Free Republic

Wisconsin budget committee approves $123 million in cutsBy Scott Bauer - Associated Press Updated: 02/15/2012 06:08:31 PM CST MADISON, Wis. - The Legislature's budget-writing committee approved slashing about $123 million across state government on Wednesday, with more than a third of those cuts falling to the University of Wisconsin System. The $64 million cut to the university is on top of $250 million in budget cuts the system took in the two-year budget passed last year. All of the new cuts, including those for the university, must be absorbed by July. The total amount of the cuts had been approved...

Did Wisconsin’s Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs cut a secret access deal with one of Madison’s most infamous protesters? That’s the question being asked after one of our reporters caught an interesting conversation at the Wisconsin Capitol. While the rally was in violation of the policy governing access to state facilities, it appears protesters may have established an understanding with Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs. As he was speaking to veteran protester Miles Kristan about their understanding, the chief asked our reporter to leave. “You told me you were going to help me with this,” Tubbs is overheard saying to...

Obama and his campaign masterminds in Chicago are using the Recall against Gov. Walker in Wisconsin to ensure Obama’s re-election victory! Tea Party Express has been keeping you informed about the Obama Campaign’s covert strategy - it is a dangerous plan that aims to silence conservatives, while promoting Obama’s extreme liberal agenda, and it unfolds in front of us today. . . The White House has announced that Obama will be making a taxpayer-funded campaign trip to Wisconsin where he will take credit for Walker’s success in growing the state’s economy. He will probably go even further since his...

Walker came to office in the Republican wave of 2010. He inherited a mess. Under his profligate predecessor, Jim Doyle, state government had operated almost as a slush fund for public employee unions. Giveaways to teachers and others put the state on an unsustainable fiscal path, so Doyle raised some taxes and threatened to raise others. He raided a state fund set up to cover medical liability, essentially stealing contributions doctors had made to the pooled account. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against that pilfering, but the money had already been spent. Even after budget gimmickry that would make Fannie...

Walker Walkers of Lake MillsA Valentine for Gov. Walker.

For the second straight year, members of the UW-Madison Teaching Assistants' Association will express their love for the university on Valentine's Day. The teachers' union plans to hold an "I ♥ UW" rally, marching from the Memorial Union to the state Capitol at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday. Last year's rally by the same name touched off a series of historic protests in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to curb the power of public employee unions. In August, the T.A.A. chose not to seek state certification under the new law, which curtails collective bargaining for most public workers. The T.A.A. is...

MILWAUKEE - You might be a skeptical of petition problems Michael Zore brought to TODAY'S TMJ4 because of his background. Zore was convicted of voter fraud five years ago after he claims he accidentally voted twice in the same election. "The goal for the whole of process is transparency," Zore told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray. Turns out, this career computer guru uncovered a problem that took the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board most of the day to explain. He discovered hundreds of pages of petitions missing from the GAB's website. "Scanning forms in and posting them to a website should...

Poll If the governor recall election were held today, who would you vote for? Scott Walker Kathleen Falk Kathleen Vinehout Other

The following statement is on behalf of Mike Grebe, Chairman of the Friends of Scott Walker and Brad Courtney, Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin: “The Republican Party of Wisconsin along with the Friends of Scott Walker want to address a grassroots effort to write in Governor Walker’s name on the ballot during a Democratic primary election. Under state statutes, when a recall election is certified against Governor Walker he is automatically placed on the ballot as a Republican. According to Wisconsin Statute 8.03, a candidate cannot represent both parties, therefore making his name invalid in the Democratic primary,...

Union leaders are asking Democratic candidates for governor to veto the next state budget if it doesn't restore collective bargaining for public workers and at least one leading candidate - Kathleen Falk - has agreed, participants in the private meetings say.

About 15% of the signatures in a random sample of the petitions seeking the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker could not be verified, according to an analysis by the Journal Sentinel. The review suggests that even if the number of unverifiable signatures turned out to be three times higher, Walker supporters - barring a new legal challenge - will have a difficult time striking enough of the 1 million signatures submitted to stop a recall election. To force a recall election against Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, 540,208 valid signatures are needed for each - a figure equivalent...

The state’s teacher retirement system continues to increase burdens on taxpayers and local school districts. The costs exploded in the recent years, and without substantial reform there is no reason to expect that trend to change. The explanation isn’t hard to find: Since 1988, the system has been close to “fully-funded” in just three years, all in the high-growth 1990s. Its unfunded liabilities are now $17.6 billion. To put this into perspective, it would take roughly all of the state’s annual tax revenue to fully fund the system. School districts are required to contribute an amount to the retirement system...

The grades are out – Wisconsin is the worst in the United States when it comes to science curricula in the classroom. In the words of a recent study, our state’s science standards are “simply worthless.” A 2012 report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute gauged the strength of science programs across the nation. With several different approaches to teaching science in the classroom, every state presented a different challenge to students and analysts. This study, authored by a cabal of notable researchers, broke down the difference in science standards throughout the country. Without a “Common Core” of data standards...

[Madison, Wisc...] A dozen doctors from Wisconsin and around the country contacted the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing to express their disappointment in the doctors accused of writing fake sick notes to protesters on February 18, 2011 at the Capitol, according to documents obtained by the MacIver News Service. Some of the doctors expressed concern, others outrage, and some even filed formal complaints against the sick note doctors. In general, the doctors felt the incident reflected poorly on the entire medical profession. “If the above is true, then it is unprofessional and unethical,” wrote Dr. Ronald Long. “Certainly it...

Madison - A state Court of Appeals on Friday vacated an order requiring election officials to more aggressively check for duplicate and fictitious signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker. The Madison-based appeals court took that step because it found the trial court judge had improperly barred Democratic recall committees from intervening in the case brought by the Republican governor. Walker's campaign in December sued the state Government Accountability Board, arguing it did not plan to do enough to find duplicate and fictitious names on the petitions. The recall groups tried to intervene in the case, but Waukesha County Circuit Judge...

Madison - A new audit has found more than $300,000 in suspicious out-of-state spending in the state's food assistance program for the poor. Most out-of-state spending was found in neighboring states. But the audit also found purchases made in every state in the country and other U.S. territories such as $515 spent in the Pacific island of Guam. The state's $1.1 billion a year FoodShare program is required by federal rules to allow recipients to use their benefits to buy food in other states, and the audit notes that in many cases that can be for legitimate reasons such as...

On Thursday, Media Trackers reported the plight of Jeff Demet, a Racine native who found his name forged four times on petitions to recall Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard. The story was followed up by TMJ4 who interviewed two more individuals who’s names were on recall petitions when they never signed, including Jeff’s mother Mary who’s name appears twice. Ken Brown of CRG Racine first noticed that Jeff Demet’s brother Mark Demet was a circulator for one of the pages that features both Jeff and Mary Demet’s names.

I didn't pay much attention to teachers unions until Wisconsin's private unions decided to meddle in public education. But now I wish I'd been paying attention sooner. Some of you may remember that in 2009, several private unions pushed Wisconsin lawmakers to revise a statute that ordered public schools to give students "knowledge of state, national and world history." The AFL-CIO, Teamsters Union, the United Transportation Union and other private unions wanted lawmakers to add "including knowledge of the history of organized labor in America and the collective bargaining process" onto the end of the sentence. They had decided this...

On Wednesday, Citizens for Responsible Government in Racine reported that Racine native Jeff Demet’s name was found four times on the petition to recall Republican Senator Van Wanggaard. Finding the same signature four times is bad enough, but when Demet was contacted about the four signatures, he claims he never signed the Wanggaard recall petition at all!

On Wednesday the Arizona Senate Government Reform Committee discussed a package of bills that are intended to curb public employee union corruption. SB 1485 would prohibit government bodies from collectively bargaining with public employee unions. SB 1487 would end the practice of automatic payroll deductions for union dues. SB 1486 would ban the practice of compensating public employees for union work.

Last Oct. 3, four people who had met by chance seven months earlier sat down together over Mexican food to hash out when to launch the recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker. These board members of United Wisconsin, the political action committee created with the sole purpose of recalling the governor, along with founder Michael Brown via conference call, spent two and a half hours weighing the pros and cons of a decision that would pit the fervent hopes of thousands of deeply alienated Wisconsin citizens against a governor with fundraising prowess and an unflappable commitment to his conservative agenda....

