless a judge released the prosecutors from the secrecy order. The probe into Walker’s campaign was conducted by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and special prosecutor Francis Schmitz. Chisholm is a Democrat and Schmitz has described himself as a Republican. The secrecy order in the probe of Walker’s campaign would also remain in place for members of the Government Accountability Board, which oversees campaign finance laws. The board’s chairman, Gerald Nichol, said he disagrees with the provision that would lift the secrecy order for witnesses and targets and held open the possibility he would ask a judge to lift the secrecy order that applies to him.

In a teleconference, the group said that budget cutting, retirements and actions by the Legislature have effectively curbed the power of the DNR. The EPA said it is monitoring the efforts of the DNR. “WDNR must continue to report to EPA on progress to address the remaining issues,” said EPA spokesman Pete Cassell. In a statement, DNR spokesman Jim Dick said that the agency “takes its responsibility to protect Wisconsin waters seriously and does enforce the Clean Water Act.” He said the agency could not provide further comment until it can study the allegations. Gov. Scott Walker addressed environmental regulations more broadly when he spoke to a meeting of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce in Madison on Tuesday. He said the DNR has changed under his leadership from an agency whose acronym was said by some to mean “Darned Near Russia” to a department that considers the environment and the economy. “We’re not perfect, don’t get me wrong,” Walker said. “But we made changes that provided a balance.” This summer, the DNR announced a major reorganization of the agency that included the elimination of its water division. The functions of water regulation would remain, but administrators are in the process of farming the duties to the other parts of the department.

Walker maintains that he has consistently opposed abortion in all cases, even though he signed a 20-week abortion ban in July that includes an exception for the life of a mother. He had already changed his mind once on that exception. In the 1990s as a state legislator, he told anti-abortion group Pro-Life Wisconsin that he supported it, but since 2000 he has told the group he opposed it.During his short-lived presidential campaign and again in a recent interview with reporters, Walker laid out a defense of his position. “You can protect both the life of the mother and the life of the child,” Walker said. “Now I’ve supported and signed legislation that made emergency exceptions for the life of the mother, but … that’s a false choice. There are plenty of medical options that allow you to provide for both.” Bioethicists and doctors who study the issue and train OB/GYNs in what to do in such situations say it’s true medical advancements in recent decades have reduced the number of cases in which a choice is necessary. But they also argue doctors and families still occasionally face that choice. “The governor is mistaken if he’s claiming that kind of case never occurs,” said Lawrence Hinman, a bioethicist and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of San Diego. “Politically, my guess is, it’s wishful thinking. If the choice between the life of the mother and the life of the fetus never occurs, then we don’t have to get too upset about this language one way or the other.” …Walker answered yes to that question in 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2012. That was a change from his response on the questionnaire when he ran for Assembly in 1994, 1996 and 1998 when he said he supported an exception for the life of a mother, Sande said. Walker told the reporters the only thing that has changed over the past 20 years, is “it’s become clear to me and to many others that you can do both.” During the 2014 election, Walker didn’t fill out the survey, forfeiting a shot at the group’s endorsement. He also drew fire from liberal groups — and later from conservatives during his run for president — for a political ad in which he touted being “pro-life” but also signing a bill “that leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor.”

In addition, Walker cannot simply go to a handful of donors to write the six- and seven-figure checks that helped fuel his super PAC Unintimidated. His debt is in his official presidential campaign committee, which is limited to maximum donations of $2,700 per contributor under federal law. That means Walker could need thousands of contributors who are willing to help pay for a campaign that is already closed. Those would be the same kinds of donors the governor would want to tap for a potential third run for governor in 2018, which Walker has not ruled out.

Gov. Scott Walker announced the appointment of state Appeals Court Judge Rebecca Bradley to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday, bolstering the court’s conservative majority. It’s the third judicial appointment Walker has given Bradley in as many years… Democrats have criticized Walker’s decision to appoint an announced candidate so close to the election, but Walker and Bradley dismissed suggestions that she is being given an advantage. “I think it’s incumbent upon any governor, Democrat or Republican, to put the best person on the bench, and my view is I shouldn’t disqualify someone just because they’re an announced candidate,” Walker told reporters Friday. “I think she’s the best person to be on the Supreme Court today, and I believe next April she’ll be the best person to serve on the Supreme Court. So I’m not making a political endorsement at this time, but I wouldn’t put somebody on the bench that I didn’t think belonged there. So I think it’s pretty clear what my opinion is,” Walker said… Bradley downplayed the significance of Walker’s tacit endorsement after appointing her to three positions. The governor’s approval rating is 37 percent among Wisconsin voters, the lowest it’s been since the Marquette University Law School poll began measuring it. Asked whether she thinks Walker’s support would help her or hurt her, Bradley said she doesn’t think voters will be influenced by it one way or the other. “I think when the voters are evaluating judicial candidates, they look less at who’s appointed them and they look at their record on the bench, how they conduct their campaigns and what their qualifications and experiences are,” Bradley said.

 Gov. Scott Walker appears set to add to his record of cronyism, corruption and incompetence with the appointment of his political crony, Rebecca Bradley, to yet another judicial post, time a seat on the state’s high court. Bradley has been appointed by Walker to both of the seats she has held in her brief career as a judge and is an announced candidate for the Spring 2016 Wisconsin Supreme Court seat to which Walker appears poised to appoint her.

“Governor Walker believes it’s possible to protect our clean air, clean land, and clean water while enacting policies that improve our business climate and spur economic growth,” Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said in a statement. But critics say Wisconsin’s natural resources are increasingly at risk as government moves away from a conservation tradition dating back to the 1920s, when academics and other citizens were placed in charge of restoring forests and wildlife that had been plundered by commercial interests while politicians looked the other way. Walker’s DNR secretary is Cathy Stepp, a former Republican state senator and critic of the agency. Pat Stevens, former environmental director for WMC, was placed in charge of air and waste regulation. Water quality protection was added to his division in the reorganization. Stepp declined interview requests, but in August she said that while protecting researchers from political pressure is key, senior scientist positions were being shed because the DNR Bureau of Science Services had run afoul of elected officials. “We want to make sure that research that’s going on is answering the questions our regulators on the ground have or our biologists on the ground have or our user groups and interested citizens have,” Stepp said in an interview with WisconsinEye. “That hasn’t been the case in the past. “We’ve seen a pretty sound response from the Legislature during this last budget process on some things that they saw that happened historically in that particular area of the department that they were unhappy about, and they wanted to send a message to us, (which) is, you know, ‘Get your researchers in better line with what their constituents are telling them, the legislators,’ and we’re going to do that.” Stepp said an example was a science bureau compilation of scientific literature on environmental effects of mines while a controversial iron mine was being developed in 2014.

The collapse of Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign could actually propel conservative legislation in Wisconsin over the next several months. From ending all public money to Planned Parenthood to allowing state retailers to sell goods at cost or at a loss, lawmakers are considering proposals that conservatives have sought to pass in Wisconsin for years. Bills before the Legislature this fall could put new limits on biomedical research and remake the state’s ethics and elections agency. The controversial bills could match scientists against activists opposed to abortion and big Wisconsin retailers like Kwik Trip of La Crosse against far bigger players such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. For Republicans in Wisconsin, Walker’s unsuccessful national race and low poll numbers at home don’t necessarily spell a setback for their priorities. The past two weeks have refocused the governor’s attention on the state and his conservative legacy here after months in which GOP lawmakers took the lead in the Statehouse.

Media reports indicate Gov. Scott Walker will announce today he is ending his run for the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary after the most recent national polls have found the one-time front runner at 0% support among voters.

Sinking in the national polls, the bumbling campaign of onetime frontrunner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, is preparing to double down with renewed attacks on working people. Career politician Walker’s desperate bid to remain competitive on the backs of the middle class and working people will be unveiled in a Monday speech in Las Vegas Nevada, hometown of anti-union, Walker mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.

 In the latest rebranding of Gov. Scott Walker’s flailing campaign for the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination the career politician is promising he will be “wreaking havoc” in Washington, D.C. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that Wisconsin has already experienced Walker’s brand of havoc, and has been left with unprecedented political division, a stagnant economy with falling wages and decresed investments in priorities like public education.

 In a weekend talk show appearance, the increasingly desperate and embarrassing campaign of Scott Walker for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination hit a new low as he opined building a fence along the 5,525 mile long United States - Canada border is a “legitimate idea.” One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross today suggested five other ideas Walker ought to consider legitimate as part of his day job where he ostensibly still serves as governor of the state of Wisconsin.

With the poll numbers for his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination in free fall, former front-runner Gov. Scott Walker is desperately searching for a way to continue his 22 year career as a politician. It appears the Walker gang has decided to fall back on casting a Governor who divided Wisconsin as never before, stripped 175,000 employees of workplace rights and left the state last in the Midwest on jobs as a victim, as unintimidated by those who would question his effectiveness and his record.

Gov. Scott Walker’s recent tame rebuke of Donald Trump’s reprehensible comments about Republican Sen. John McCain’s military service comes after Walker took nearly $500,000 from Bob Perry, the architect of the notorious “Swift Boat” campaign smearing the military service of Purple Heart winner John Kerry. One Wisconsin Now today called on Walker to return the Perry money to the late Republican’s family.

Leaving behind the state of which he is ostensibly still governor, Scott Walker is off in pursuit of his next political ambition, the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination. But his first stop after officially announcing his candidacy is not a traditional state such as Iowa or New Hampshire but Las Vegas, Nevada. Scot Ross, Executive Director of One Wisconsin Now and Annette Magnus, Executive Director of Battle Born Progress, questioned if Walker’s travel is motivated by a desire for the financial backing of right-wing casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

Today career politician Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker makes formal his run for President. Over twenty-two years in public office, Walker has amassed a staggering record of cronyism, corruption and incompetence. One Wisconsin Now has released a compendium of research, The Scott Walker Files, documenting his long political career and including in-depth reports on the right-wing Bradley Foundation run by his campaign chair and the millionaires and billionaires who’ve funded his political ambitions and additional features like “Ten Things You May Not Know About Scott Walker” and “Walker’s World” documenting the many reality-defying statements of Scott Walker.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker touts himself as purveyor of big, bold ideas for the public good in his pursuit of the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination. But according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, Walker has instead advanced his own political career by pledging allegiance on pet issues for major right-wing funders the Bradley Foundation, run by his gubernatorial campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, and the Koch family foundations of notorious right-wing billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch.

Out-of-state backers of the failed 25-year school privatization racket will be descending upon Madison today for what will likely be among many events designed to “commemorate” the quarter-century failed school privatization experiment in Wisconsin. The event is being hosted by the Federalist Society with a featured speaker from the Goldwater Institute, both of which have received huge financial support from the pro-privatization Bradley Foundation, which is headed by Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign co-chair, Michael Grebe.

In what may be one of the least surprising endorsements thus far in the race for the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination, billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch have said they favor Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that Walker has been a long-time Koch brothers loyalist, dating back to a 2008 loyalty pledge to support the notorious brothers animus to efforts to halt climate change that could impact their business empire’s bottom line.

On his first day as governor of Wisconsin, Walker authorized a state lawsuit challenging Obama's signature health care law and, in part because of the success of states' legal challenges to the federal Affordable Care Act, later opted not to use federal money under that law to expand state health programs.

SYKES: You may have a major decision coming up in a few months. If the Supreme Court rules in this King v. Burwell case that nobody in Wisconsin can continue to receive federal Obamacare subsidies, there is going to be tremendous pressure on Republican governors — including you — to create a state exchange. What are you gonna do? Do you have contingency plans in place? WALKER: We’re gonna push back. This is a problem that was created by this president and the Congress that was in the majority at that time. There’s gonna be incredible pressure — we heard it about a month and a half ago when I was at the White House with all the other governors from across the country. The president doesn’t have a fallback plan. But this is not something the state created. This is something the federal government — this president and the Congress created. They’ve gotta come up with a solution.

Audio from an Iowa event in March reveals Gov. Scott Walker joking with the crowd about his effort to evade campaign finance laws, while he rakes in potentially unlimited personal and corporate contributions to his sham fundraising operation while traveling the country on the presidential campaign trail without officially declaring his candidacy for president.

Earlier this week it was revealed Wisconsin’s richest man gave a secret $1.5 million donation to a group supporting Gov. Scott Walker before $1.8 million in tax breaks were approved for his business. Mere days later state legislative Republicans are circulating a proposal to hide even more information on the sources of their campaign cash.

“Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in the lead-up to an expected presidential bid, is continuing a push to align himself with the most conservative elements of the Republican Party, writing in an email to supporters on Monday that the United States should move forward with “bold conservative reforms to improve health care,” in place of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA, despite concerted efforts by congressional Republicans and GOP-controlled state legislatures to undermine the law, has added 16.4 million people to health insurance rolls since October 2013. Walker’s email, written on the five-year anniversary of the ACA, also known as Obamacare, lambasts the health-care reform law and President Obama (emphasis his):Obamacare gets a failing grade and for once…just once…I wish President Obama would admit that he was wrong. We told him so but he refused to listen.President Obama is turning the most advanced and successful healthcare system in the world upside down.Five years into this policy debacle, the American people are saying, “So Far, So Bad.” The facts tell a different story. Not only have millions of citizens gained access to health insurance, but hospital costs have shot down by 20 percent across all states, and by 26 percent in states that have expanded Medicaid—a key element of President Obama’s health-care law.

If after the first round of college men’s basketball tournament games you’re thinking your brackets are looking bad, cheer up. One Wisconsin Now has unveiled their own “sweet sixteen”, highlighting the not-so-sweet deceit, cronyism and corruption and incompetence of Gov. Scott Walker’s tenure that puts even the ugliest tournament bracket to shame.

The treasurer of the political group formed by Gov. Scott Walker to employ his presidential campaign staff in waiting is before the Wisconsin State Senate today for a confirmation vote on his appointment to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority Board. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross raised serious concerns about having someone associated with Gov. Walker’s political operation currently in the processing of shaking down donors across the nation overseeing.

One Wisconsin Now is warning New Hampshire voters to beware this weekend when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker visits to audition for the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination. Behind Walker’s rhetoric of economic recovery and courageous, principled action is a trail of deceit, cronyism, corruption and incompetence that includes a sagging state economy, mismanaged budgets, criminal investigations and payoffs to special interests – topped off with politically expedient flip-flops pandering to the most extreme Tea Party wing of the GOP.

As Gov. Scott Walker criss-crosses the country auditioning for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination instead of doing the job he was elected to do, fellow Republican legislators are running amok. The latest incident involves GOP Rep. Michael Schraa offering a tour of “off limits” parts of the Capitol, including the Governor’s office, in possible violation of state law.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has consistently opposed ethanol fuel requirements as a state legislator, Milwaukee County Executive and gubernatorial candidate. But in his audition for the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination Walker has made well publicized flip flops and panders on issues like immigration, labor rights and abortion. As Gov. Walker travels to Iowa on Saturday to speak at the Iowa Ag Summit the question is, will his views on ethanol ‘evolve’?

Seven groups that received funding from the Bradley Foundation, run by Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign co-chair, were at the head of the line to have their say at yesterday’s public hearing on a wrong for Wisconsin right to work law. Meanwhile a large numbers of Wisconsin citizens who would be hurt by the law and waited all day to have their say were denied their right to speak when the committee chair abruptly ended the hearing.

 The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross upon passage of Senate Bill 44:

Late last week, while traveling out of state, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dropped his pre-November 2014 election charade of opposition to a right to work law that could cut the average Wisconsin family’s wages by over $5,000 per year. One Wisconsin Now’s research of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, headed by Gov. Walker’s campaign co-chair, reveals the stage has been set for Walker’s latest assault on Wisconsin’s middle class for his personal political benefit with a well-financed propaganda campaign utilizing a nationwide web of front groups.

With the announcement that a “Wrong for Wisconsin” right to work bill is about to be rammed through the state legislature, the nation is starting to learn what Wisconsin already knows: Gov. Scott Walker will say and do anything to get elected. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that before the November 2014 election Walker said he was not interested in a right to work law that lowers workers' wages by an average of up to $6,000. But, post-election, presidential candidate Walker quickly announced he would sign just such a measure if it reaches his desk.

According to the latest round of campaign finance filings, individuals associated with the private school voucher industry kept busy filling the campaign coffers of Gov. Walker and others, even after Election Day. According to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross their donations are already paying off handsomely in the 2015 legislative session.

“As of last fall, BadgerCare had added about 97,500 adults without children who were below this cutoff of 100% of the federal poverty level, with state taxpayers covering a little more than 40% of the cost and federal money paying the rest. Meanwhile, the state has dropped about 57,000 adults from BadgerCare with incomes between 100% and 133% of the poverty level. The governor said in 2013 that the great majority of those adults losing their BadgerCare would receive subsidized coverage by buying it on the private market or through an online federal marketplace created under the health care law. So far, only about one in three has done that.”

The highly respected and nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) released new projections showing that Wisconsin is ending its current budget with a $283 million deficit, more than twice what Walker’s aides said it would be just a few months ago. And Wisconsin is heading into a $2.2 billion deficit in its next budget cycle if Walker grants all of his state agency requests. Even if he doesn’t, Wisconsin will still have a $648 million hole in the next budget just to continue operating as it does now. Walker’s $283 million deficit is so big that it should trigger a budget repair bill, argued Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Schilling (D-La Crosse), but the Walker administration doesn’t seem to be interested in proposing one. State law requires a balanced budget at the end of every cycle and a budget repair bill changes current spending to uphold the law. Walker should know that—almost immediately after taking office in 2011 he proposed one and it was his 2011 budget repair bill that included the union-busting provisions that sparked massive Capitol protests and made Walker the darling of billionaire tea party guys. Not surprisingly, Walker is trying to hush up the budget shortfalls created on his watch. Walker may be a fresh face in Iowa and California as he makes a case for himself as the Republican presidential nominee. However, his ideas are the same old failed policies of giving massive tax breaks to the rich, weakening the middle class and ending up with larger and larger budget deficits.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is on the campaign trail for a new job this weekend. Before jetting off to California to meet with the right-wing billionaire Koch brothers he’s making a stop in Iowa to address Tea Party Republican Rep. Steve King’s Freedom Summit.

Leaving behind Wisconsin and work on a state budget facing a multi-billion dollar deficit, Gov. Scott Walker is off to California for the second time in as many weeks, this time seeking the support of the ultra-wealthy right-wing power broker Koch brothers in his quest for the GOP presidential nomination.

His continued interest in exploring a 2016 presidential bid prompted a question at the Oct. 10, 2014 gubernatorial debate: Would he promise to serve a full term if re-elected? He said he was "committed" to the position and planned to be in the job for the full four years. Some media saw that as a pledge, while others saw it as something just short of that. We think many listeners likely heard it as a promise, and we’ll treat it as such.

Scott Walker’s Milwaukee County staff had a code name for his gubernatorial campaign with which they secretly coordinated strategy and messaging nearly every day: “the dark side.” [...] Most of the correspondence involves routine county business, but many of the messages were sent using private email accounts. County staff also used private emails to conduct campaign business and communicate with Walker and his campaign staff, sometimes during regular working hours. In one email from September 2009 with the subject line “county vs. dark side,” Walker’s county spokeswoman, Fran McLaughlin, warned Walker chief of staff Tom Nardelli and campaign manager Keith Gilkes about not crossing the two email systems. “I think a REALLY STRONG reminder needs to go out to everyone on the list that NO emails from the dark side can be forwarded to our county email addresses or to other county employees,” McLaughlin wrote, describing how one employee had forwarded an email to a county employee that included email addresses for Gilkes and Walker campaign adviser R.J. Johnson. “My receiving isn’t illegal — and while she sent it on her own time — there should never be a connection.” “You are correct and I will make a point with Scott that he be very sensitive to what he is forwarding and copying as well,” Gilkes responded. “I share the exact same concern and what (sic) to make sure we keep absolute separation.” “Scott is fully aware,” Nardelli replied. “It’s others who must adhered (sic) to the rule. Scott and all of us have to be constantly aware and reminded of this concern.”

The liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now was critical of Walker's decision to give proceeds to the state party rather than donate them to charity. It dubbed the event a "pay to pray" fundraiser, a nod to the $25 prayer breakfast. "Scott Walker has one foot out the door for a 2016 run for the GOP nomination for president. It’s all politics all the time for him," said One Wisconsin Now executive director Scot Ross. "One shudders to think what Gov. Walker will do with a $70 billion state budget when he’s willing to require a political donation to ice skate or pray with him." "The Republican Party of Wisconsin isn't being inaugurated and the idea Wisconsinites have to donate to a political party to participate in activities like this is another disgraceful example of a governor whose only concern is partisan political politics," Ross continued. Ross said it was "reprehensible" that Walker recently had a "photo op" with the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County when the group won't receive any inaugural celebration proceeds.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, with Justice Ann Walsh Bradley abstaining, has voted to hear several appeals related to the criminal investigation of collusion between the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker and outside groups. According to news reports, one of the appellants whose case the court has voted to hear is R.J. Johnson, a paid political consultant for Gov. Walker who also directed the Club for Growth (CFG) Wisconsin, a group that spent millions to help elect Walker and several of the justices voting to hear the case.

To commemorate the gubernatorial inauguration Wisconsinites will have the chance to ice skate, party and pray with Gov. Walker – if they’re willing to donate to the Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW). According to the official website for the inauguration, events are open to the public but tickets ranging from $25 to $1,000 must be purchased from the state GOP.

But the courtship dance began months ago and Gov. Scott Walker is continuing his endeavors to woo casino mogul Sheldon Adelson — most recently with a dinner in Las Vegas. The mega-donor — who poured more than $92 million on behalf of Republicans into the run-up of the 2012 presidential election — is scheduled to host a dinner with Walker and top party donors, the Washington Post reported. Adelson's political adviser confirmed to the Associated Press that the two would meet and Walker's campaign spokeswoman told the AP the governor is in Las Vegas for "public and private events."

A Republican state legislator who says he will introduce a controversial, so-called “right-to-work” bill is basing his case in part on statistics produced by a right-wing group that receives significant support from the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the source for statistics being cited by the presumptive bill author, has raked in nearly $500,000 over the last decade from the Bradley Foundation.

What does the all but announced campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination of Gov. Scott Walker mean for the upcoming state budget? Based on the comments and actions of the yet-to-be-inaugurated for a new term Wisconsin Governor, the two-year $70 billion plus taxing and spending plan will serve as a glorified 2016 campaign ad.

In the weeks before the November 4 election, the Walker administration attempted to quietly solicit bids to redevelop the Hills Farms state office complex in Madison.

Less than twenty-four hours after the polls closed in the November 4 general election, Assembly GOP Speaker Robin Vos and Gov. Scott Walker called for a dramatically expanded private school voucher program in Wisconsin, financed with public tax dollars. According to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, a news report revealing the pro-voucher group spent nearly $1 million in the fall campaigns and $4.5 million in Wisconsin since 2010 shows why it’s no coincidence that an expansion of the unaccountable taxpayer financed voucher program is on the short list of GOP legislative priorities.

 Despite telling Wisconsin voters prior to the November 4 election that if elected his plan was to, “serve as governor for the next four years,” Gov. Scott Walker made a national television appearance on Sunday, a mere five days after election day, in which he very clearly touted himself as 2016 presidential timber. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that Walker’s weekend presidential posturing follows his election night speech in which he made mention of “Washington” as frequently as “Wisconsin.”

 In his election night speech after narrowly being re-elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker mentioned “Washington” as much as “Wisconsin”. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted Walker's eleven-minute speech in which he mentioned Wisconsin ten times, Washington nine times and America twelve times was a stunning display that Wisconsin's Governor has already moved on to his next electoral objective.

 According to campaign finance filings, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) political action committee appears to have shifted tactics and has been funneling their television advertising support for Gov. Scott Walker through the state big business lobby, the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). The most recent reports from the RGA show their Right Direction Wisconsin PAC sent $840,000 to WMC in just over one week in mid-October. Previously the RGA was sponsoring express advocacy TV ads urging support for Gov. Walker in their own name.

 The fingerprints of the Wisconsin Money Badger Michael Grebe, Gov. Walker’s campaign co-chair and head of the $500 million right-wing Bradley Foundation, are all over the latest sleazy political smear launched against Walker’s opponent just six days before the election. A review of IRS records and Bradley Foundation reports reveals they have provided significant financial support for the media outlet that first reported on the smear, along with funneling millions to other groups working to advance the political interests of Gov. Walker.

 U.S. Army Veteran and University of Wisconsin-Waukesha student Saul Newton will counter Gov. Scott Walker's bus tour today with his own “Wisconsin Minimum Wage, Maximum Student Debt Tour.” In contrast to Walker's lavish campaign bus and hefty $650,000 contribution from out-of-state billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Newton will meet the Walker bus in a 2011 Jeep Liberty he borrowed from his girlfriend.

 In a deceptive new ad, the flailing campaign of Gov. Scott Walker is trying to whitewash his disastrous record on student loan debt and higher education. Speaking directly to camera, Walker ignores the fact students are paying $200 million in higher tuition as result of hikes he signed into law. Also unmentioned by Walker is that he’s stood in the way of a first in the nation state plan plan that would allow many of Wisconsin’s more than 800,000 student loan borrowers to refinance their loans, just like you can a mortgage.

 Gov. Scott Walker, who has spent every single day of his time as governor under investigation and who has refused to disclose who financed more than $500,000 in legal fees as part of the criminal investigation involving some of his closest allies, is now even telling stories about the cause of his hair loss.

 A news report, based on an analysis by One Wisconsin Now of Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign reimbursements for his use of state vehicles, reveals Wisconsin’s chief executive has spent at least one full year on the campaign trail. As Governor, Walker has the use of a state vehicle, driven by a State Patrol Trooper at all times. Based on a review of open records, Walker’s campaign reimbursed the state for at least 365 instances of travel because Walker used the car for political activity.

 College Republicans have produced a series of bizarre ads ostensibly intended to help embattled GOP governors, reportedly including Scott Walker in Wisconsin, appeal to women voters. The ads, based on the TV program “Say Yes to the Dress,” equate casting a vote for governor with picking out a dress. According to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, College Republicans aren’t the only allies of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with sexist opinions about women and their dress.

