In better times, having No-Show Joe taking up space in the representative seat would be kind of fun.

The blatant lies are now called mistakes by all GOP candidates

How can any representative announce that he is supporting an increase in education funding, when everyone knows that it is being cut, and feature it in a presentation? And then, when someone at the presentation points out the discrepancy between the presentation and reality, give a nonsensical answer? This was not a case of "misspeaking", but instead of a profound lack of understanding. Sadly, Mr. Knilans does not have even the most fundamental comprehension of what he is voting for.

taxandspend, there are tens of millions of senior citizens, there are tens of millions of children, there are tens of millions of taxpayers and there are tens of millions of business firms.
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But there are just 400 people who own more than 180 million other Americans. Start there.

matthew516, for someone who uses a bible passage for his nickname, I'd think you would show more sensitivity about using words like libtard (liberal retard).
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About Knilans being damned if he does, damned if he doesn't -- that's about the third or fourth cliche you've used to attempt to explain away his ignorance on the issue.

What I would like to know is whether Knilan's felt that extra money was a good thing, a needed thing, and was he singing the praises of that? If so, I certainly hope he continues to support that in his voting record and not just file in line with his party's leadership.

At least Knilans doesn't cover his mistakes with the almighty dollar like the libtard nation finds to be thing to do. Knilans is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't by the ignorant who only want to hear what they want to hear and not what they need to hear. Welcome to America I guess.

That doesn't cut it, matthew516. Not one of us claim perfection. What Knilans did was total ignorance. As others have said, this was in the news for weeks and weeks and weeks, headline news - cuts in education funding. For Pete's sake! He's a state representative! Elected to stay on top of this stuff. None of us are perfect. But that doesn't excuse ignorance.

Hold tight all you critics, I'm sure the city of Janesville will erect a statue of all of you since you obviously live the perfect life and have all the answers. Congratulations on your perfection.

weeks and weeks of headlines about cuts in school funding, and he thinks janesville will see an increase in funding, even for one minute ?.... what kind of rubes does he takes janesvillians for ?... how long b4 he can be recalled so he can move back his side of town ?

my opinion? Gov. Walker is attempting to create a budget that allows him to create corporate paybacks at the expense of middle class workers. jmo
no one, knilans or others, should be taking the word of Gov. Walker without investigating further. i'm at a loss for understanding why his senate majority is following his lead, unless they aren't bothering to look at the details.

better yet, if you want to know what laws are being passed, go to https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/re... The most recent law was Act 22. if you just replace the "22" at the end of the URL with 21, 20, 19.. and so on, you can read all of them from the beginning of Gov. Walker's current term to present. I would love it if people would just go to the actual documentation instead of posting left or right-wing website's interpretation of such. gather your own opinion.

anyone who wants to read the facts should refer to the legislative website. non-biased. http://legis.wisconsin.gov/spotlight/

I sure wish all of us could see the complete proposal Walker was working on that would have INCREASED funding to school districts? You know, the one given to Knilans by Walker and accidentally used by Knilans in his presentation. Mr. Knilans, will you be releasing the entire proposal of Walker's that actually increased school funding?

“We got the information for the PowerPoint presentation from the governor’s office..."
Sounds like blame to me.

Whenever you have representatives (the majority of them) that are for BIG MONEY and not for the people, you always have incompetent people representing you. All they see are $$$$$ signs and what's in it for them, nothing else.

iluvjvl, Combine that with some of his recent actions, and it's frightening! He's blindly followed Walker, believing in the rhetoric the public has been working overtime to expose as a lie. This recent action of admitting a mistake over something so elementary elevates that fear that he's just going along with Walker, trusting garbage talk at our expense. It's scary!

matthew - making a mistake is excusable. i'm sure joe's a nice guy, and i wouldn't expect him to be perfect, but a mistake of this magnitude gives us a picture of incompetence. how could he have not known something so simple when he's elected to do a little research on things he's expected to vote on? i think that's the point.