More than a million signatures were submitted this month in a bid to force a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker. The petitions have been scanned by the Government Accountability Board and are now available for public viewing on the GAB site. Like other organizations, the Journal Sentinel is examining the signatures. If you find signatures, names or addresses of people who signed the petitions that are noteworthy, you can submit them to our database in our Data on Demand portal. We will review submissions and post those that we can independently verify.

Madison - State election officials plan to post all the petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker late Tuesday, the board announced. "In the interest of full transparency, the (Government Accountability) Board has always planned to release copies of recall petitions to anyone who requested them, and to post them online," Kevin Kennedy, the board's director said in a statement. "However, we recently heard from a number of people who are concerned about their personal safety if their names and addresses are made public. As a result, our staff had to do a thorough analysis under Wisconsin's public records law. These...

MADISON — What’s in a million names? Wisconsin and the world were supposed to find out Monday. Now, the Government Accountability Board, or GAB, which oversees state elections and campaigns, is reportedly holding off posting the reported 1 million signatures on petitions seeking to recall Gov. Scott Walker due to privacy concerns. GAB spokesman Reid Magney told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday evening the board was holding off on posting the names online after hearing concerns about a stalking victim and others who did not want their names released. Earlier in the day, Magney told Wisconsin Reporter that the...

Madison - State election officials put off making recall petitions available publicly on Monday after hearing privacy concerns from people who signed them. The state Government Accountability Board provided copies of the petitions against Gov. Scott Walker to Walker's campaign on Friday and had said that it planned to post copies of them on its website on Monday. But agency spokesman Reid Magney said the board was holding off on posting them online after hearing concerns about a stalking victim and others who did not want their names released. Recall organizers say more than 1 million people signed petitions to...

UPDATE: The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama says their ad buy in Nevada currently stands at five figures, with the spots going up in the Las Vegas, Reno and Pahrump markets. They say they hope to expand the ad buy if fundraising allows. (CNN) – An independent conservative group associated with the tea party movement says it's backing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for the Republican presidential nomination. The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama, which touts itself as one of the nation's largest conservative activist organizations, emailed supporters Sunday to "announce our endorsement of Newt Gingrich for President. We are...

Possible errors uncovered on petitions GAB will make final ruling on recall petitions Updated: Monday, 30 Jan 2012, 4:48 AM CST Published : Sunday, 29 Jan 2012, 6:55 PM CST Mark Leland MADISON - The tedious task of reviewing the more than 1.9 million recall signatures in Wisconsin is underway. Government Accountability Board staff are looking for invalid signatures and errors on the petition sheets. While separately volunteers with incumbent Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican state senators are also scrutinizing the petitions. And the petitions are not error-free. We asked GAB Public Information officer Reid...

<p>One Sunday afternoon last spring, as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was working in his front yard, a car rolled slowly by and blared its horn. He and his two teenage sons looked up to see two middle fingers directed their way as the car screeched down the street. A few minutes later another car rolled by and a voice shouted "Hey governor!" Mr. Walker reluctantly looked up—to find two thumbs up coming through the open window.</p>

WAUKESHA - Republicans are getting their first look at all the recall signatures against Governor Walker. Volunteers at the Waukesha County Republican headquarters told TODAY'S TMJ4 they're thrilled to finally get started. They began reviewing signatures Friday afternoon, launching a statewide mission to tackle the recall effort. Packed into a Waukesha warehouse, Republicans got their hands on recall petitions for the first time. Nearly a thousand people signed up to help. "It's really positive. High energy. They're excited to get going with this process and get it over with," said executive director Cathy Waller. Volunteers will be at the warehouse...

The governor’s controversial labor reforms are already saving taxpayers millions. One morning last February, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker called his staff into his office. “Guys,” he warned, “it’s going to be a tough week.” Walker had recently sent a letter to state employees proposing steps—ranging from restricting collective bargaining to requiring workers to start contributing to their own pension accounts—to eliminate the state’s $3.6 billion deficit. That day in February was when Walker would announce his plan publicly. It turned out to be a tough year. The state immediately erupted into a national spectacle, with tens of thousands of citizens,...