 Months after refusing to investigate Republican Rep. Joel Kleefisch, husband of Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, for allegations Rep. Kleefisch wrote a specific piece of legislation to benefit a compare donor to himself, his wife and Gov. Scott Walker, Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel will benefit from a fundraiser hosted today by the Lieutenant Governor at the Tory Lake Club in Oconomowoc.

 In an “Ethics Reform Plan” Scott Walker proposed while running for Governor, he promised he would not accept contributions from the date of his inauguration until the signing of the state budget. A review of Gov. Scott Walker's campaign finance records by One Wisconsin Now shows that for each budget he introduced between January 1 and the date the budget was signed into law he raised nearly $5.6 million from 54,000 contributions.

A reminder from April 14 of how four of seven Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices owe their current elected position to the millions of dollars in spending in their races by the Wisconsin Club for Growth and Wisconsin Manufactures and Commerce. Gov. Scott Walker has previously asked the appeal of the Peterson ruling go directly to the state Supreme Court.

The National Rifle Association is trying to revive the flailing campaign of Gov. Scott Walker by placing a $1 million television buy for the next month in several markets around Wisconsin. The $1 million buy covers markets in La Crosse, Green Bay and Wausau.

Then-Milwaukee County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker directed his assistant administrator to “please help him out,” after being asked by Stephen Einhorn for information that was ultimately used in dozens of voter intimidation billboards that were placed around Milwaukee in the weeks leading up to Walker’s election as governor.

 While studies of the voucher program have failed to demonstrate higher achievement for students, pandering to the voucher industry has been lucrative for career politician Scott Walker’s campaign account. According to One Wisconsin Now executive Director Scot Ross that may account for Gov. Walker’s call yesterday to further expand the unaccountable private school voucher program.

The right-wing “public interest” law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) and a legal expert who have raked in at least $1.75 million from the Bradley Foundation, run by Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, are entering the fray to try to help Gov. Walker out of his most recent legal jam. WILL announced yesterday they are seeking to file an amicus brief to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that a John Doe criminal investigation of alleged collusion between the campaign of Gov. Walker and outside groups should be halted.

A faltering Gov. Scott Walker took to right wing radio Thursday to deliver a blistering attack against state and national media for his latest troubles, complaining to Hugh Hewitt, “it’s hard to tell in between is it bias or is it incompetence, or is it just being lazy…In many of these cases, it may be all of the above.”

 Just two weeks after Gov. Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) “quietly” approved a $6 million tax break for Ashley Furniture, the company’s owner, chairman and their two spouses each made $5,000 contributions for a total of $20,000 to Walker’s campaign, according to campaign finance reports reviewed by One Wisconsin Now.

The increasingly desperate campaign of Gov. Scott Walker hastily convened a press conference yesterday to dispute the undeniable facts that his policies and administration have been an utter failure on job creation. As Walker’s campaign spin machine shifts into high gear, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that the facts remain a majority of state economic development funds doled out by the Wisconsin Economic Development went corporations whose owners and employees contributed $1.2 million to Gov. Walker and the most comprehensive survey on job creation shows Wisconsin trails neighboring states and the national average.

An analysis of recently filed campaign finance reports by One Wisconsin Now has found supporters of private school vouchers from across the country are dropping big donations on Wisconsin politicians in recent months, including over $113,000 to Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. In total, voucher supporters pumped over $175,000 plus into Republican politician’s campaign coffers in just the first six months of 2014.

 Today’s state Supreme Court decisions supporting Gov. Scott Walker’s attacks on workers and voters were spearheaded by a four-member majority bloc that was elected through $8 million in spending by two of Walker’s biggest special interest supporters – Wisconsin Club for Growth and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

A review of Gov. Scott Walker’s most recent campaign finance report reveals he continues to reap a windfall of campaign donations, nearly $167,000 in just the last six months, from individuals associated with state businesses getting tax breaks, loans and grants through his Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). The latest information comes on the heels of a report from One Wisconsin Now that found Gov. Walker’s WEDC doled out 60 percent of its economic development funds to businesses donating $1 million to Walker’s campaign.

“Gov. Walker is so committed to outsourcing that's he's even outsourcing stock footage jobs overseas,” said Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now.

In his campaign finance report filed today, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker reports an astounding 56 percent of his campaign’s cash grab comes from individuals and special interest groups from outside of Wisconsin — $4.5 million. Since 2009 Walker has raked in over $33 million, roughly 51 percent, of his campaign cash from individuals and special interest groups in states other than the ones he ostensibly represents.

 In his latest negative television ad, Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign attacks Trek Bicycles - an international company, headquartered in Wisconsin and employing 1,000 state residents. According to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, this is just the latest example of the Governor putting his political self-interest before progress on Wisconsin jobs.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is not simply a conservative, public interest law firm. It is a virtual extension of the political apparatus surrounding Gov. Scott Walker, engaging in ‘issue litigation’ to advance and protect his interests.

Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign today announced a new negative television blitz against former Wisconsin Commerce Secretary and business leader Mary Burke. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross ripped career politician Scott Walker for attempting to “swift boat” his opponent while refusing to answer questions raised by a One Wisconsin Now report showing not only is his privatized Commerce Department (WEDC) failing to deliver promised jobs, but that 60 percent of taxpayer-financed aid – a staggering $570 million – went to donors to Walker’s campaign.

 Contained in hundreds of pages of recently unsealed John Doe investigation court documents is information about the participation of the state big business lobby, the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), in a scheme termed “criminal” by prosecutors orchestrated by Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign. Since the release of the documents, Walker has refused to say if he’s still doing it in the lead up to his November election. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross today called on WMC to come clean about its involvement in the scheme.

 While Gov. Walker refuses to answer if he continues to direct a scheme to avoid Wisconsin campaign laws described as “criminal” by a Republican prosecutor, perhaps others know the answer. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross suggested Walker’s campaign co-chair, the right-wing mega-funder Bradley Foundation’s chief Michael Grebe, might have the answer.

 At their state party convention this year, Wisconsin Republicans engaged in a well-publicized debate over a party platform resolution authorizing the state to secede from the union. Democrats meanwhile are set to take on serious economic issues, like what to do about the $1.2 trillion student loan debt crisis that ensnares 40 million Americans, including an estimated nearly 1 million Wisconsinites, at their party convention this weekend.

 A report released today by One Wisconsin Now analyzing state funds distributed by the quasi-private Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), created by Gov. Scott Walker, raises serious questions about who is really benefitting. The report found that owners or employees of 30 percent of businesses receiving WEDC assistance contributed to Gov. Walker's campaign or the Republican Governors Association (RGA). Meanwhile these same businesses received almost 60 percent of WEDC economic development funds - $570 million in total.

 With a statewide public opinion poll released last week showing Gov. Walker tied with his Democratic opponent in the lead up to the November elections, Walker’s right-wing allies are again taking to the airwaves to boost his sagging electoral fortunes. Media reports quote a spokesperson for the notorious right-wing Koch brothers subsidized Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF), a tax deductible non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, saying the group will spend at least $866,000 on media, including television and radio ads in the coming weeks.

 Gov. Scott Walker has, according to his state ethics filing, received more than $1,000 in compensation for “writing” a book. But how much more? According to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, Walker’s refusal to fully disclose the details of his book deal prevents the state ethics officials and the public from determining if Gov. Walker is complying with the state law that prohibits officials from unfairly using their public office for private gain.

 In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, One Wisconsin Now is requesting the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) send observers to Wisconsin for the November 2014 General Election. Federal DOJ election observers were previously in the state in 2012, and One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross cited recent law changes and the state GOP's record of animus towards select groups of voters in requesting their presence again.

 Governor Scott Walker continues engaging in a pattern of secrecy with the public he was elected to serve. His administration recently refused to fulfill a simple request for email communications between the Governor and his chief of staff. In Milwaukee County, Scott Walker's administration went to great lengths to limit public scrutiny of its conduct of government business. It went so far as to try to evade the state open records law with a secret computer network for communications between Walker and his top staff.

“This report shows Gov. Walker continues to keep secret from the people of Wisconsin both the details of how much he personally enriched himself for his lucrative pre-presidential campaign book deal, as well as who financed his criminal defense fund,” said Scot Ross, director of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now. “Given the corruption, cronyism and incompetence surrounding his administration, the people deserve much more information than what Gov. Walker has shielded from public scrutiny.”

 According to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a media firm that has already purchased $2 million in television airtime this year on behalf of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) has reserved another nearly $2 million worth of time in the final weeks before the November election. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross said the latest influx of out-of-state campaign cash looks like part of an increasingly desperate attempt to prop up Gov. Scott Walker by the special interest funded RGA.

 Just released filings related to the ongoing John Doe investigation into allegations of illegal coordination between Gov. Scott Walker's campaign and a host of conservative organizations show Gov. Walker withdrew his own 2011 appointment of then-Government Accountability Board Chair David Deininger following a unanimous vote by the board to proceed with an investigation of the allegations.

 With Gov. Scott Walker using “Tax Day” to announce his re-election campaign, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross railed against Walker for “his stunning lack of leadership” related to the stalled Higher Ed, Lower Debt student loan relief bill, which provides more than $80 million in annual tax relief for the state's student loan borrowers, according to the non-partisan Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

 One Wisconsin Now has filed a formal letter with the seven justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, urging four of the court's justices to recuse themselves from a legal request by the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker related to the ongoing John Doe investigation surrounding allegations of illegal coordination between Republican-aligned groups during the recall of Walker.

Acting out of the public eye on controversial measures, Gov. Scott Walker signed asbestos liability legislation Thursday opposed by a number of veterans groups and used a partial veto to loosen new restrictions on early voting opposed by Democrats. Wielding his pen privately on a stack of 31 bills, Walker approved a number of elections bills Thursday, including the absentee voting measure and another one to give lobbyists more time to give campaign donations to state officials. In the early-voting measure, Walker used his partial veto powers — the most powerful in the nation — to nix language restricting early voting hours in Milwaukee and other cities to 45 hours a week while leaving in place a provision to prohibit early voting on weekends. Democrats and Milwaukee officials have decried those voting limits as the latest effort by the GOP to make it harder for minorities, veterans, the elderly and students to vote, saying it amounted to "fixing elections" rather than problems.

Instructions from Scott Walker's campaign manager were explicit: Delay settlement of a long-standing legal case over the starvation-relateddeath of Cindy Anczak at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex. "Could care less what it is on," Walker campaign manager Keith Gilkes wrote in an Oct. 22, 2010, email exchange with a Walker aide at the county, referring to the claim's legal basis. "Keep it buried until Nov. 2nd and then hopefully they'll settle." Walker went on to win his term as governor that Nov. 2. Anczak's parents, Jean and Myron Anczak of Greendale, would wait another full year before the county approved a $125,000 settlement. The emails were part of thousands released last week in an appeal by Kelly Rindfleisch of her 2012 felony conviction for misconduct in office. Rindfleisch was Walker's deputy chief of staff during his last year as county executive.

Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin, said Republicans donors have “pressed the panic button” on Walker's campaign. ”(Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce's) million dollar buy didn’t move the needle,” Ross said, referring to another recent ad supporting Walker. “And so now RGA is doing the dirty work and spending in Wisconsin before they've dumped money practically anywhere else in the country.” 

Even while arguing for racial outreach from his party, Gov. Scott Walker has had to deal with recent disclosures of racially charged statements from aides, with the latest two examples coming Wednesday in a massive dump of unsealed court documents….Unlike past cases, the newest examples coming to light Wednesday in the unsealed documents involved Walker staff members who served as his No. 1 and No. 2 aides while he served as Milwaukee County executive. In April 2010, Walker's former deputy chief of staff Kelly Rindfleisch received an emailed joke from a friend about someone whose dogs supposedly qualified for welfare because they are "mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and have no frigging clue who their Daddys are." Rindfleisch wrote back: "That is hilarious. And so true!"...In another email, sent in July 2010, Thomas Nardelli, Walker's chief of staff for Walker at Milwaukee County, forwarded Rindfleisch and others a joke about someone who has what he calls a "nightmare" about turning into a black, Jewish, disabled gay man who is unemployed.

Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said United Sportsmen's sole source of funding appeared to be a conservative political group and that its main spending went to a GOP campaign consultant. “It is clear, based on their track record, that had United Sportsmen gotten state funding as envisioned by Governor Walker and Republican legislative leaders, this would have been a publicly funded campaign organ of the GOP,” Ross said.

Media reports from Omaha, Nebraska say Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will be traveling there on January 27th to campaign on behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Ricketts. Ricketts is a multi-millionaire with a reported distaste for paying his fair share of taxes. He ran a largely self-funded and unsuccessful, campaign for U.S. Senate in 2006 and, along with other members of his family, donated $420,000 to help defeat the 2012 recall of Gov. Walker.

 The whole affair of Rep. Joel Kleefisch drafting a bill at the direction of a major campaign contributor to slash his child support payments with a change in state law reeks of impropriety. One Wisconsin Now today requested Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel open an investigation to determine if Kleefisch broke any laws with his actions.

Legislation approved by Walker and GOP lawmakers requires some 77,000 adults in BadgerCare with incomes above the poverty line — $23,550 for a family of four — to be dropped from that state Medicaid coverage....Democrats note that some GOP governors have extended Medicaid coverage more broadly in their states by taking extra federal money available for that health program under the law. Expanding coverage in that way would save the state up to $119 million through June 2015, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.Elizabeth Schinderle, a spokeswoman for CMS in Chicago, made the same point Thursday. "This policy is unfortunately not the long-term solution we would like to see. As a result of the governor's decision to not expand Medicaid coverage, many people in Wisconsin will not have access to affordable coverage because of state-imposed limits on enrollment. We urge Wisconsin to fix this avoidable gap in coverage by expanding Medicaid and taking advantage of generous federal funding," she said in an email.

While claiming they will seek public input for an unspecified new scheme on state taxes, the administration of Gov. Walker is barring the media and general public from invite only, closed door meetings between top state officials and big business representatives.

Gov. Walker is publicizing multiple “forums” across the state where, at his direction, top administration officials talk tax policy changes with big business representatives. At the first stop in Beloit that featured Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, the Secretary of the Department of Revenue and business representatives, Kleefisch order the meeting closed to the public and media. Kleefisch has also refused to release a recording of the proceedings made by a taxpayer funded member of her staff.

In the wake of Gov. Walker's recent, controversial campaign e-mail encouraging contributions to him instead of buying holiday presents for children, One Wisconsin Now is offering a special deal for tickets to its progressive holiday party and 8th anniversary celebration in Madison, December 16. Attendees who bring a new, unopened toy to donate will receive $10 off the regular $25 admission ticket to the event, which will feature special guest, U.S. Representative Mark Pocan.

For the second time in less than four months, Gov. Scott Walker has fired an aide for making demeaning comments about Hispanics on social media. Walker — who has been calling on fellow Republicans to do more to reach out to minority voters — ousted Taylor Palmisano as his campaign’s deputy finance director on Tuesday. The first-term governor made the move after No Quarter contacted his campaign regarding the inflammatory tweets. In one, Palmisano, 23, complained about an individual who was doing custodial work in a library in which she was working. "I will choke that illegal mex cleaning in the library. Stop banging (expletive) chairs around and turn off your Walkman," she posted on March 9, 2011. Two months earlier, she went to Twitter to write about her bus trip from Pasadena, Calif., to Las Vegas after watching the Wisconsin Badgersplay in the Rose Bowl: "This bus is my worst (expletive) nightmare Nobody speaks English & these ppl dont know how 2 control their kids #only3morehours #illegalaliens.”

 The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross regarding the public release of Gov. Scott Walker's book today:

 “S is For Shill,” a new report from One Wisconsin Now, in association with the ProgressNow network and the Center for Media and Democracy, exposes a web of right-wing funders advancing a radical privatization agenda through the use of Wisconsin-based front groups. In addition to support from the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, headed by Gov. Walker's campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, innocuously named groups like the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) and the MacIver Institute are part of the larger State Policy Network (SPN), a right-wing, dark money funded pro-privatization propaganda effort.

 The latest attempt by legislative Republicans to resuscitate a voter ID law that would potentially disenfranchise an estimated 300,000 legal Wisconsin voters was considered by the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections today. The previous voter ID law enacted by Gov. Walker and the GOP is currently enjoined from enforcement by a state court and is the subject of ongoing federal and state litigation.

 The state Department of Public Instruction today released official enrollment counts for students in the expanded private school voucher program. Nearly 80% of students participating in the program this year did not attend a Wisconsin public school last year, and over 73% of students now having their tuition and expenses paid by a taxpayer funded voucher were already attending a private school last year. The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross regarding the data:

 Gov. Walker is in Wisconsin for the day and was scheduled to address a meeting of the state big business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), amid reports they are extending their pro-Walker television ad buy into mid-October. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross wondered whether Gov. Walker would thank the special interests for their latest spending spree to boost his sagging political fortunes.

The author of a sweetheart deal worth potentially millions of dollars for a politically-connected organization was offered a free, two-day Lake Michigan fishing excursion by the lobbyist and Executive Director for the group, according to a story in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. One Wisconsin Now has filed a formal complaint with the state Government Accountability Board asking for an investigation of possible violations of state ethics laws based on the report, according Executive Director Scot Ross.

 The big business special interest lobby at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has now bought over $800,000 in deceptive television advertisements to boost the sagging poll numbers of Gov. Scott Walker. After dropping $380,000 two weeks ago, WMC has upped its spending another $440,000 as part of a statewide television campaign for the next two weeks, according to figures obtained by One Wisconsin Now.

Today Gov. Scott Walker “jets” to New York to attend a fundraiser, hosted by Woody Johnson, billionaire owner of the New York Jets football team, for the benefit of the Republican National Committee. Meanwhile back in Wisconsin, news outlets are reporting that the Walker administration is mailing letters to approximately 92,000 Wisconsin citizens notifying them that, because of provisions in his 2013-15 state budget, they will be losing their state BadgerCare health insurance.

 As part of his 2013-15 state budget Gov. Scott Walker signed into law a provision directing a $500,000 taxpayer funded grant to United Sportsmen of Wisconsin, a group that endorsed him in his 2012 recall election.

 One Wisconsin Now will join public education supporters from across the state at Saturday's 'Public Education Is a Civil Right' march and rally beginning at Milwaukee High School at 10:30 a.m. One Wisconsin Now research has shown that the systematic assault on our public schools owes much of its support to tens of millions of dollars given to pro-privatization propaganda by Milwaukee's Bradley Foundation, headed by Gov. Scott Walker's campaign co-chair Michael Grebe.

 Almost daily new revelations have raised serious questions about the propriety and legality of Gov. Walker and Republican legislators inclusion of a sweetheart deal in the state budget that would have given $500,000 of taxpayer money to a group that endorsed Walker in his recall election. In the face of mounting questions and rising public outrage, Gov. Walker stopped payment on the first installment of the grant to United Sportsmen, after he signed it into law and it was approved by his administration.

According to a campaign spokesperson, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will be arriving back in the state today from a trip to the key GOP 2016 presidential primary state of South Carolina. While in the state for a short week before he jets off to Michigan for the weekend for another political appearance, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross called on Walker to answer questions about the sweetheart deal to send state tax dollars to a partisan political front group that endorsed him in his recall election.

 Gov. Walker has ditched the brown bag and four-door Saturn featured in his 2010 campaign ads for state taxpayer funded airplane travel, according to a report this week in the Shepherd Express. The paper's review of Gov. Walker's travel records found that between January and July 2013 Walker used state planes to fly between his hometown of Wauwatosa and neighboring Milwaukee to Madison 44 times.

 The scandal surrounding Gov. Walker's attempt to reward an organization that endorsed him in his 2012 recall election with $500,000 in state tax dollars in the 2013-15 budget continues to grow. Breaking news reports today reveal that the group in question may in fact be a for-profit corporation that received at least $235,000 in income in 2011, courtesy of the right-wing Citizens for a Strong America. Yet according to information from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, there is no record of the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin filing a tax return or paying any income taxes for 2011 or 2012.

 A $500,000 taxpayer funded state grant to United Sportsmen of Wisconsin has generated increasing controversy over the last several weeks as serious questions were raised about how the grant process was rigged to make sure it went to a politically connected GOP front group and the trustworthiness of the organization.

According to reports, Gov. Walker has reversed course and will allow media to attend a speech he's delivering to a right-wing think tank in Seattle, Washington today. While he's not hiding from the press on the West Coast, back home in Wisconsin, over 6,100 citizens have signed a petition to the Government Accountability Board calling on them to sanction Gov. Walker for failing to disclose, as required by law, information about his campaign donors.

 Could a state grant slipped into the budget by the former Assembly Majority Leader, signed into law by Gov. Walker and rushed through the approval process by the Walker administration be used to help support partisan political activity? A loophole inserted into the budget provision authorizing the grant and the track record of the group in line to reap $500,000 in taxpayer dollars over the next two years certainly raises the possibility, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross.

 Despite mounting questions and growing evidence that top Republican leaders went to great lengths to ensure a taxpayer funded grant went to a politically connected special interest group, the grant was approved on Thursday. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross lambasted the approval of the grant in light of the burgeoning scandal surrounding the provision creating the program in the 2013 state budget.

 In announcing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker would travel to Alabama as he continues his “stealth campaign” for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2016, that state's Republican party touted his “Alabama values.” One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross wondered if Walker will also share tips from Wisconsin on his efforts to manipulate the rules on voting to benefit himself politically.

 The state Department of Public Instruction today released information on the number of new schools and students applying for the statewide expansion of the private school voucher program enacted by Gov. Walker and legislative Republicans in the 2013-15 state budget. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross said the statistics about where the students applying for the program previously attended school expose the voucher program as a scam on state taxpayers, orchestrated by well-funded education privatization forces.

Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now is hoping its latest complaint against Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign gets more traction than the last one.

In a stunning online rant, a top Gov. Scott Walker official likened illegal immigrants to Satan during a Facebook debate over a bumper sticker declaring open season on foreigners living in the United States without documentation. "You may see Jesus when you look at them," Steven Krieser, assistant deputy secretary at the state Department of Transportation, wrote Tuesday regarding illegal immigrants. "I see Satan." Krieser wrote that a "stream of wretched criminals" is crossing the border without obstruction. These individuals, he said, "completely ruined" entire states and industries, breeding "the animus that many American citizens feel toward them." Walker's response was swift and dramatic. Less than two hours after his office was informed of the rant, Walker fired Krieser. He had been paid $96,628 a year as the No. 3 official at DOT.

Gov. Scott Walker's latest campaign finance filing fails to disclose employment information, as required by state law, for 240 large contributions, according to an analysis by One Wisconsin Now. Going back to 2009, when Walker began his run for Governor in earnest, his reports have failed to disclose legally required employer information for 7,512 big money donors giving over $100 totaling $2,330,197.98 in contributions.

Gov. Scott Walker worked simultaneously with his campaign staff and county aides in coordinating responses to media inquiries, open records requests and news stories about the 2010 O'Donnell Park tragedy, according to newly released emails. The records show that Walker was integrally involved in the efforts to challenge any negative publicity after a concrete panel fell from the Milwaukee County-owned O'Donnell parking structure, killing a 15-year-old boy on June 24, 2010, on his way to Summerfest. The incident occurred in the middle of the 2010 gubernatorial campaign. ”It is disgusting that anyone would use a tragedy for such blatant political purposes," Walker wrote in a draft statement that he sent on July 20, 2010, to a small circle of campaign and county staff, including campaign manager Keith Gilkes, campaign adviser R.J. Johnson and Chief of Staff Tom Nardelli.The individuals in this small circle regularly emailed each other about the Walker administration's response to the incident. "Scott is down at the scene receiving briefing and should be attached at the hip with Sheriff (David) Clarke," Gilkes wrote to Walker's top county staffers. Gilkes continued: "We also need to know every detail on this structure and every piece of paper associated with this structure since it was built — information is the key to Scott dealing with this issue. His response will be the focal point of everything." [...] Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Christopher Foley released the emails as part of a lawsuit by the boy's family. Retired Appeals Judge Neal Nettesheim, who oversaw the John Doe investigation of Walker's staff, had earlier authorized prosecutors to cull records compiled for the secret probe that had some links to the O'Donnell accident.

In one exchange, Walker's top Milwaukee County fiscal aide, Cindy Archer, emailed Walker and Walker campaign aides on July 8 that "we may be responding too quickly" to requests for O'Donnell-related records made by his Republican primary rival, Mark Neumann, and by the state Democratic Party. Archer said she heard from Gilkes, Walker's campaign manager, that Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett was taking three months just to acknowledge receipt of public records requests. "My sense from Keith is that we should be operating one step above ignoring them," Archer says in an email to county staffer Kelly Rindfleisch.

Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday that his top campaign staffers began advising and directing his Milwaukee County aides on their response to the 2010 O'Donnell Park tragedy because Walker's political foes were trying to hijack the issue. "Literally, within moments — I think even that day in your paper's story — there were comments from people involved in other campaigns," Walker said during a Tuesday press briefing. "So it involved the campaign not by virtue of us but by others who brought it up. Some of his aides' emails suggest Walker's team was doing more than responding to other candidates. Instead, they were focused primarily on fending off any negative publicity during the 2010 governor's race. For instance, Keith Gilkes — Walker's campaign manager — told a Walker county staffer in a June 24, 2010, email "to make sure there is not a paper anywhere that details a problem at all." [...] In the hours immediately after the accident, one concern was Walker's whereabouts and how that would be perceived. "Scott cannot be at a fundraiser or something like that," warned Timothy Russell, Walker's former deputy chief of staff, who was then his housing director. "He'll be eaten alive." Walker's cellphone battery had died; within an hour, Gilkes assured Russell and others that Walker had arrived at the accident scene. "He needs to lead and be on top of the entire situation," Gilkes reported. "ALL of us need to back him up and ensure he is on top of the entire situation — Scott needs to be front and center for the media." As more media outlets reported questions raised about county maintenance of the O'Donnell facility, more advice flowed between the campaign and county staff. Nardelli advised Walker's campaign aides not to reply to criticism that came from county Supervisor John Weishan Jr., a frequent Walker critic. In fact, Weishan and Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic are dismissed as "dolts" by Nardelli, in reaction to a news release the two issued saying Walker's administration hadn't kept county supervisors apprised of the O'Donnell probe.

