A One Wisconsin Now analysis of Gov. Walker’s schedules from August 2011 through January 2012 reveals that little time was scheduled by the state’s chief executive for communicating with legislators or working on a legislative agenda but that huge amounts of time were blocked off as “personal”. [The Political Environment]
In late 2006, a Grant County jury ordered Daniel Virnich and Jack Moores to pay a $6.5 million judgment, the largest in Wisconsin that year. The lawsuit brought by receiver Michael Polsky had accused the two men of plundering a stereo components company, through excessive payments to themselves. [Wisconsin Watch]
Governor Scott Walker has created a legal defense fund to pay for his expenses connected with the ongoing John Doe probe into his former Milwaukee County aides. [WSAU]
Gov. Scott Walker said Friday he has set up a legal defense fund to pay for two attorneys representing him in a Milwaukee County investigation, under a state law that allows such a move for officeholders if they’re charged or under investigation for election or campaign violations. [Associated Press]
Democratic lawmakers are requesting the Assembly close a loophole in the state budget that would allow for the expansion of school voucher programs across the state. When the Legislature passed the budget last year, it included a provision permitting the school voucher program to expand. However, after passing the budget, lawmakers then decided to limit […] [Badger Herald]
One Wisconsin Now is also creating a website that will highlight national efforts at helping students with excessive debt. At the height of the Occupy protests last fall, young people held signs announcing how much they owed in student loans. While the pundits were asking each other what, exactly, the protesters wanted, a big part of […] [Isthmus]
Scott Jensen, the discredited former Wisconsin Assembly speaker, remains a force within the Assembly Republican caucus. [Capital Times]
Three days before new election maps were made available to the public, Republicans supplied copies of some of them to former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, who now heads a group that spends heavily to elect GOP lawmakers. The emails show the Republicans drawing the legislative maps were willing to share their work with Jensen and […] [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
The gubernatorial recall campaign of former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk has gone to an old friend of the candidate to handle its messaging. At the helm will be Scot Ross, Falk’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign communications director and who up until last month was executive director of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, or OWN. [Wisconsin Reporter]
The former aide to Gov. Scott Walker received a new judge Thursday, postponing a scheduled arraignment; the latest turn of events in an investigation into Walker’s former employees. Tim Russell, a former Milwaukee County employee under Walker’s tenure as Milwaukee County Executive, who faces charges of embezzlement, has requested and received a new judge in Milwaukee County Court. […] [Badger Herald]
The tactics used by Fitzgerald to challenge recall petitions resemble a scheme planned for the 2010 elections by the Wisconsin GOP and Tea Party groups, including the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. Some of those same Tea Party groups are also involved in the current recall “verification” effort. Recordings released by One Wisconsin Now in September 2010 […] [PR Watch]
Pocan believes that while ALEC is doing the work of a lobbyist, it is not complying with the reporting and registration requirements asked of all lobbyists. The bill would redefine “lobbying” to include contact with any member, employee, or agent of a body that “proposes uniform, model, suggested, or recommended legislation. [PR Watch]
The state’s budget projections have deteriorated by $216 million, opening a new shortfall for Gov. Scott Walker to confront amid the political dogfight of a likely recall election. The estimates by the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office show that a drop in expected tax collections has opened the hole, which after counting the state’s previous cash […] [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
The Walker campaign finished the quarter with a combined total of more than $2.6 million cash on hand in the recall and general campaign funds. The campaign has raised more than $12 million since Jan. 1, 2011. According to the campaign, 16,406 of those contributions were $50 or less, representing 76.5 percent of the overall number […] [Biz Times]
A former county-level staffer for Gov. Scott Walker pleaded guilty to two felony charges on Tuesday as the ongoing 20-month investigation into Walker’s former campaign staff continues. Darlene Wink, a former Milwaukee County employee under Walker’s tenure as Milwaukee County Executive, entered a guilty plea for two felony charges of soliciting political contributions while working in a […] [Badger Herald]
One Wisconsin Now has posted a new website that tracks the scandal unfolding around Scott Walker, his former County Executive staff and gubernatorial appointees. [The Political Environment]
This is old news in political circles – the job switch happened last week – but for those who haven’t heard, One Wisconsin Now’s fiery front man has left his executive director’s post. [Capital Times]
One Wisconsin Now, along with multiple affiliated groups, turned in recall petitions signed, allegedly, by 1 million Wisconsin residents on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2011. The Wisconsin Government [lack of] Accountability Board finally decided tonight to follow black letter law and release the scanned documents to the public. [The Dinner Table]
Over at the “non-partisan” rag that is Media Trackers, Collin Roth wrote a piece a few days ago attacking Scot Ross, the former Executive Director of One Wisconsin Now, as being “hyper-partisan.” Roth goes on to allege Ross was the “subject of similar crimes” to those alleged to have been committed by three close aides to then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. [Blogging Blue]
Dane County Judge dismissed motions today that would have stopped the lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker’s voter identification bill, that experts say is both not needed and could lead to legal voters being disenfranchised or subject to a de facto poll tax.“Gov. Scott Walker’s effort to keep legal voters from exercising their right to hold […] [Milwaukee Community Journal]
Walker’s choice to be on Wall Street the day of the recall filing is so astounding, for many it goes far beyond the notion of a tin ear. “Walker could not have sent a clearer signal to Wall Street, that he is on the side of the 1 percent ready to do their bidding and […] [PR Watch]
New bill would make it a felony to sign a recall petition twice, a second bill would only allow a recall if an elected officer committed a crime or violated state ethics. The Government Accountably Board estimated that it could cost local taxpayers nearly $20 million to finance a statewide recall election with a primary. [Menomonee Falls Patch]
The recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seems to be a foregone conclusion, with the news that yesterday, over 1 million signatures, on recall petitions, were turned into Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB). The number of signatures needed to recall Gov. Walker, is just over 540,000 signatures. [Examiner]
Wisconsin will soon witness major election and legal battles to combat Walker-supported laws limiting the rights of public workers and restricting voting booth access. Laws passed in 2011 virtually eliminate public-employee bargaining rights and restrict voting to those with approved IDs, which could potentially disenfranchise tens of thousands of state residents. “First you take away […] [In These Times]
“In just one year, Gov. Scott Walker has failed the people of Wisconsin as no other elected official in our state has. Continuing job loss, while nationally the rest of the country gains jobs. The largest cuts to public education of our students in our state’s history. More than 65,000 people including 29,000 children about […] [Milwaukee Small Business Times]
In just one year, Gov. Scott Walker has failed the people of Wisconsin as no other elected official in our state has. Continuing job loss, while nationally the rest of the country gains jobs. The largest cuts to public education of our students in our state’s history. [WBAY]
Democrats and their leftwing allies are touting the fact that they reached their 1 million-signature goal in the effort to recall Governor Scott Walker. While recall advocates only needed to gather 540,208 valid signatures to force an election, reaching the 1 million mark was a symbolic goal that they set to prove the strength of the movement. […] [Big Government]
A complaint filed this week by One Wisconsin Now alleges the Walker campaign failed to properly report nearly 1,100 individual campaign contributions totaling more than $500,000 has begun to gain national attention. [Root River Siren]
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. [Cognitive Dissidence]
In a few days – progressive groups in the Badger are expected to turn in more than enough signatures to trigger a recall election against him. But now – there’s allegations the he broke the law to get into office in the first place. The group One Wisconsin Now released a new report showing Governor […] [Truthout]
We already know that [Walker’s] campaign improperly reported over $500,000 in campaign contributions by failing to disclose them. This constitutes over 1,000 campaign finance violations, punishable by fines of up to $500. Therefore, Walker could face up to $557,000 in fines, according to the progressive group One Wisconsin Now. [Fire Dog Lake]
Allegations that Gov. Scott Walker improperly reported campaign contributions over 1,000 times since 2009 have come back into the spotlight with the introduction of SB 292. Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now has filed two complaints with the Government Accountability Board over what they say are more than $500,000 in improperly reported contributions to Walker’s campaigns – […] [Dane 101]
Wisconsin law requires that a candidate disclose contributions which exceed $100 — something that Scott Ross, director of One Wisconsin Now, says he repeatedly declined to do.“Scott Walker has improperly reported well over $500,000 in contributions from inside and outside of Wisconsin,” Ross said. “Scott Walker has absolutely no interest in following the campaign finance […] [Raw Story]
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. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
In addition to working on Gableman’s ethics case, McLeod assisted Gableman in responding to a public records request from the Journal Sentinel and in a complaint filed by the liberal group One Wisconsin Now against Gableman with the Office of Lawyer Regulation. Gableman and Michael Best have not said whether Gableman paid for those services. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
“The jobs losses, cuts to schools and education, and enrichment of corporations paint a far more Dickensian picture than Walker’s ad,” said Scot Ross, leader of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now. “Good thing he and the family are ‘volunteering’ for a food kitchen, because his policies are going to make even longer lines […] [Republic]
Separate from the formal ethics charge in 2008, the liberal group One Wisconsin Now filed a complaint that same year against Gableman with the Office of Lawyer Regulation. McLeod represented Gableman in that matter, according to correspondence from the Office of Lawyer Regulation. The agency dismissed the complaint against Gableman in April 2009. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
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 Nation]
“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 [La Crosse Tribune]
“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. [Wisconsin State Journal]
The liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now said that nearly half the money Walker raised came from out of state. “Walker is crisscrossing the country and taking unprecedented outside money,” One Wisconsin executive director Scot Ross said in a statement. [Post Bulletin]
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. [Green Bay Press-Gazette]
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. [Badger Herald]
Ross says One Wisconsin Now is merely playing a watchdog role, “to make sure those who want to participate in the recall process are able to.” To this end, the group has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who defaces or destroys recall petitions. [Green Bay Press-Gazette]
According to Sparks, signing a petition multiple times can be illegal if an individual does so with intent to inflate the number of signatures. He also charged liberal groups like One Wisconsin Now have actively encouraged people to sign petitions more than once. [Badger Herald]
Wisconsin Now, a left-leaning nonprofit organization, published “Recall Petitioners’ Rights” in late November, stating one can circulate or sign a recall petition even after already signing another recall petition but that only one signature per person will be counted [Badger Herald]
One Wisconsin Now never encouraged, advocated nor suggested those participating in the recall petition signing process to sign more than one petition. To state differently is false. Our memo is comprehensive and detailed. Our memo is meticulously researched. Our memo provides people with the facts. And we respectfully disagree with The P-C that informing the […] [Appleton Post-Crescent]
In a “recall petitioners’ rights” memo, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, One Wisconsin Now lists this item: “You can circulate or sign a recall petition even if you have already signed another recall petition (note, however, that only one signature per person will be counted.)” [Appleton Post-Crescent]
Recall Walker supporters are taking steps to ensure that only valid signatures are submitted for counting. Conservative tea party activists, who say they are nonpartisan, and Republican Party opponents want to make sure that any questionable signatures are challenged. When asked to cite some of these incidents, Ross Brown, founder of We the People of […] [Isthmus]
Students en masse are going deep into unmanageable debt to obtain a degree, something that was inconceivable just a generation ago. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]