Following Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s reforming his state’s collective bargaining laws and breaking the stranglehold unions held on taxpayers (saving them $476 million so far), union bosses across the country laid siege on the dairy state’s capitol and declared war on Walker and his fellow Republicans. In 2011, union bosses and other outside groups spent tens of millions of dollars in a failed attempt to recall six Republican state senators and are spending millions more now trying to recall Scott Walker. The millions union bosses are now spending—paid for by union members throughout the country—has Democrats getting nervous that the...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is ahead in his likely recall election even as his campaign raises — and spends — millions of dollars in expectation of a tough race later this year. According to a new Marquette Law School poll the governor leads Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a likely candidate, 50 percent to 44 percent. He leads former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, the only declared Democratic candidate, 49 percent to 42 percent margin, former Rep. David Obey 49 percent to 43 percent and state Sen. Tim Cullen 50 percent to 40 percent. Democrats started targeting Walker last year,...

Months away from an expected recall election, Gov. Scott Walker declared Wednesday night that "we kept our promises” and explained why he believes the state's economy is improving. Walker’s 3,700-word speech offered no new spending initiatives or programs. He called on lawmakers to pass legislation now pending that would make it easier to build an iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin, touched on his initiative to ensure Wisconsin students can read by the third grade, and revisited his Wisconsin Working agenda. But he spent the bulk of the speech reminding listeners of what he’s accomplished in his first term, argued...

Gov. Scott Walker holds single-digit leads over several potential Democratic opponents in hypothetical recall matchups, according to a new statewide poll. The poll was conducted Jan. 19-22 for the Marquette Law School by Charles Franklin, co-founder of pollster.com and a visiting professor at Marquette, on leave from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The law school plans to poll throughout the year. In the survey of 701 registered voters, Walker leads his 2010 opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, 50% to 44%. He leads former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk 49% to 42%. He also leads two other Democrats, former congressman Dave Obey...

Madison - Gov. Scott Walker is raking in money at a pace not seen before in Wisconsin politics as he prepares to face the state's first-ever gubernatorial recall, taking in more than $4.5 million over five weeks. In just over a year, Walker has raised more than $12 million in campaign donations - more than he spent to win the seat in 2010 - and despite sizable spending in recent weeks still has $2.6 million in cash in the bank, according to figures released Monday by his campaign. The Republican governor has traveled the country to raise money in recent...

Yesterday, Media Trackers reported that an initial naked eye look at a sampling of recall petitions turned in for Senator Pam Galloway showed numerous duplicates, invalid signatures, and circulator mistakes. Below is a brief accounting of the errors with screenshots of just a few pages that could throw out 24 of 37 signatures:

Wow. One million signatures. Who could have guessed that one of the two entrenched American political parties — the one that claims the president of the most powerful nation on earth as one of its own and marshaled some $23.4 million in campaign spending for last year's wave of recall elections — would ever have the money and logistical wherewithal to gather 1 million signatures to recall a member of the other entrenched American political party? What a victory for democracy. Or should I say Democrat-acy? With the notable and laudable exception of the effort to recall Sen. Scott Fitzgerald...

Madison - In their effort to review 1.9 million recall signatures, state election officials are embarking on a project unlike any they have done before, relying on newly purchased software that can convert handwritten names into entries in six searchable databases. Experts say that the type of software the state is using can produce databases in a short time, but that officials must be ready to address numerous errors because computers sometimes misread handwritten letters. "Handwriting recognition software is not great," said Daniel Lopresti, a computer science professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. "A lot of the names are going...

Wauwatosa - Tonette Walker delivered a message straight from husband Gov. Scott Walker on Saturday, telling supporters not to be ruled by anger and assuring them that Republican reforms are working. "The other side has had a voice for over a year, but it's now time for us to speak up," Tonette Walker said during a rally at Hart Park. For about three hours, a large crowd stood on packed snow and ice to show they were standing with the governor during the first large Republican rally of the recall season. A coalition of Democrats, unions and a grass-roots organization...

I signed up a while ago to help verify the signatures on the recall petition against Scott Walker of WI. I just received an email asking me to download a program so that I may help. Problem is, I'm afraid to download ANYTHING. I put nothing against these b@st@rds to scr&w us, so I am hesitant about downloading the program. I tried to contact the office and of course no one was available to speak to, so I left a message. I am eager to help Gov. Walker out, which is the reason for this vanity post of mine. Has...

Madison - Gov. Scott Walker's administration is seeking more authority from the federal government to go after fraud in the state's food assistance program. The state currently has the power to investigate fraud committed by participants in FoodShare, the $1 billion program largely funded by the federal government that serves as the successor to food stamps. But as of now only the federal government has the authority to pursue fraud cases against retailers, something that Wisconsin officials want to change.