In a recent story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gov. Walker weighed in on the Ryan Braun scandal, ripping him for failing to “fess up”. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross called on Walker to heed his own advice by revealing the donors to his criminal legal defense fund and making public the documents he provided prosecutors in connection with the John Doe criminal investigation of his administration.

In a statement on Gov. Walker's recent campaign finance filing, his campaign manager touted his “grassroots” support. Would you be surprised if there's more to the story?

 According to documents reviewed by One Wisconsin Now, staples of the state right wing noise machine, and some new entrants, were once again beneficiaries of the largesse of Wisconsin's Money Badger, Michael Grebe, in 2012. Besides controlling the $620 million plus in reported assets of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, Grebe serves as co-chair of Gov. Walker's campaign.

A review of campaign finance records by One Wisconsin Now has found that Gov. Walker's campaign and the Republican Governors Association (RGA) have raked in over $614,000 in donations from individuals associated with businesses receiving tax credits through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). Walker serves as chair of the board entrusted with overseeing the operations of the quasi-private WEDC.

“Signers of the pledge, now numbering 411, promise to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue” — in other words, no legislation on climate change without an equivalent amount of tax cuts. They include one U.S. senator from Wisconsin, three House members, four members of the state Senate, and four members of the Assembly — as well as Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

Walker went on to say, however, that the “biggest, boldest reform” in the budget was new work requirements for people on food stamps. Able-bodied adults must spend at least 20 hours a week working or getting trained for a job, or they will be limited to three months of benefits over three years. Walker described this as a kindness. “We say it’s time to get the training, and the access to training so that when a job becomes available, you are ready to get in the game,” he said.

Gov. Scott Walker will have new power to sell state heating plants, highways and other properties, but privatization deals in other states have ranged widely in popularity and success.Revenue from the sales must be put toward relieving the $8 billion state debt, according to the budget Walker planned to sign Sunday...Critics of privatization argue that selling state assets while helpful to fill short-term budget gaps often costs taxpayers more in the long term. The deals have immediate benefits for in-office politicians but rarely are good for the future, critics say.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. Today we examine the close aides and associates, with whom Gov. Walker has surrounded himself, failures to follow the law.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. The failures of today are, sadly, not new. In Walker's time as Milwaukee County Executive, local economic development efforts were bungled and services for the most vulnerable were mismanaged and neglected.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. The title “Governor of the State of Wisconsin” suggests that the holder of the office would consider the diversity of the entire state's population. As judged by his actions in office, Scott Walker has clearly failed in this regard.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. On the final day of scheduled debate on the 2013 budget, we look at the intersection of the certainty of taxes and Gov. Walker's failure.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. Under Gov. Walker no area has more directly felt the impact of his formula for failure than public education, and the 2013 budget, set to be debated by the Senate and Assembly this week, continues the trend.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. As the legislature prepares to begin debate on Gov. Walker's 2013-15 biennial budget, a review of some of the promises made by candidate Walker, and broken by Gov. Walker, is timely.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. In today's installment, as the Republican controlled legislature is poised to adopt even more radical, right-wing legislation attacking women's health care, the lowlights of Gov. Walker's abysmal record on the issue are up.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. On tap for today, in a rare candid moment, Gov. Walker is caught on video revealing his strategy of “divide and conquer” to billionaire Wisconsin widow and $510,000 contributor Diane Hendricks.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. Today, we look at the right-wing machine behind the man, the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, headed by Gov. Walker's campaign co-chair, Michael Grebe.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. Scott Walker has collected a handsome sum in taxpayer-funded salary over his twenty years of failure, and now, as Governor he gets to live in a mansion. Upon moving in, he decided to remodel, with taxpayers and the special interests footing the bill.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. In today's installment, Gov. Walker's anti-voter record is “highlighted”.

Beginning June 10, One Wisconsin Now will commemorate over 20 days, the failings, scandals and imbroglios of Gov. Scott Walker's 20-years in elected office. Gov. Walker, who was first elected to the State Assembly on June 29, 1993, has spent virtually no time in the private sector and has enjoyed nearly half his life on the taxpayers' dime, including receiving well over $1 million in salary alone, as well as health care benefits for he and his family.

Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, criticized Walker for being more focused on a 2016 presidential bid than on being Wisconsin’s governor. 

Roger Ailes, Fox News Chair and CEO, is in line for a big payday courtesy of Wisconsin's “Money Badger” Michael Grebe, head of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation and co-chair of Gov. Scott Walker's campaign. According to news reports, Ailes will receive a $250,000 no strings attached “Bradley Award” in a ceremony next month.

The just-filed lawsuit by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) over a contract signed by the Milwaukee Area Technical College comes thanks to Gov. Scott Walker's campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, the CEO of the Bradley Foundation, which has contributed $500,000 to WILL. The lawsuit seeks to undo a contract that will save taxpayers $14 million in its first year and nearly $150 million in the future.

In his recently filed Statement of Economic Interests, Gov. Scott Walker reports that he still owes his Chicago criminal defense lawyers in excess of $50,000 and that he got a pair of cufflinks from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Left undisclosed are the identities of the contributors to Walker's criminal legal defense fund that raised over $447,000.

“Taxpayers can personally thank Gov. Walker’s campaign co-chair for this lawsuit, that if successful, will cost them $150 million,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now’s executive director, referring to the cost savings MATC said it achieved through bargaining with the union.

New research from One Wisconsin Now reveals a web of right-wing groups are part of a $31 million plus propaganda campaign pushing a massive privatization of public education in Wisconsin. Underwriting the effort is the Milwaukee based Bradley Foundation, headed by Gov. Scott Walker's campaign co-chair, Michael Grebe.

An analysis of Gov. Walker's 2013-15 budget plan reveals a massive increase in the percentage of state taxpayer dollars going to the unaccountable private school voucher program. Meanwhile, state support for K-12 public schools is essentially held flat, even after record budget cuts in the last budget.

Gov. Scott Walker leaves snowy Wisconsin behind this week as he jets off to sunny Florida for “lifestyles of the rich and famous” campaign fundraiser at the exclusive Naples Yacht Club. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross wondered if Chris Cline, whose open pit mining bill is one of Walker’s top legislative priorities, will cruise by in his 164-foot luxury yacht ”Mine Games’ to drop off a contribution.

An initial analysis of Gov. Walker’s proposed income tax break in his 2013-15 budget shows, to no surprise, that the majority of the breaks go to the state’s wealthiest taxpayers. But, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Scot Ross, the billion-dollar question is: what’s the windfall for Gov. Scott Walker’s largest campaign contributor, and richest woman in Wisconsin, Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, who paid no state income taxes in 2010.

If the federal government keeps its current commitments, Gov. Scott Walker's plan for avoiding a full expansion of the BadgerCare program under the federal health care law would cost Wisconsin taxpayers roughly $250 million more through 2020, under preliminary estimates by the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office. In addition to lower state costs, the full expansion of the Medicaid health program would also cover tens of thousands more people than the Republican governor's proposal.

The latest report from conservative front group the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance is more of an apology for Gov. Walker’s epic failure to spur new job creation in Wisconsin than an analysis of the reasons behind Wisconsin’s current rank as 42nd in the nation for job growth, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. The report alleges that it is the fault of Wisconsin’s population for being too old and lacking an entrepreneurial demeanor.

Legislation being fast-tracked by Gov. Walker and the Republican controlled state legislature to roll back environmental standards for a massive open pit mine in Northern Wisconsin was, according to drafting records obtained by One Wisconsin Now, extensively modified at the behest of the out-of-state company seeking to open the mine.

Another statement came from the activist group One Wisconsin Now executive director Scot Ross, who said after two years of partisan political strife and stagnant economy, Walker’s pledge this week didn’t mean much. “Two years ago we got the same song and dance from Gov. Walker and the Republican legislative majorities, but they put raw politics and power grabs before all else at very step of the way,” Ross said. “Their actions offer precious little reason to believe them this time.”

After two years of unprecedented partisan political strife under their governance, a stagnant economy and record cuts to public education, Gov. Walker and legislative Republicans enter the new legislative session claiming in media reports that they will pursue a moderate political agenda.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements on the two-year anniversary of Scott Walker as Governor:

Signed a bill that allows election observers to be as close as three feet to voters and poll workers when they are registering to vote or giving their name and address when checking in at the polling place. The bill passed both houses and was approved by the Governor on April 2, 2014.

Signed a bill which reduced the number of locations to which clerks are required to send special voting deputies to allow individuals to cast absentee ballots. The bill was passed by both houses and approved by the Governor on March 27, 2014.

Signed a bill that requires that whenever two or more poll workers are required to perform a function at polling place and both parties have submitted nominees, then the chief inspector must assign an equal number of poll workers from the nominees of each party. Prior law did not require that political party be considered when assigning poll workers.

Signed bill that limited clerk’s office hours and days available for early voting, eliminating weekend voting and severely restricting voting hours available outside the normal work day. The Assembly version of the bill (2013 AB 54) failed to pass, but a substantially similar bill (SB 324) was adopted. The Governor exercised a partial veto, striking language limiting voting hours to 45 hours per week but leaving intact restrictions on hours of day (8 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and elimination of weekend hours.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross called on state and federal authorities to immediately open an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Capital Midwest being granted management of $1 million of taxpayer funds through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). Capital Midwest is run by Stephen Einhorn who, along with his wife Nancy, donated $25,000 to Gov. Walker's campaign a mere month before being awarded management rights over the public funds by the WHEDA board, a majority of whose members are appointed by Walker.

Wisconsin's 'Money Badger', Michael Grebe, appears to have his paws in the attack on worker rights in Michigan according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. Grebe, who runs the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, has doled out nearly $2 million to three organizations taking leading roles in promoting the attack on worker rights launched by Michigan Republicans in a lame duck session of their state legislature.

Recent media reports on prospective 2016 Republican presidential candidates' money chase included Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on a list of suitors seeking an audience with GOP mega-donor and Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. But according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, Walker may already have found his Super-PAC sugar daddy, the Wisconsin 'Money Badger', Michael Grebe of the Bradley Foundation.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross renewed a call made earlier this week for Gov. Walker to demand the resignation of top administration aide Brett Davis for his participation in a scheme to benefit his failed Lieutenant Governor campaign, at taxpayer expense, that has resulted in jail time for one former Walker aide and was featured among the criminal complaint brought against a second aide who pled guilty to an embezzlement charge today.

On the heels of Kelly Rindfleisch’s guilty plea to a felony misconduct in office charge, and a jail sentence for campaign fundraising work she did while a top aide to Scott Walker as Milwaukee County Executive to benefit the 2010 Lieutenant Governor campaign of then Rep. Brett Davis, Gov. Walker must ask for Davis’ resignation from his $108,000 per year state job as State Medicaid Director, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director, Scot Ross.

A report that Gov. Walker’s gubernatorial campaign manager directed his Milwaukee County staff to “drag out” fulfilling requests under the state open records law for information related to a tragic incident involving the death of a young boy outside a county owned facility may not be an isolated incident, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. Numerous open record requests made by One Wisconsin Now experienced the same fate, with delays of up to six months and the charging exorbitant fees for simple information.

The day after statewide success for progressives in Wisconsin, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director noted the untold story is the failure of Wisconsin's 'Money Badger,' Bradley Foundation CEO Michael Grebe, and his proteges Governor Scott Walker, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus and U.S. Representative and failed Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan to deliver the state for Republicans.

The Romney for President campaign has touted the endorsement of Michael Grebe, saying in a press release that the head of the Milwaukee based Bradley Foundation, recently revealed as a funder of voter suppression billboards, is a “great supporter of conservative causes”.

The liberal organization One Wisconsin Now was the first to disclose the role the Einhorn foundation had in footing the bill for the billboards. Scot Ross, head of the Madison-based group, called it “reprehensible” that private foundation money was spent on billboards that Ross said were intended to suppress the vote during the 2010 election in which Scott Walker was elected governor. Grebe is the campaign chairman of Walker’s campaign. “It raises serious questions about how the Bradley Foundation spends its money,” Ross said.

Billboards warning communities of color in Ohio and Wisconsin that voter fraud can lead to jail time were put up by a group led by a Milwaukee-based venture capitalist and donor to Mitt Romney and the Tea Party movement, an investigation by NBC’s theGrio has found. The billboards—which carried the unnecessary (and some might say, intimidating) warning that “VOTER FRAUD IS A FELONY!”—have been removed by the company that erected them in the first place, Clear Channel...the company gave the client a choice: either reveal yourself, or the ads need to come down. The client chose to have the ads come down, and to remain anonymous. But that anonymity lasted about a week. A joint investigation by our colleagues at theGrio and the issue-advocacy group One Wisconsin Now pulled back the curtain a bit: One Wisconsin Now and theGrio discovered that a little-known non-profit, the Einhorn Family Foundation, based in Milwaukee, was behind the 2010 and 2012 Milwaukee area billboard campaigns. The Einhorn Foundation, led by the family patriarch, Steven Einhorn, is just one of a constellation of conservative organizations that go beyond Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers behind much of the tea party funding, who have become familiar to those watching the rise of “dark money” in American elections since the Citizens United decision in the U.S. Supreme Court.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding news late Monday that the Einhorn Family Foundation confirmed the results of a joint investigation by theGrio news service and One Wisconsin Now and admitted it was the previously-anonymous funder of voter suppression billboards purchased in 2010 and 2012 targeting communities of color.

Stephen Einhorn - a Wisconsin venture capital fund manager and major GOP donor - acknowledged Monday that he and his wife Nancy paid for dozens of anonymous billboards in and around Milwaukee and two Ohio cities warning residents of the penalties for committing voter fraud. Democrats and civil rights groups complained that the signs - which were taken down last week - were concentrated in minority neighborhoods and intended to suppress the election turnout, though some were posted as far out as Waukesha and Washington counties...The Einhorns have made campaign donations to many Republican politicians, including Gov. Scott Walker, to whom they have given $49,750 since 2005, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

A joint investigation by theGrio news service and One Wisconsin Now has uncovered that Milwaukee's Einhorn Family Foundation is the “private family foundation” that anonymously funded voter suppression billboards in Wisconsin in September 2010 and again this year. A review of IRS documents also showed Milwaukee's Bradley Foundation, headed by Scott Walker's campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, and one of the largest sources for right wing funding in America, gave the Einhorn Family Foundation a $10,000 grant, at the time the 2010 suppression billboards appeared, “to support a public education project.”

Right wing celebrity Gov. Scott Walker’s star power appears to be on the wane in recent weeks, as evidenced by his warm-up act role on Governors’ night at the Republican National Convention.

A comprehensive report from One Wisconsin Now and United Wisconsin shows how Gov. Scott Walker raised over $7 million by exploiting the unlimited campaign finance recall loophole and provides a detailed perspective on the out-of-state and in-state donors who bankrolled Walker’s win in June.

An analysis of campaign finance reports by One Wisconsin Now found Gov. Walker’s record spending in the June 5th recall election was overwhelmingly fueled by large contributions from the wealthy and out-of-state donors.

Walker’s unlimited donations were supposed to be used for the defense of the recall, and could only be collected until the GAB certified the recall election. But, again, Walker was able to exploit loopholes in the law. According to One Wisconsin Now, he collected the “unlimited” sums even after the GAB called the election because he allegedly incurred so many expenses related to the recall.

Citing the age-old adage that actions speak louder than words, One Wisconsin Now is calling on Gov. Scott Walker to take concrete actions to heal the rift in Wisconsin brought on by his “divide and conquer” agenda.

“Walker will be the keynote speaker at a benefit dinner for the Illinois-based Heartland Institute, a group that has recently come under fire for a billboard campaign linking those concerned about global warming to "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski, serial killer Charles Manson, and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. …Heartland proudly displayed the campaign on the front page of its website and issued a lengthy press release explaining: "The people who still believe in man-made global warming are mostly on the radical fringe of society. This is why the most prominent advocates of global warming aren't scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen."

An analysis of Gov. Walker’s campaign finances by One Wisconsin Now has revealed he raised $7.3 million from wealthy, mega-donors exceeding the normal $10,000 aggregate contribution limit. The amount raked in by Gov. Walker from just 167 wealthy individuals, is nearly twice as much as the total of all contributions to his recall election opponent.

Gov. Scott Walker’s billionaire backers, along with outside spending from corporate-funded special interest groups such as Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the Republican Governors Association and Shadowy groups such as the “Coalition for American Values” outspent Democratic challenger Tom Barrett and groups supporting him 8-to-1, according to Mother Jones.

Gov. Walker’s political appointee in charge of the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) appears to be stonewalling the release of public records related to claims he made about the release of unverified state job numbers.

Governor Scott Walker is not trying to win the Wisconsin recall election that will be held June 5. He is trying to buy it. As One Wisconsin Now’s Mike Browne says: “Given Wisconsin’s worst in the nation record on jobs and the cuts to schools and health care to pay for corporate tax breaks under Gov. Walker, it’s really no surprise his ‘divide and conquer’ politics and trickle-down economics are more popular with people who don’t have to live with the results.

Exploiting a loophole in Wisconsin election law — which removes contribution limits for officials seeking to prevent a recall election — the governor has raised unlimited amounts of cash from wealthy donors. Even after the recall election was scheduled, 23 wealthy donors gave the governor an addition $1.7 million to offset expenses run up before the recall was scheduled and contribution limits went back into effect.

Progressive advocacy group One Wisconsin Now continued to analyze Walker’s campaign finance records throughout the 2010 campaign for governor. They found that his campaign improperly reported well over $500,000 in contributions from inside and outside Wisconsin. The organization also filed a formal complaint with the Government Accountability Board regarding Walker’s serial breaking of campaign finance laws in the area of proper disclosure. (One Wisconsin Now, “Walker Goes Over $500,000 in Improperly-Reported Contributions”, 10/25/10; OWN Complaint to GAB, filed 9/7/10)

Eighty-two days and $160,000 later, Gov. Walker and his campaign are continuing to refuse to name the donors to the legal defense fund he is using to pay for defense lawyers in a “John Doe” criminal investigation of corruption and illegal campaigning.

A One Wisconsin Now analysis of Gov. Walker’s most recent campaign finance report reveals he is continuing to rake in high dollar contributions and raise the majority of his funds from out-of-state. Gov. Walker also continues to exploit a loophole allowing him to raise unlimited dollar amount contributions for expenses incurred before the recall election was called on March 30th.

Questions continue to mount about Gov. Walker’s candor on serious issues, including his involvement in the secret John Doe investigation of corruption and illegal campaigning by close aides and associates and video showing him telling campaign contributors a very different story than the public. One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne called on Gov. Walker to address the questions about the integrity of his administration in tonight’s debate.

An unprecedented cross-country cash grab, driven by donations from wealthy, right-wing ideologues and special interests, turbocharged with a campaign finance loophole allowed Gov. Scott Walker to raise donations in unlimited amounts to fund expenses related to “recall defense.”

It has been reported that Gov. Scott Walker has spent much of the last year on a cross- country cash grab - filling his campaign coffers with millions from right-wing ideologues like “Swift Boat” Bob Perry, Newt Gingrich “Sugar Daddy” Sheldon Adelson, Women's health “expert” Foster Friess, and, of course, Wisconsin's own “Divide and Conquer” billionaire, Diane Hendricks.

Nine members of the exclusive Forbes U.S. Billionaires List gave nearly $1.4 million to Gov. Walker over the last four months, according to One Wisconsin Now’s analysis of his most recent campaign finance filing.

Under Gov. Walker, Wisconsin’s economy has tanked, ranking dead last in the nation for job creation and suffering the ignominy of being the only state in the nation with statistically significant job losses over the last year. Meanwhile, Gov. Walker’s cross country cash grab has been a stunning success, netting two-thirds of the $13 million raised from out-of-state contributors, according to One Wisconsin Now’s analysis of his latest campaign finance report filed today.

The liberal group One Wisconsin Now said its initial analysis of Walker’s most recent campaign finance report reveals that $8.37 million, or roughly 66 percent, of the $12.74 million reported raised Walker came from out of state and that 75 percent of individual contributors were from out of state. 

Late last week, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) announced via press release that they were returning to Wisconsin with a TV ad criticizing possible recall election opponents of Gov. Walker. According to a One Wisconsin Now analysis of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records, the special interests and corporations that have donated millions to the RGA are also the potential beneficiaries of numerous initiatives proposed or enacted under Gov. Walker.

The Virginia based, corporate-funded Republican Governors Association (RGA) announced in a press release today that it has returned to Wisconsin with negative television commercials attacking possible opponents of Gov. Walker in a recall election.

In an interview with Fox News legal eagle Greta Van Susteren, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says his upcoming recall election will be a “Waterloo” moment for national unions that will “invest everything possible to try and take me out to send a message.” … A recent open records request by the activist group One Wisconsin Now shows that from August 2011 to January 2012, Walker’s schedule reflects just over 44 hours of meetings with legislators and policy staff, while 614-plus hours were blocked off as “personal” time, better known as “fundraising.”

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”.

Gov. Walker claims that he has hired new criminal defense lawyers for the purpose of cooperating with the Milwaukee County District Attorney. However, for a year, the campaign itself was paying an attorney to ‘cooperate’ with the DA by providing needed emails, etc.

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”.

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 Now Deputy Director Mike Browne.

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. 

One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne made the following statement regarding Gov. Scott Walker’s latest special interest funded campaign ad:

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 to “count it and call it”.

Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign raised over $8 million from a cross-country cash grab, over 60% of it from out-of-state donors and much of it from mega-contributors giving up to $250,000 at a time. But his campaign is asking that, instead of offering their own challenges, allegations of improper signatures on recall petitions from an alliance of Texas and Wisconsin fringe political groups accused of voter suppression activities be considered by the Government Accountability Board (GAB).

Campaign finance records show private school voucher advocates have showered Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP with over $507,000 in campaign contributions in 2011 and 2012. Meanwhile proposed accountability standards that would include voucher schools are on hold and a bill to close a loophole that could allow statewide expansion of the private voucher program is stalled in the GOP controlled Assembly.

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 of contributions. A quick review of the Walker donations reported to the Government Accountability Board shows strong support from prominent Wisconsin business executives.

One Wisconsin Now statement regarding burgeoning Scott Walker political corruption scandal and the reluctance of the Governor to answer questions about “what he knew and when he knew it”:

The unprecedented out-of-state cash grab by Gov. Scott Walker continued at an alarming rate with Walker’s latest reports showing he has amassed 61 percent of the $4.1 million in individual contributions raised since December 11 from outside of Wisconsin. Walker’s four top donors, each giving $250,000, were also from out of state, including another $250,000 from Texas tycoon and “Swift Boat” sleazy ad financier Bob Perry.

Gov. Scott Walker's administration has touted for months its efforts to balance the state budget, but now it also has acknowledged a significant way in which the budget isn't balanced. To keep the possibility alive of making further cuts to state health programs, the Walker administration quietly certified to the federal government on Dec. 29 that the state had a deficit. Federal law allows the state to drop tens of thousands of adults to save money on health care costs if the state can show it has a deficit. Walker has said he wants to cut health care spending in other ways, but hasn't ruled out dropping those 53,000 adults if the other methods aren't approved by the federal government. To keep that option alive, state Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch wrote in a December letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that the state would have an undisclosed deficit from Jan. 1 of this year through June 30, 2013. "It's nothing more than what we've been saying all along," Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said.

A third veteran has resigned from a state board in response to Gov. Scott Walker's moves to gain greater control of the Department of Veterans Affairs, including his decision to appoint John Scocos as agency secretary...In his letter to the first-term Republican governor, Freedman criticized legislation that stripped the board of its ability to appoint the veterans affairs secretary, giving that responsibility to the governor. Walker has defended the changes, saying they will bring more accountability to the department and board. The board has been the subject of much controversy in recent years.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements about the unprecedented grassroots uprising against the failed policies of Gov. Scott Walker.

But insiders point out that McKeown, who as the state's health officer is the administrator of the Division of Public Health, appears to have no background or degrees in public health, a specialty within the vast arena of health care... Wisconsin's health officer is charged with everything from making sure the state has an emergency plan for threats like H1N1 to managing environmental hazards like lead paint to coordinating immunization campaigns. Previous occupants of McKeown's job have boasted a lengthy list of experiences and advanced degrees in the specialty. Dr. Seth Foldy, former Gov. Jim Doyle's last appointment to the post, was a pediatrician and the former Milwaukee health commissioner. He also held a master's degree in public health from the Wisconsin Medical College, according to the department's press release about his appointment in 2010. What McKeown does have in addition to her nursing background is something she shares with her new boss, Secretary Smith -- experience as a fellow with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

One Wisconsin Now has been following his campaign finance reports for years and recently reported that he has violated campaign finance laws more than 1100 times which, if enforced, could tally up to more than $500,000 in fines for his campaign.

Gov. Scott Walker's spokesman, Cullen Werwie, has begun to refuse interviews with media outlets that discuss the fact that Werwie has been granted immunity in a Joe Doe inquiry into wrongdoing by the governor's associates. This is the problem with keeping Werwie in his position now that he has been granted immunity in a probe that has been expanding, from initial questions about campaign finance and pay-to-play politics to a range of wrongdoing that now includes child enticement and the theft of money from charities set up to aid the families of soldiers.

Gov. Scott Walker’s effort to require taxpayers to finance the recall signature review campaign process should be disallowed, given Walker has been crisscrossing the country raising unlimited and unprecedented amounts of campaign cash, according to One Wisconsin Now.

Walker also defended raising out-of-state cash to bolster his campaign for the recall. Last month, Walker’s campaign reported raising $5.1 million since July. The liberal advocacy group, One Wisconsin Now, said nearly half the money was raised from out of state.

In a scathing ruling, a three-judge panel decided for the third time Tuesday that a Democratic group has a right to an array of information on how Republican lawmakers drew new legislative districts. Saying that GOP lawmakers and their attorneys have filed "frivolous" motions trying to keep their information private, the panel also required the attorneys for the Republican defendants to pay the attorneys' fees for the plaintiffs for the motion.

The latest ad in Gov. Scott Walker’s multi-million dollar campaign continues to distort Walker’s record of failure on job creation and deficit reduction, including the false claim that Walker did not raise taxes.

Here's the challenge: The state cut funding to operate economic support services by 16.8 percent, while at the same time requiring counties to contribute the same amount to services that they did in 2009. In his budget repair bill, Gov. Scott Walker proposed taking all of those duties away from counties. Medical Assistance, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program -- formerly referred to as food stamps -- BadgerCare and subsidized childcare, consolidating them at the state level, and providing service through a call-center model. A private company, not state workers, would oversee programs. Gov. Scott Walker's administration estimated the proposal would save $48 million each year and eliminate 270 state positions. Previous efforts to run programs such as BadgerCare out of centralized offices didn't work. The Legislative Audit Bureau gave the state performance in operating BadgerCare a dismal review. So counties offered the state an alternative: Counties would continue to provide the services but they would form income maintenance consortiums. The lead county in each consortium would work with the state, and each county within the consortium would continue to provide face-to-face services for their residents. In addition, each county would provide a call center to answer questions and process change orders for all of the consortium's clients.

An aide to a top lawmaker gave sworn testimony last week that new legislative maps approved this year were not meant to increase the Republican majority in the Legislature but were nonetheless provided to the Republican National Committee in advance. The seemingly inconsistent testimony came in a deposition from Adam Foltz, an aide to Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) charged with drawing the new maps for lawmakers. A copy of the deposition was filed with a federal three-judge panel late Tuesday.

A One Wisconsin Now analysis reveals that ten percent of Walker’s money came from Texas—including a $250,000 check from the Bob Perry, the Lone Star conservative who warped American politics by attacking Vietnam veteran John Kerry with “Swift Boat” lies.

The just-released campaign finance report for Gov. Scott Walker is not only awash in millions of dollars of out-of-state money, but also 187 new violations of campaign finance disclosure rules for failing to include employer information for more than $41,000 in contributions.

“In all our years of analysis, we have never seen a politician try to win a Wisconsin race with so much non-Wisconsin money,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now executive director

Gov. Scott Walker grabbed half of the $5 million he raised in unlimited funds from outside of Wisconsin, including $250,000 from Texan Bob Perry, the architect of the infamous “Swift Boat” smear ads.

In the past few weeks; Walker has rolled out a series of TV commercials touting his accomplishments. According to One Wisconsin Now, a liberal watchdog group, the governor has spent about $2.2 million on advertising time.

“In all our years of analysis, we have never seen a politician try to win a Wisconsin race with so much non-Wisconsin money,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now executive director. 

One Wisconsin Now, a left-leaning nonprofit, created a $10,000 reward fund for any information leading to the arrest of people who deface or destroy petitions.

The “business owner” featured in the latest Scott Walker television ad saw his business grow 1,300 percent during the administration of Gov. Jim Doyle, according to a self-professed claim in the Business Times from 2008. The business owner is actually a vice chair at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, which donated $400,000 in 2010 to the Republican Governors Association to elect Walker.

The Monona Grove school district cited in Gov. Scott Walker’s latest deceptive television ad as being a success story, has lost teachers, seen higher class sizes rise throughout the curriculum as result of Walker’s historic $1.6 billion gutting of public education.

 The awful news this week about nearly 10,000 jobs being lost in Wisconsin has not stopped Gov. Scott Walker from his efforts to crisscross the country and raise unlimited campaign contributions the latest being an announcement he will keynote an event in Texas, hosted by that state's leading corporate-funded public policy outfit.

But Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, noted Walker did not talk about cutting collective bargaining during the campaign and said Walker was precisely the one who caused the recall effort. “Gov. Walker is responsible for tearing Wisconsin apart and the division which has led to this unprecedented recall effort against him,” Ross said. “He alone is responsible. “If Gov. Walker had been honest with the people of Wisconsin about what his intentions were, the recall would not be happening. But then again, Gov. Walker would not have been elected.”

With Gov. Scott Walker in the midst of an extended period of fundraising unlimited amounts of campaign cash, One Wisconsin Now is reminded of this video produced by Walker’s 2010 campaign about recalls. A Walker donor filed papers on November 4 for a fake recall of Walker, allowing the governor 11 additional days to raise unlimited campaign cash, using a loophole in the state’s campaign finance laws.

Stephan Thompson, executive director of the state Republican Party, put out a statement touting the 30-second ad. The head of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, though, chided Walker’s team for using a political newcomer to praise Walker’s proposals. “It’s no surprise that someone from the most Republican part of Wisconsin, who is specifically opposed to rights for workers and has only a few months of school board experience, would say what Walker is doing is working,” said Scot Ross, executive director of the Madison-based group. [

Walker signed into a law a bill that allows any municipal employer to enter into a memorandum of understanding to reduce the cost of compensation or fringe benefits, without modifying an existing collective bargaining agreement for purposes of 2011 WI Act 10. The memorandum has to be entered into within 90 days after the effective date of this bill. (2011 AB 319, introduced 10/12/2011; Assembly Roll Call)

Gov. Scott Walker voiced support for legislation that would end a long-standing practice that allows public workers to simultaneously collect their pension and a state paycheck. The statement concludes by adding Gov. Walker "supports applying the same policy for administration appointees."

In the past five and a half years, at least 6,829 state and local government employees covered by the Wisconsin Retirement System left then returned to work, simultaneously earning a pension and a salary. Those include two of Gov. Scott Walker's cabinet secretaries: Corrections Secretary Gary Hamblin and Children and Families Secretary Eloise Anderson, both earning six-figure salaries along with their public pensions. Stephen Fitzgerald, superintendent of the Wisconsin State Patrol, whose sons, Scott and Jeff, run the Senate and Assembly, respectively, also is back on the payroll while continuing to collect a state pension. On Friday, Walker said he supports a bill that would end double dipping. But the Republican governor has no plans to ask his appointees to stop taking their pensions, spokesman Cullen Werwie said.

Opponents of a pair of Republican-backed litigation reform bills argued before a state Assembly committee Friday that the proposals will gut consumer protection laws and effectively stop the filing of lawsuits against companies that break the law. One measure would limit the amount plaintiff's attorneys can charge in some cases to three times the amount of any monetary award. Another would lower the amount of interest that people who successfully sue for injuries can collect on their judgments, while the higher interest rate would remain for judgments awarded to banks and credit card companies that take their customers to court….Another lawsuit reform bill not heard on Friday but backed by Walker and Republicans would give drug-makers and medical device manufacturers immunity from lawsuits if their products had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The immunity would not be granted if they committed fraud. Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie has defended the bills, saying they deal with the type of claims that affect job creators for the long term and the changes proposed will "help create certainty and confidence in the state's legal climate."

Fans on hand to cheer the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ football game Saturday will see a message about Gov. Scott Walker’s attacks on higher education courtesy of One Wisconsin Now’s supporters from across the state. For the second home game in a row, One Wisconsin Now will fly a plane in the hours prior to the game — this game’s message: “Enjoy Higher Tuition <3 Scott Walker.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who forced public workers to pay more for their pensions as part of a push to curb union rights, broke his campaign promise to pay the full cost of his state pension immediately after taking office in January. “It is indefensible Scott Walker promised to live by these rules and then broke his word to Wisconsin,” said Scot Ross, head of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. “Scott Walker tore Wisconsin in two to pass these unnecessary changes and then tells us ‘Do as I say, not as I didn’t.’”

Scot Ross, the director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, couldn’t pass up a comment on the irony. He sent me Courtney’s letter, which is attached to this post, with the following comment: “With Scott Walker and the Republicans, you always follow the money. In May, they used the threat of guns in the Capitol to raise money. And in October they want to allow guns in the Capitol to raise money from the NRA.”

The bill, announced Monday, would put the Legislature back in charge of deciding costs and eligibility associated with Medicaid and Badgercare, essentially taking the state back to a time before Gov. Scott Walker took office. The proposal comes in response to potential cuts announced last week by Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith, which outlined changes in care for more than 200,000 people and the possibility of cutting another 53,000 off the rolls entirely…Smith announced a series of cost-cutting measures last week, most of them aimed at addressing the $554 million needed to balance the state's medical assistance programs. Under his plan, some 215,000 children and adults would be shifted to lower-cost state plans. If the state fails to receive a federal waiver allowing it to change eligibility requirements, some 53,000 adults could be dropped from coverage altogether.

To fill a half-billion dollar budget hole in state health programs, Gov. Scott Walker's administration wants to raise premiums sharply for some families and shift hundreds of thousands of residents to lower-cost state plans or private plans. Officials said they do not intend to leave participants without any path to coverage. State officials said there is now a $554 million estimated deficit - $110 million more than previously projected - through June 2013 in state Medicaid health programs, which provide everything from doctor's visits for poor families to nursing home care for the elderly. To close that gap and control fast-growing costs, state Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith said that the state would avoid dropping state residents with no other options for health insurance. Instead, officials will look at shifting more than 200,000 state Medicaid recipients into a lower-cost plan with fewer benefits.

Keith Gilkes, the third top Walker aide to announce their resignation in recent months, said he'll leave the $112,000-per-year chief of staff job Oct. 8. As Gilkes, 34, discussed the announcement's timing, he noted promised efforts to recall the Republican governor over his push to strip away almost all public employee collective bargain rights. "As we see activity on the Democrats' part, on the public-sector employees' part, talking about running campaigns against the governor, we want to ensure our message is being heard," Gilkes told The Associated Press. "We want to make sure we're prepared for anything they may attempt against the governor whether now, a year from now or three years from now...Walker made no mention of a recall or future elections in a statement he issued praising Gilkes' service, but a few hours after the announcement, the governor posted on Twitter: "Keith Gilkes is coming aboard as the chief advisor to r campaign. We r gearing up 2 get out message that It is Working in WI."

Republican Attorney General JB Van Hollen, according to a news report today, refused to help the investigation into fellow Republican Scott Walker’s office in the scandal being called “Cronygate.” The refusal and silence of the state’s “top cop” to investigate his fellow Republican raises serious questions about Van Hollen’s conduct and warrants an investigation, according to One Wisconsin Now.

Gov. Scott Walker, facing a steadily-increasing state unemployment rate despite passing $2.3 billion in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy, has announced his latest scheme: charge the public $50 to attend a state-sponsored “jobs summit.” Walker’s fee will likely restrict public access, particularly the unemployed and those in need of jobs.

On Sept. 22, the governor and first lady will hold a private reception and croquet tournament at the governor’s mansion from 5 to 7 p.m. to raise money to help rehab the Maple Bluff facility. Attendees can donate anywhere from $50 to $1,000 to the mansion’s nonprofit foundation. Those who drop a grand get a “private reception, private tour, recognition on the invitation, signage and acknowledgment at the event, and admission and (croquet) tournament entry for two.” “It sounds like a two-part construction project,” said Scot Ross, head of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, a frequent Walker critic. “The special interests pay to remodel Gov. Walker’s mansion, and he builds them a private entrance to his office.”

The Capitol battles over union bargaining and political redistricting proposals have paid off for one group: politically connected GOP lawyers. So far this year, two firms with strong Republican connections have racked up more than $700,000 in invoices and payments authorized by Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers to help represent the state in cases such as legal challenges over Walker's legislation ending most collective bargaining for public employees. More payments on the ongoing cases and another likely case are still to come, as Walker considers a request by the Department of Justice to appoint one of the firms to represent the state in a federal lawsuit over redistricting legislation.

On Wednesday, Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, called for the recall of Walker next year.”The damage Gov. Walker has inflicted on Wisconsin from a public policy standpoint is only surpassed by the painful division he has created in cities, towns, villages and families across Wisconsin. It is clear he is the problem and he must be recalled in 2012 so that Wisconsin can heal and we can begin to undo the destruction he has caused,” Ross said.

To trigger a recall election of Walker, Democrats would need to gather 540,208 signatures, or one-quarter of the nearly 2.2 million votes cast in the 2010 gubernatorial election. Recall petitions cannot be circulated until early November and cannot be offered for filing with state elections officials until Jan. 3 of next year, according to the state Government Accountability Board. Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said he believed “a recall of Scott Walker is still very real.”

Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said he believed there was still an appetite among Democrats to take on Walker in a recall election. “Gov. Walker has divided the state of Wisconsin like no other state official has and I think a recall of Scott Walker is still very real,” said Ross, whose group weighed in repeatedly on the Senate recall elections.

As elections took place Tuesday in six state Senate districts, Gov. Scott Walker privately signed legislation to redraw their boundaries along with the remaining legislative districts. Walker waited until nearly the last possible moment to announce he had signed the legislation, which will give Republicans an advantage in the upcoming 2012 elections for both the Legislature and Congress. "The maps passed by the Legislature meet the objective criteria laid out by the courts, including communities of interest, fair minority representation and compact, contiguous districts," Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said in a brief statement announcing the bill signings.

Introduced in January by the Joint Committee on Organization and approved by the Legislature in May, the act gives the governor new power over administrative rules and requires an economic analysis of all proposed regulations ... Cullen Werwie, spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker, acknowledged Act 21 will lengthen the rule-making process. But he said the administration supported the legislation because it makes the governor accountable for any rules promulgated.

Here’s something interesting from liberal blogger Greg Sargent at The Washington Post.

Walker signed into law a bill that politicizes the Department of Veterans Affairs by giving the governor authority to appoint the Secretary, rather than being selected by the Board of Veterans Affairs, as under prior law. Walker then appointed political crony, John Scocos, who had previously served as Secretary for six years, and was fired by the Veterans Board over financial and communications problems at the department. (2011 AB 96, introduced 4/51/2011; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call)

• Eliminate registration exemption for certain investment advisors
• Certification fee for persons making title loans
• Nonprofit organization criminal history record check fee
• Beer wholesaler’s permit fee
• Vehicle title fee
• Class D skills test fee
• Electronic business transactions
• Firefighter and emergency medical technician license plates
• Tuition increase (University of Wisconsin System)
• Student technology fee revenues (Wisconsin Technical College System)

Walker signed a bill that stripped all public workers, except police and firefighters, of their collective bargaining rights. The bill no longer allows teachers, nurses, snow plow drivers and other public employees to bargain on their work place conditions, benefits or for pay raises above the cost of inflation. In addition, unions have lost the right to file workplace grievances and most no longer have protections from being fired without just cause. Critics of the bill believe that for all practical purposes, it is a union-busting bill, because it prevents collection of union dues, forces unions to hold annual certification elections to enable the unions to continue year-to-year, and many other measures aimed at hobbling the union. Special Session Assembly Bill 11 passed the Senate on March 9, 2011 by a 18-1 margin with all of the Republicans except Sen. Dale Schultz voting for the bill. The Democrats were out of the state to prevent the bill's passage based on lacking the quorum necessary of 20 members. The Republicans, however, claim that they took out all non-fiscal elements of bill and that they did not require a quorum of 20 for passage. (2011 January Special Session AB 11, introduced 2/15/11; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call)

Madison city officials and housing advocates are reeling from a punch delivered by new GOP legislation that threatens to erase several decades worth of renter protections enacted here. Senate Bill 107, introduced on May 26 with the backing of landlords and property owners, realty agents and the construction industry, is on a fast track and is expected to reach the Senate floor as early as this week after being approved last week by the Housing and Insurance Committee.* The bill would prohibit local governments from enacting ordinances that limit a residential landlord's ability to obtain and use personal information from tenants and prospective tenants, including income and source of income, occupation, court records, rental history, and credit information, according to an analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau...Supporters don't deny charges that the bill takes special aim at Madison. It was meant to. (*Note: this bill was passed and signed into law by Walker.)

A proposed change in rule-making power criticized as an attack on consumer protection has been abandoned by the governor's office. Defended by Gov. Scott Walker's office because "it makes more sense" and would help create jobs, the change was dropped from the proposed budget in late March with the explanation it was included "inadvertently."...[Consumer protection experts were puzzled to discover a switch in authority over who makes the rules in key consumer protection areas - when tenants can sue landlords, for example. Those long have been shepherded by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection...However, in a March 31 memo to the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee outlining "modifications" and "conceptual changes" to the original proposal, the governor invoked a do-over on the proposal, writing "these programs were inadvertently included in the budget and should be removed from the bill and retained by DATCP."]

Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to break off the Madison campus from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System is dead. UW-Madison lobbyist Don Nelson said Friday talks continue with state lawmakers over what new flexibilities the Madison campus can be given to control its budget and make other decisions. But he said Walker’s proposal that the campus endorsed to create a separate public authority is no longer an option.

The other bill he signed gives the governor veto powers over rules written by state agencies and other elected state officials. Democrats opposing it called it nothing but a power grab…Walker defended the change, which he proposed, saying it will make the rule-making process more accountable to the public. The move also won praise from the state's largest business lobbying group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which has long criticized state agency rules it believes are overreaching and hurt the state's business climate.

On May 11, 2011, Walker signed into law reckless health care cutbacks that would allow the state to cut up to 70,000 from Wisconsin health care programs, and could result in deep reductions in benefits for children and seniors. (January 2011 Special Session Assembly Bill 11; Assembly Roll Call; Senate Roll Call)

Walker signed into law a bill that prevented local government's from passing paid sick leave or family medical leave laws that are more inclusive and powerful than the statewide law. The governor signed the bill into law on May 5, 2011. (2011 SB 23, introduced 2/23/11; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call)

Walker has taken heat for nominating Republican campaign worker Renee Miller to the Marinette County register of deeds position, despite Miller's conspicuous lack of experience with either land or vital records. Miller has done campaign work for Marinette County Republican Rep. John Nygren and is married to Nygren's campaign treasurer, Paul Miller. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nygren wrote to Walker aide Cindy Polzin last December noting that another candidate for the job, deputy register of deeds Becky Chasensky, "has some personal issues, and she has never been involved in the party." Upset by the appointment, the paper reported, one register of deeds employee has sought a transfer, and another may resign to protest, potentially depriving Miller of an experienced staff.

McCabe points to Walker's appointment of Brian Deschane to the state Department of Commerce as "an episode that opened some eyes." Deschane, 27-year-old son of influential Republican lobbyist Jerry Deschane, was tapped to fill an $81,500-a-year position despite two drunk-driving convictions, little relevant experience and a lack of a college degree. A hubbub ensued, and Deschane was demoted from the Commerce position and subsequently resigned.

The Department of Commerce recently hired Deschane, 27, as its new administrator of environmental and regulatory services - an $81,500-a-year job that supervises 76 employees and oversees storage tank regulations and environmental cleanups. Deschane never graduated from college and, according to his resume, has no discernible experience in the field. Yet according to documents provided Tuesday to the State Journal, he was chosen over a former DRL secretary to replace a 25-year state employee with a degree in chemical engineering and a resume that included extensive management and regulatory experience. The disparity led critics to conclude that Deschane's hiring was political payback.

At the recommendation of Walker chief of staff Keith Gilkes, DRL Secretary David Ross appointed Deschane in January as bureau director of board services. A month later, Commerce Secretary Paul Jadin hired him at the recommendation of DRL Deputy Secretary John Scocos.

But Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, said in a statement that “once again, Wisconsin taxpayers are footing Gov. Walker’s handouts to special interest campaign contributors.”

Gov. Scott Walker has announced a $75,000 taxpayer-financed grant to a company, who along with its Chief Executive Officer, donated nearly $50,000 in 2010 to the Republican Governors Association, which spent $5 million to elect Walker governor, according to a figures obtained from the Internal Revenue Service by One Wisconsin Now. Walker announced the taxpayer-financed grant to the company, Jack Links, Tuesday in a press release.

Farmland in western Wisconsin would be hit particularly hard by changes to a new farmland preservation program in Gov. Scott Walker's proposed state budget, the leader of a state agriculture organization said...The farmland provision in the 2011-13 state budget would eliminate the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement, or PACE, program, which permanently leases development rights for farmland under pressure from development. The budget provision would wipe out $12 million, matched by funding from local governments or nonprofit land conservancies, that would be available for agricultural leases. The measure also would eliminate a conversion fee that penalizes landowners who rezone agricultural land and allow it to be developed. Eliminating the conversion fee would make it easier for developers to buy agricultural land and continue farming, while paying low taxes, until they are ready to rezone and develop that property, Schultz said.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the state’s domestic partnership registry Thursday, ensuring same-sex couples will retain certain rights no matter how a federal court rules on the state’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In a unanimous decision written by Justice N. Patrick Crooks, the court emphasized that proponents of the amendment, including Wisconsin Family Action executive director Julaine Appling, the lead plaintiff in the case, and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, made public statements in 2006 that the marriage amendment wouldn’t prevent the Legislature from granting certain rights to same-sex couples.

After his 2010 election Walker fired Pines, leaving defense of the law up to gay rights advocate Fair Wisconsin and other interested parties that had intervened in the case. Pines said Thursday the state paid his firm $75,000 between Oct. 29, 2009, and June 28, 2011, for work on the case.

Gov. Scott Walker has fired the lawyers defending the state in a challenge to Wisconsin's domestic partnership law. But the governor's spokesman said his office "is still working to appoint a new counsel to the case." Madison attorney Lester Pines informed Dane County Circuit Judge Daniel Moeser in a March 22 letter that his firm, Cullen Weston Pines & Bach, had been "terminated" by Walker as counsel for the state in the lawsuit filed in 2009 by Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, a conservative advocacy group.

An analysis by One Wisconsin Now shows that companies which currently administer Medicare Part D prescription drug plans in Wisconsin have donated in last several years $1.3 million to the campaigns of Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Governors Association, which spent $5 million to elect Walker in 2010. Actions by Gov. Walker which threaten SeniorCare could hand $100 million to companies administering the more costly federal Medicare Part D program in Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker will be able to name political appointees to fill three dozen civil-service jobs that handle open records requests from the public under the budget-repair law he signed last week. Walker's separate 2011-'13 budget proposal would also make a political appointment out of another key civil service job - the top lawyer spot at the agency overseeing state labor law. The law would make existing civil-service positions into 37 new political appointments, including 14 general counsels, 14 communications positions in state agencies and other positions, including legislative liaisons doing lobbying for agencies. That would allow Walker and agency secretaries to hire and fire employees in those positions at will. Under the law, the civil service jobs would be classed as division administrator jobs, a kind of political appointment, and would increase that class of political appointments in the affected agencies by about 50%, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce’s “Buy Wisconsin” campaign, designed to try and drown out the statewide outrage over businesses that have supported Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts to put corporations in charge of Wisconsin’s government and take as much money from education, health care and public infrastructure to give to corporate special interests and the wealthiest.

But the principal hasn’t been paid back yet. Unions and liberal groups like One Wisconsin Now are also upset that M & I executives gave more money to Scott Walker during last year’s governor’s race, than the officials did to Democrat Tom Barrett.

Over two weeks after One Wisconsin Now filed an open records request for all email and written communications between Koch Industries’ lead Wisconsin lobbyist and the office of Gov. Scott Walker and the Department of Administration, the Walker administration has yet to fulfill the request. One Wisconsin Now said it is considering legal action and notes the unusual speed at which Gov. Walker’s office released staff email communications this week it claimed were proof of the administration’s willingness to negotiate with Senate Democrats in the budget repair bill dispute.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross issued the following statements regarding Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts to close the State Capitol off to the people of Wisconsin and the continued mobilization against his efforts to use the government to take away the rights of working men and women and dismantle the quality of Wisconsin’s way of life.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the failure of Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to close the State Capitol to hundreds of protesters who had intended to sleep in the Capitol for a 13th night in solidarity against the governor’s disastrous budget repair plan.

It took a sneak attack in the early morning hours on Friday for Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly to pass Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget bill, the one that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for most public-sector unions. Assembly Democrats savaged their counterparts for ramming the bill through at just past 1 a.m., screaming "shame!" and branding them "cowards." But if anyone asks Walker about the GOP's late-night tactic, he'll find himself in a tough spot: he's blatantly flip-flopped on the issue throughout his career. On the campaign trail in 2010, Walker, then a gubernatorial candidate, disavowed late-night votes by Wisconsin lawmakers. At the time, the Assembly was pulling all-nighters in order to finish its two-year legislative session, a common occurrence that's angered government watchdogs who don't approve of state business conducted when most people are asleep. In April 2010, Walker pledged to outlaw any votes in the legislature after 10 p.m. and before 9 a.m. "I have two teenagers and I tell them that nothing good happens after midnight. That’s even more true in politics," he said in a statement. "The people of Wisconsin deserve to know what their elected leaders are voting on."

One Wisconsin Now, a liberal activist group, today filed an open records request for all written communications and records of scheduled meetings between Koch Industries’ top in-state lobbyist and Walker’s office, his former transition office and the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

One Wisconsin Now filed an open records request today for all written communications and records of scheduled meetings between Koch Industries’ top in-state lobbyist and the office of Gov. Scott Walker, his former transition office and the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker would appoint a majority of a board that would run the University of Wisconsin-Madison independently of UW System governance under a plan spelled out in a document released Wednesday by UW-Madison officials. Because Walker would make those appointments, splitting UW-Madison from the UW System would give the new governor influence over the state's flagship campus more quickly than would happen if UW-Madison remained a part of the state's 26-campus system. Walker's Democratic predecessor, Gov. Jim Doyle, made all but one of the appointments to the 18-member UW System Board of Regents during his eight years in office.

A lesser-known provision of Wisconsin's budget-repair bill would allow the state to sell off publicly owned power plants in no-bid deals - prompting a flurry of speculation by liberal bloggers who allege that Gov. Scott Walker is attempting a giveaway to energy conglomerate Koch Industries...Koch insists it doesn't stand to gain from the legislation, and is furiously denouncing the rumors as they have spread to media outlets including MSNBC, Forbes and Bloomberg… Koch Industries, led by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has emerged as a major benefactor of conservative Republican candidates, and the Koch-backed group Americans for Prosperity has helped organize tea party rallies in Wisconsin supporting Walker's proposed budget fix.

Legislation which gives the governor sweeping oversight of the state’s rule making authority has passed the state Senate, meaning another Special Session bill will soon be ready for Governor Scott Walker’s signature. The state Senate passed the bill Thursday. It’s a ‘power grab’ that cuts the legislature out of the process according to Madison Democrat Fred Risser. “All we do is maybe spin our wheels a little bit, but we don’t have any input,” said Risser. “It’s really a dictatorial takeover of the rule making process by our governor.”

Madison— Republican Gov. Scott Walker plans to pay for $140 million in new special interest spending signed into law in January by extending the state’s long term debt in a “scoop and toss” refinancing scheme that will cost untold tens of millions of dollars in additional debt for Wisconsin.