Matthew516, Knilans title is not leader, politician or follower of Scott Walker or the Republican party. Could you give me your expert definition of District Assembly Representative so I can better understand whose wishes he is representing in the legislative?

poobah, maybe you weren't aware of this, so I'll enlighten you. The people in leadership and even politics (if you can believe it) all were born human beings. Perhaps you're the only human that wasn't born that way, I don't know. At least Knilans admitted to his mistake and didn't try and deflect it off on someone else. I'd rather have an individual that actually resembles a human being in office rather than most of them who hide behind the almighty dollar and all the mistakes that dollar can cover up.

matthew516, if you want to talk about deeply entrenched ignorance you can start with the fact an ELECTED official who campaigned on these issues and is supposed to be INFORMED could possibly have thought the budget HE voted for would INCREASE funding when the greatest controversy in Wisconsin history has repeatedly exposed the fact that the Walker budget would REDUCE funding. He voted for this budget! He claims it took him days to decide his vote after many consultations and correspondence from constituents. Come on! If he didn't know his vote was going to REDUCE funding to the local schools he should resign. If he did, and made a simple typo, then he should have immediately corrected it.
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That's a good place to start your conversation on entrenched ignorance. A good place to continue your conversation on deeply entrenched ignorance is on those people who blindly follow such inexcusable ignorance. You call him a leader? Of whom, other inexcusably ignorant people?

“We got the information for the PowerPoint presentation from the governor’s office..." No surprise here.

Look at all these people who decide to attack another person for making a mistake when a mirror in their own presence would expose themselves to that shortcoming. We have an elected president who has tripped over his own lack of understanding countless times, and yet, he gets a free pass? There are politicians and there are leaders in our midst. Joe Knilans isn't a polititian, he's a leader. A leader takes credit and owns up to his own mistakes and takes the heat when things don't work right, and they also give the credit away when things do go well. Being a polititian is a title, being a leader is an action. Thank you Joe Knilans for being that leader. The difference between a leader and a critic is, a leader is always willing to follow, a critic has no need for that because they already know everything....and nothing is more deeply entrenched than the ignorance of the experts!

Read in the Messenger that calls were coming in 200 for - 1,200 against Walker's budget repair bill in area districts. If they are working for us, representing us - why are they following Walker?

That is correct - give the guy a break - Things can get confusing in politics. How was he to know he was LIVING in the 45th assembly district while campaigning for the 44th!? How was he to know that the MAJORITY of the people that he REPRESENTS supported Barrett-->53% to Walkers 46%. It is confusing that you supported Walkers budget plan while the majority of people you represent were against it. You did say that your vote for Walkers budget repair bill was difficult, but it would have been easy if you thought about the majority of the people that you represent. Maybe you could go to an all district staff meeting in Janesville, look them in the eye, and tell them why we need to cut over 800 million dollars from education. How many MILLIONS will business and major corporations get Joe? I understand the need for jobs, but THOUSANDS of teachers in WI will probably lose their job! The governor wants sacrifice, but it is time for business / corporations to step forward and pay their fair share.

i_luv_jvl, I agree with you completely. I searched his official website for the word "hours" and came up with five hits that all led to his excuses why he voted for the Walker budget bill. It is the only reference to hours on his website -- not posted office hours. I thought it was interesting that he feels that vote was the most difficult vote he will EVER have to make... Better buckle up, I think there's more to come.
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"On Friday morning, after 60 hours of debate, I was faced with the most difficult vote I have taken, and will take, in the State Assembly. My decision to vote in favor of the Budget Repair Bill did not come without days of deliberation and thought regarding the impact upon my constituents and the residents of our great state."
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http://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/knil...

i also wrote a letter to mr. knilans in february/march and probably received the same impersonal script asking4respect received, as i know some of my friends did. the garbage excuses in that letter for standing behind walker made me angry beyond words. it was full of coined phrases straight from the mouths of walker, which i already knew were words only fools would believe. i would venture to guess that mr. knilans did as much investigating into the rhetoric in that letter as he did with the increase $$ per student he is now apologizing for being mistaken about, as he was simply quoting walker's figures, he says. mr. knilans, you are another person i voted for that won't receive my vote in the future. i gave you way more credit than you deserved.
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to the person who says perhaps mr. knilans was out working when the gentleman stopped by... yada yada... how about a real response? he didn't have to be in-office to respond. i wrote to senator cullen and received a personal response, and i wrote to senator kohl and received one personal response, AND another more general, informative letter about his position about a month later. knilans' constituent base is much smaller than the others, but he's the least efficient at communicating with his people. he's out.