Madison - Gov. Scott Walker's administration is returning a nearly $11 million federal grant that could have helped make cost-saving improvements to existing health programs for the poor. The money was part of a larger federal package that was given to Wisconsin to implement the federal health care law passed by Congress and President Barack Obama in 2010. After receiving criticism from conservatives that he was helping implement "ObamaCare," Walker said this week that the state would return the money and stop the implementation. But that announcement didn't highlight the $11 million, which would have gone toward improving enrollment systems...

Madison - State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman said Friday he would not step aside in three matters, including an attempt to reopen last year's decision that allowed a new law to take effect that curbed the power of public unions. Attorneys in the cases asked Gableman to remove himself because other parties in the cases were represented by Michael Best & Friedrich, which defended Gableman against an ethics allegation without billing him. Lawyers have said the legal work was likely worth tens of thousands of dollars. Now, the full court will have to decide whether to force Gableman from...

The state Government Accountability Board plans to go to court next week to ask for more time to review the 1.9 million signatures turned in this week in the recall attempts against Gov. Scott Walker and other public officials. But Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the state ethics and elections agency, said Thursday that he's not ready to say how much extra time the board will seek. The software the board bought to help check for duplicate signatures is being tested. "We think it works," Kennedy said. Kennedy, who spoke in a public interview Thursday at the Marquette...

Before a crowd of hundreds of school district officials and school board members in Milwaukee, Gov. Scott Walker announced Thursday that recommendations from a variety of state education task forces will soon be solidified in formal legislation. The work of three main groups spearheaded by Walker over the past year - a reading task force, a team that's looked at how to design a statewide teacher and principal evaluation system, and a group figuring out how to rate school quality - will make up a reform package of education legislation, Walker said. Meanwhile, some critics questioned the governor's tone of...

A judge weighing one of three lawsuits challenging Wisconsin's new voter ID law said Thursday he needs more time to consider both sides' arguments before he will rule on the state's motion to dismiss the case. After listening to arguments from attorneys for the League of Women Voters, which is seeking to overturn the law, and for Gov. Scott Walker and the state elections board, Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess said he couldn't yet rule on the motion but would at a March 9 hearing. He also said he may rule on the merits of the case then. The...

MADISON — One million signatures suggest a lot of support to recall Gov. Scott Walker. But will 1 million names translate into a lot of votes? A Wisconsin Reporter analysis of the 2011 recalls indicates the answer is “yes,” albeit for both sides in this latest spate of recalls — those who hope to oust Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four GOP state senators, and those who hope to defeat the recall efforts. By the numbers In seven of the nine Senate recall elections last summer, the number of people who voted for the challenger exceeded the number of...

From the Diaries… As the Recall Walker effort submitted their signatures to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board today (claiming 1 million signatures), Wisconsinites deserve a serious analysis of this Big Labor, big money game to force a recall election on the people of this state. We will be shocked at what is yet to come. Evidence is already mounting to suggest that Big Labor has used underhanded, fraudulent and illegal tactics to pad their petition numbers. Major national labor organizations have dumped millions into Wisconsin to stop Governor Walker’s reforms and with the integrity of these petitions being questioned; they...

MADISON — Vic Oimette said he may have met Kathleen Falk at a convention meeting sometime. And he said he knows Falk has been involved in the “political scene for a long time.” “But if she walked in the room right now, I wouldn’t recognize her,” said Oimette, chairman of the Iron County Democratic Party. Falk’s not-so-familiar face could be a big problem for the former Dane County executive who announced Wednesday that she wants to be the Democratic candidate in the anticipated recall race against Gov. Scott Walker. Falk joins state Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, who expressed interest in...

Madison—Today Governor Walker announced he will not pursue the implementation of a health insurance exchange and has turned down Early Innovator Grant funding from the federal government. The Governor also will repeal the executive order that created the Office of Free Market Health Care. “I have directed the Department of Health Services to notify the federal government that we will discontinue any development on a health exchange and that Wisconsin will turn down funding from the Early Innovator Grant program,” said Governor Walker. “Stopping the encroachment of ObamaCare in our state, which has the potential to have a devastating impact...