Monthly Archives: January 2012
Nation of Change: Six Things You Didin’t Know About Scott Walker
-By Corbin Hiar
January 12, 2012- Scott Walker has been a polarizing figure since becoming Wisconsin's governor one year ago. Only months after moving into the Madison governors' mansion, the 44-year-old Republican sought to fix the state’s budget gap by pushing a bill that cut pay and benefits for public sector workers and strictly curtailed their rights to collective bargaining.
Walker's surprising move was controversial – and ultimately successful. National labor activists fought and lost while he became a Fox News regular.
Think Progress: Gov. Walker Accused Of Over 1,000 Violations Of Campaign Finance Law, Could Face $557,500 Fine
-By Scott Keyes
January 11, 2012- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) may have violated his state’s campaign finance law over 1,000 times in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign by failing to properly report contributions, according to a new report.
Wisconsin law requires gubernatorial campaigns to disclose information about contributors who give more than $100. Again and again, Walker appears to have skirted that requirement.
AlterNet: Have the Super Wealthy Already Seceded from the United States?
Our plutocracy now lives like the British in colonial India: in the place and ruling it, but not of it.
-By Mike Lofgren
January 11, 2012- It was in 1993 during Congressional deliberation over the North American Free Trade Agreement. I was having lunch with a staffer for one of the rare Republican members of Congress who opposed the policy of so-called free trade. I distinctly remember something my colleague said: "The rich elites of this country have far more in common with their counterparts in London, Paris and Tokyo than with their own fellow American citizens."
That was just the beginning of the period when the realities of outsourced manufacturing, financialization of the economy and growing income disparity started to seep into the public consciousness, so at the time it seemed like a striking and novel statement.
Think Progress: Five U.S. Senators Are Perfect Koch Servants, Americans For Prosperity Reports
-By Brad Johnson
January 11, 2012- Five senators and 39 representatives received a perfect 100 percent score from the Koch brothers’ Astroturf group Americans For Prosperity for the first half of the 112th Congress. AFP judged Congress on their votes to protect the Koch brothers’ right-wing petrochemical empire on such issues as the repeal of President Obama’s new health care law, preempting EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases, Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget to end Medicare, ending ethanol subsidies, several Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval to overturn new regulations and the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bills.
The Koch Five are Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Ron Johnson (R-WI), who have received a combined $187,400 in campaign contributions from the Koch empire:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Group says it has enough signatures to recall Fitzgerald
-By Patrick Marley
January 13, 2012- Madison — The committee to recall Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald announced Friday it has the signatures to force an election.
Lori Compas, the recall committee's chairwoman, said in a news conference the group had gathered more than the 16,742 signatures needed, but declined to say how many. She said volunteers would continue to gather signatures to recall the Juneau Republican through Saturday. That's to provide a cushion because Fitzgerald will be able to knock some signatures off the petitions if he can show they belong to people who don't live in the district or aren't eligible to vote.
The petitions will be turned in Tuesday, along with those to recall Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and three other Republican senators.
Fitzgerald filed a complaint with election officials Thursday arguing the collection of signatures must end Friday, rather than Saturday, because recall organizers have just 60 days to gather signatures.
Wauwatosa Patch: Host of GOP Heavyweights Slated for Pro-Walker Rally in Wauwatosa
Tommy Thompson, Mark Neumann, Jeff Fitzgerald, Alberta Darling, Leah Vukmir and more line up to support governor at Jan. 21 event at Hart Park
-By Jim Price
January 11, 2012- A who's who of top Wisconsin Republican politicians are expected to appear at a Jan. 21 rally in support of Gov. Scott Walker at Hart Park in Wauwatosa.
While anti-Walker rallies have taken place throughout Wisconsin over the last year, this event is believed to be the first major rally in support of the governor since the effort to recall him began on Nov. 15.
Organizers are hoping for hundreds of Walker backers to take part in the rally, which will be headlined by some of the biggest Republican names in the state, including: