Wis. governor works to meet voters before recall
Photo
Gov. Scott Walker shakes hands with Dick Jones of Whitewater, Wis. as he hands out yogurt at the Rock County Dairy Breakfast in Evansville, Wis. on Saturday, June 2, 2012. At left is Shirley Templeton who handed out apple sauce. The event was the first stop on a day long campaign swing though the state for the governor in advance of the Tuesday, June 5, 2012 recalls. Walker is only the third U.S. governor to face a recall. The drive to oust him was spurred by anger over his plan to effectively end most public workers' collective bargaining rights. Walker insisted he had to make the move to balance the state budget, but Democrats portrayed the measure as an attack on organized labor.
EVANSVILLE — Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Tom Barrett began a final push Saturday to connect with voters in person before next week's historic recall election, appearing at farm breakfasts and restaurants and rallying campaign workers.
Walker is only the third U.S. governor to face a recall. The drive to oust him was spurred by anger over his plan to effectively end most public workers' collective bargaining rights. Walker insisted he had to make the move to balance the state budget, but Democrats portrayed the measure as an attack on organized labor.
Polls show a tight race with only a handful of voters still undecided before Tuesday's election, and Walker and Barrett have been struggling to win them over for the past month. Barrett released a new television ad Saturday, again calling on the governor to explain his role in an ongoing investigation of associates during Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County executive, but the candidates mostly used the day to meet voters.
Barrett, who serves as Milwaukee's mayor, spent the day on the other side of the state, starting with the Barron County Dairy Breakfast in Hillsdale, a burg of 1,250 people about 90 miles west of Minneapolis. The rest of his schedule included stops at a cafe in St. Croix Falls, a pizza joint in Superior and the state Democratic Party's office in Chippewa Falls.
"We're going to cover the whole state here in the next four days," Barrett said in a telephone interview. "I love it. This is the part that really gets your juices flowing. This is where I'm most confident, doing this."
Walker began his day before 7 a.m., serving food at a dairy breakfast on a massive farm just outside Evansville, a city of 5,000 people about 25 miles south of Madison, the state capital. His agenda called for a stop at another dairy breakfast in Monroe County before visiting campaign field offices in Hudson, Wausau, Green Bay and Wauwatosa.
"I feel good," Walker said. "We're not taking anything for granted. We're working all the way up to 8 p.m. on Tuesday."
Dressed in blue jeans, hiking boots and a button-down shirt and flanked by 18-year-old Evansville Future Farmers of America Queen Emily Templeton and 18-year-old La Prairie 4-H Club Queen Erica Ballmer, the governor handed out yogurt and applesauce to scores of people at the annual Rock County Dairy Breakfast.
A smiling Walker tried to engage people in short, friendly conversations, commenting, for example, on the beautiful morning. Most didn't seem to recognize him. They simply said "thank you" as he placed yogurt cups on their plates and moved on. A handful of people shook his hand, though, and congratulated him on his accomplishments.
One of them was Ken Pierson, 44, who runs a tool-and-die shop in Janesville with his father. He made a point of introducing his two sons to the governor. Later, he said he thinks Walker's changes will help the state in the long run and the recall isn't justified.
"There's better things to do, better reasons to go after people. It's just too obnoxious for me," Pierson said. "I see (Walker's fiscal conservatism) working in the future. It has more to do with what's going to happen tomorrow, instead of 'gimme, gimme, gimme.'"
The recall represents the latest chapter in a knockdown, no-holds barred political battle that has consumed the state.
The fight began in February 2011 when Walker introduced the collective bargaining measure. Tens of thousands of people descended on the state Capitol to demonstrate against the plan and minority Democrats in the state Senate fled to Illinois in a futile attempt to block a vote.
Republicans who controlled the Legislature pushed the plan through anyway. Democrats have been looking for payback ever since.
They ousted two GOP state senators in recalls last August and gathered enough signatures on recall petitions this winter to force Walker, the lieutenant governor and three GOP state senators into Tuesday's elections. A fourth Republican state senator resigned rather than defend her seat, which also will be filled in Tuesday's election.
Walker defeated Barrett to win his first term as governor in 2010. Their rematch has evolved into a national referendum on union power. Republicans across the country have rallied around the governor, helping him raise a jaw-dropping $31 million in campaign cash.
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, a Janesville Republican, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus appeared a tea party rally in Caledonia, just outside Racine, Saturday morning and implored hundreds in the crowd to get as many people to the polls as they can on Tuesday. They said a Walker win would segue into defeat for President Barack Obama in Wisconsin in November.
"This is an election that will send shockwaves throughout America," Ryan told the crowd. "It is a momentum maker or a momentum breaker."
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Associated Press writer Brian Bakst in Caledonia, Wis., contributed to this report.
Jun 4, 2012 at 10:25 a.m.
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"Wis. governor works to meet voters before recall"
I love it!
Jun 4, 2012 at 12:17 a.m.
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RetiredAirForce and The Greater Wisconsin Political Fund; both diligently working to keep citizens informed on other people's voting history.
Jun 4, 2012 at 12:01 a.m.
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LOL, the left wing dailykos has shown the story of a mystery Walker baby was a fabrication caused by inaccurate reporting by a left wing hack site.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/03...
Jun 3, 2012 at 11:47 p.m.
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Interesting information on the dem candidate that wants to be the Lt Gov of Wisconsin.
http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/06/wis...
Jun 3, 2012 at 8:50 p.m.
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Love child, never meant to be
Love child, (scorned by) society
Love child, always second best
Love child, different from the rest
Jun 3, 2012 at 4:12 p.m.
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All around the mulberry bush...
Jun 3, 2012 at 2:29 p.m.
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"I can't stand anti-Republicans and anti-Walker creatures! Move to Cuba or North Korea where you socialist thugs belong!"
Comments like this makes one wonder just how how far gone our society is. Is is past the point of any redemption? I think it is, but we plod on anyhow.
Jun 3, 2012 at 1:39 p.m.
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wislady, while you post calculators to determine how much Walker and Act 10 has saved you, let me give you a few other calculations. Despite a small increase in jobs (Walker's numbers), Wisconsin workers have lost over $2.5 billion in annual payroll in 2011 under the Walker administration.
The Journal Sentinel article, "High-wage industries hire, but wages fall" that cites Department of Workforce Development data is very interesting. [ http://www.jsonline.com/business/highpay... ]
Using the data cited in that article for the ten industry groups that showed the greatest increase in the number of jobs, the annual payroll decreased by $1,338,430,444 for those ten industry groups. To highlight some of the annual payroll decreases in those industry groups, Ambulatory health care services saw a drop in payroll of $457,743,000 per year, Machinery manufacturing saw a drop of $348,994,844 per year, Unclassified a drop of $253,110,365 per year and Management of companies and enterprises a drop of $222,114,308 per year.
As cited in the data, the average weekly pay for Wisconsin jobs dropped from $835 to $817 or a loss of $936 per year from 2010 to 2011. Using the CES estimate of 2,732,000 total jobs in Wisconsin, this represents a drop in payroll of over $2.5 billion per year in Wisconsin under Walker's administration.
Walker promised to add 250,000 jobs, but at what cost to the state and to wage earners? If this trend continues, average weekly pay will be decimated by the time he reaches his goal.
Jun 3, 2012 at 12:21 p.m.
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@TCB- If the information is true that Walker fathered a child out of wedlock I don't think anyone would judge him. It happens and is neither a Democratic or Republican thing. The fact that he vehemently runs on a "Family Values" platform ( The Tea Party platform) is another matter. It's similar to Newt Gingrich's stance on "Family values" that he adopted when he married his third wife.
Jun 3, 2012 at 12:04 p.m.
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The rich don't want to pay any taxes, the companies don't want to pay any taxes, the poor can't pay any taxes, the middle class is disappearing. Who does that leave to pay for schools, infrastructure upkeep & replacement. Something that can't be outsourced or moved out of state perhaps. Farm land owners bend over, your the new "teacher union thug".
Jun 3, 2012 at 12:01 p.m.
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http://www.politiscoop.com/us-politics/w...
Jun 3, 2012 at 11:57 a.m.
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http://www.isavewithact10.com/ChooseCoun...
Jun 3, 2012 at 11:41 a.m.
Jun 3, 2012 at 11:40 a.m.
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My hope for the upcoming weeks is as follows: 1) the duly elected governor and lt. governor that were elected by the majority of the voters in 2010 retain their office and are allowed to finish out their terms. 2) Within several weeks, Governor Walker resigns allowing Kleefisch to take over. 3) Kleefish appoints a moderate Republican that can win confirmation to the lt. governorship by the senate and assembly. 4) This abuse of the recall procedure as I see it, although legal, stops. 5) People go back to electing people during the normal political process and reward or punish performance during the normal reelection period. 6) That I never witness this degree of incivility in Wisconsin or elsewhere again (I will be hard put to forget the protestors dressed up as zombies and standing between Walker and the Special Olympians ... I had and eventually lost a down syndrome sister that took part in special olympics and know that had she been there it would have frightened her). 7) I hope that a strong 3rd middle ground party can eventually compete but doubt it since the necessary changes (term limits, campaign finance, etc.) would have to go through Congress which is where I see the problems being with people that will protect their vested interests. Those are my hopes and hope is supposed to spring eternal but it is getting harder and harder to stir up that flame of hope. IMO
Jun 3, 2012 at 11:06 a.m.
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Just to balance TedKennedy's rant -----I CAN'T STAND SCOTT WALKER !! Republicans in Democratic clothes are starting to come out of the woodwork!!! sheeeesh Voters are too smart to let that pass.
Jun 3, 2012 at 11 a.m.
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honorfirst -- in case you don't know this, the US ranks far below industrialized nations in teacher pay:GNP -- like 8th or 12th. . . sorry don't have time to research the link again. Let me know if you find it. Secondly, WI ranks 28th in the nation for teacher pay. Requiring us to contribute 5.8% to our retirement account and 12% on health insurance could throw even more people into the foreclosure category. Besides all of that, the health insurance benefits and contributions to retirement were all subject to bargaining. Those costs influenced salaries, so you see, we have been taking less salary in exchange for those benefits for decades. We have been "paying" them all along. Walker misleads the people to frame the message -- he was forced to finally admit before a federal panel that taking bargaining rights away from public unions had no fiscal impact on the WI budget, yet we hear his actions backed up by this misrepresentation (or should I call it "lie") over and over and over again.
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Tough leadership? I think not. He is bowing to his supporters who want to destroy the most powerful tool working people have at the polls. Unions represent three:10 of the big contributors to political campaigns. The remaining seven are corporations. Walker is the puppet of those who only want corporations contributing in any large way (besides the individuals who can afford to give 0.5 to millions) to a candidate. Don't tell me they are not seeking to influence the laws to their advantage.
Jun 3, 2012 at 10:44 a.m.
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wonder if those who did not "seem to recognize" Walker, simply did not want to acknowledge him. . . It is more likely they recognized him-- just did not have anything nice to say. IMHO
Jun 3, 2012 at 10:31 a.m.
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Finally meeting voters? Where the heck has he been? Oh, that's right. He's the darling of the Tea Baggers and has been hanging with the wealthy taking his marching orders. Got to make this state a right to work state as ordered by Diane Hendricks.
Jun 3, 2012 at 10:10 a.m.
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Thank God for short women?
PGTW!
Jun 3, 2012 at 10:06 a.m.
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Reasonable thinking people will acknowledge that Gov. Scott Walker did what had to be done. Many of us don't agree or like the way he did it, but someone had to change the direction this state was going. How many of us know people that have lost their homes or are in terrible financial shape due to their spending habits? Let's be honest about it, Jim Doyle did nothing but kick the can down the road and covered his unwillingness to take action by stealing from funds that were not his for the taking. We tend to forget about his actions only because someone, named Scott Walker had the backbone to do something very unpopular about the mess Jim Doyle left. Now, because of it he is subjected to a recall election. This is a decision point to the voters, a financially secure state (Walker) or the next Illinois or California (Barrett) that are billions in debt.
The statements that Scott Walker's policies have hurt education, infringed on women's rights and gives away the state to the wealthy is BS and you all know it, but it makes good talking points to the people that would rather see this state broke just so they continue to get handouts. I can only hope there are enough sensible people that reject this recall and cast their vote for Scott Walker. Things are getting better, just give his policies time to continue working.
This is about the unions attempting to get power back. Think about Janesville, Milwaukee and Racine teachers unions refusing to protect their "brothers and sisters" by not contributing to their health care/retirement. Many lost their jobs because of the union refusal , Not because of Scott Walker. It is clear the members and leadership only care about themselves and their benefits. If they sacrifice some of their members so they can fatten themselves, they will do it. To them, it is acceptable collateral damage. So sorry for the teachers that will lose their jobs over it, but it is for the "good of the union". Hopefully, the days of public unions thumbing their nose at the taxpayers are over.
Jun 3, 2012 at 9:36 a.m.
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I am hoping for the best man to win. And I for one, do not think either one is the best man to lead our state! This will be a one tough vote.
Jun 3, 2012 at 9:32 a.m.
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typical gandalf, using your same words is either name calling or an attack, what a victim...LOL
Jun 3, 2012 at 8:38 a.m.
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gandalf's current left wing barrage exhibits idealogical extremist attitudes and the posting of these type uncorroborated links is nazi-like.
Jun 3, 2012 at 8:32 a.m.
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Gandalf,
Assuming its true, If Walker were a democrat this would be a badge of honor-wouldnt it? (Hello John Edwards, Jesse Jackson) The lefties would be screaming that this is a private issue....and all that you are concerned about is sex...
Then again, the dems are desperate-next will a story about a drunk driving or cocaine use arise? (Obama and has choom wagon want to know)...
Jun 3, 2012 at 8:30 a.m.
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LOL gandalf with a quality(???) hit piece from a left wing site. A person claims that her UNNAMED roommate blah blah blah. This is all they have left...the side show gets better every year.
Jun 3, 2012 at 7:48 a.m.
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Come on Wisconsin voters!
Let's help all of those wonderful out-of-state millionaire and billionaire contributors - many who have never ever visited Wisconsin -- elect Scott Walker as Governor of Wisconsin. They know what is best for you, really!
Jun 3, 2012 at 7:46 a.m.
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Barrett campaigned "about 90 miles west of Minneapolis"? He's even more left wing than I thought ;)
Jun 3, 2012 at 7:25 a.m.
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Why does anyone still question the motives of why Major Weaselface did to the unions? The Gazette apparently still believes the lies coming out of his mouth, even though he was pretty clear to his big buck supporters what his agenda was. And to have an ad slamming Barrett below this article ( F-rated by the NRA ) just shows how the Gazette is pushing their own agenda.
Jun 3, 2012 at 7:10 a.m.
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TGFSW
Jun 3, 2012 at 6:54 a.m.
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fair enough.
Jun 3, 2012 at 6:49 a.m.
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No hate just do not like the person
Jun 3, 2012 at 6:42 a.m.
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hatred, first thing in the morning. It's good to be me.
Jun 3, 2012 at 6:35 a.m.
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GOOD BYE scotty
HIT THE ROAD scotty
YOU ARE NO LONGER WANTED AS GOV. scotty
scott walker IS A BLACK EYE FOR WI.
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