Seriously though, some staffer or whoever put together that information for Knilans needs a reality check! Walker has been talking from DAY ONE about cutting state funding of education. How could ANY data from ANYONE show AN INCREASE in funding? This is just really sloppy work and demonstrates the importance of hiring staff that is politically savvy enough to catch such an obvious error. And in regard to the person who went to his office and the door was locked... Wouldn't an obvious "Office Hours" sign on the door and posted office hours on his website help?

He must consider Bush and Cheney to be Democrats!

The guy made a mistake. He owned up to it. Give him a break.
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totellthetruth: examples? sources?

And he has no staff at his office? Yeah, ok.

Mike.. Did you ever think he might be doing his job which you elected him to do or at a committee meeting? Do you think he sits and waits for visitors? As far as form letters, i have received only form letters from all the federal and state politicians--they don't have time to answer you individually. My purpose was to just let them know how I felt as a constituent.

asking4respect - at least you got a response. I am still waiting for mine from the letter I hand delivered to his office.
Sign on his door said if you live outside his district, call for an appointment. if you live in the district, come on in! And the door was locked. in the middle of the day. it wasn't lunch time. I slid the letter under the door.

asking4respect: Very well said.

Mr. Knilans needs to find a new line of work, the same as Mr. Ryan (and not in politics).

Come on, any person with access to news knows that the only people benefiting from Walker's budget are the ultra-wealthy and large corporations. You don't need a Power Point slide to know that!

Donnaw, we expect our representatives to not just accept the language coming from a corrupt governor as true. It is their job to research it, otherwise the Governor can sell them any old lie to pass along.
Knilans has clearly demonstrated blind support to a Governor who is as crooked as the day is long.

Mr. Knilans sent me a canned email with a bunch of hogwash shortly after I emailed him in February.
I will NEVER vote for him again, given the chance. I hope to have my home sold and be out of here before that even happens.

"Stand by your man
Give him two arms to cling to
And something warm to come to
When nights are cold and lonely
Stand by your man"

Oh yes, having voted in Joe Knilans was such a mistake since he's now made one himself. We demand perfection from our Republican representatives here in Janesville. We would have been sooooo much better off re-electing the guy who sleeps with lobbyists, since he is a Democrat. He never made any of the kind of mistakes Joe Knilans made. This is all many people need to know, that Democrats always make understandable mistakes, Republicans never do.

So you all think he stood up and intentionally used the wrong numbers. Don't you think he knew it would be found out if he did? There were several figures being talked about. At least he had enough guts to apologize...more than I can say about other politicians. With an audience like you guys I wonder why anyone would run for office. And I am sure none of you has ever made a mistake.

Mistakes will cost you your seat Mr. Knilans

This just goes along with his asking at a public hearing for a speaker's contact information because she is one of his constituents...after she clearly stated she is a Madison resident and Dane County Supervisor.
He doesn't have an original thought and only does what his handlers tell him to do.

Everything is not about Obama.
But, for the record, his predecessor was one of the most inarticulate persons I have ever seen.
It was terrifying to watch and realize that the rest of the world was seeing what I was seeing and hearing what I was hearing.
Just curious, who would you like to see in the White House?
You must have someone in mind.
If you say "anybody but Obama", you are totally wussing out.

And you Republicans voted for this nitwit? WOW!! All I can hope is that he is ONE and DONE!! What a complete waste of representation!! Can he read?

OMG...almost an 800 dollar difference. This guy will probably run for president.Where do these people come from ??

Joe Knilans is so ignorant that he does not even know that the $275 per pupil increase is the number in current law - the number was approved as part of Doyle's budget. Obviously, Walker's proposal drastically reduces what is in current law. While this year's number was $200 per student, it was set to increase to $275 next year until Walker unleashed his attack on public education. It is laughable that Knilans does not know where $275 comes from and blames the mistake on the governor's office. Anybody speaking on the topic with any knowledge of how schools are financed knows what $275 was - Knilans cannot speak intelligently on school (or state) finances. He can, however, vote exactly like the republican leadership tells him too.

wait till John eysner hears about this Joe. He'll rip you to pieces!