Legendary Unintimidated Scott Walker Seen In Philadelphia

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“If I can take on 100,000 protesters. I can do the same across the world.” - Gov. Scott Walker (WI)

This is how Scott Walker's campaign really see Scott Walker in a press release never published:

Finally, American voters can now get an idea about what Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin means when he boasts of taking on threats to the free world and defeating them. On Wednesday in Philadelphia, he easily handled two protesters in the same fashion told of previously only in legends.

The two menacing protesters were seen in Philadelphia carrying coded messages on signs in black lettering and wearing casual American khaki, blue jeans and thick-rimmed glasses obviously to cover for their devious plans to bring America down to its knees.

But Scott Walker wouldn't let them.

As the unintimidated leader pretended like the public was not in danger, he fearlessly continued to munch on his steak sandwich without disrupting our daily lives while courageously keeping his back to the attackers. As this serious situation continued to unfold, the American public experienced how Walker bravely refused to make any eye contact with those big government interests and without uttering a word of debate or acknowledgement, single-handedly forced his detractors to retreat.

As evidenced by this recent attack, the powerful but modest freedom fighting tactician selflessly offers himself with no expectations of reward in defense of the American people with the polish, experience and know-how we come to expect from protectors of the free world. Scott Walker has repeatedly shown that he is mentally prepared to take on the greatest threats in the world including ISIS.

Milwaukee Bucks: Cheaper For Taxpayers To Get Rid Of Them

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"If you can't get rich dealing with politicians, there's something wrong with you" -- Donald Trump

Sure. Nobody wants to get rid of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team or any professional sports team for that matter from their local economy, but at what cost do we keep them?

According to this article by Bruce Murphy at Urban Milwaukee, the total cost for the arena on the body collective of taxpayers (Federal, state, city, county, including tax exemptions exclusive to the deal) and oddly left unreported by corporate media sources comes close to ONE BILLION DOLLARS.

The unseen hits on local taxpayers in the deal include a property tax extraction of $450M from the General Fund over the next 30 years for the entire complex followed by anti-competitive corporate and sales tax exemptions for the team that everyone else pays followed by a sales tax exemption on luxury boxes. The hits on the little people just keep on coming. Read Murphy's take on the deal here.

Meanwhile, you can read Politifact's inconclusive (of course) review of Walker's claim that taxpayers would lose $419 million if the deal falls through and the Bucks decide to move out of state.

ADDITIONAL:

Deadspin - Bucks Co-Owner Now Works For Governor Who Pushed Through Arena Deal

The Nation - Scott Walker Is Trolling Us

Truthdig - Gov. Walker and the Democrats’ Dance: The Shady Politics Behind the Milwaukee Bucks Arena <-- Facepalm For Democrats

Special Prosecutor On John Doe Ruling: Truth and Justice Denied For Wisconsin

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As you probably know, I rarely post the entire text or works of others on the blog without permission, but feel obligated to do so this time given the serious nature and deleterious impact the state's supreme court John Doe ruling will have on the state of Wisconsin.

It speaks for itself.

From: Francis Schmitz
Date: Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 1:17 PM
Subject: Statement regarding Wisconsin Supreme court ruling
To:

I am disappointed with today’s ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court and respectfully disagree with the conclusions drawn by the majority which end the investigation. The decision represents a loss for all of the citizens of Wisconsin — independents, Democrats and Republicans alike.

It defies common sense that a Wisconsin resident of average means who gives $25 to a campaign has his or her name publicly reported under the law but, according to this decision, someone who gives, for example, $100,000 to a group which closely coordinates with the same campaign can remain anonymous. The United States Supreme Court has fittingly characterized such donations as “disguised contributions” to the candidate. As stated in Wisconsin Statute 11.001, “[w]hen the true source of support or extent of support is not fully disclosed, or when a candidate becomes overly dependent upon large private contributors, the democratic process is subjected to a potential corrupting influence.”

Particular justices assert as fact many allegations that I specifically denied in my response materials. There has been no fact-finding hearing conducted at any level establishing, for example, that search warrants were executed unprofessionally or that persons were denied an opportunity to contact their attorneys. All of these search warrants were audio-recorded and it is wrong for the court to accept as true the information alleged by some of the Unnamed Movants and their media outlets.

It is also unfortunate that the citizens of Wisconsin will not have the benefit of a public discussion of the facts and the law because the court decided not to allow oral argument. Consequently, I was denied the opportunity to appropriately respond to the campaign of misinformation about how and why the investigation was conducted.

Sourced from Election Law Blog

Refusing Recusal, Wisconsin SC Judges Rule In Favor Of Their Campaign Clients

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The ruling on the John Doe investigations into Gov. Scott Walker's illegal campaign coordination came as no surprise in Wisconsin as many of us knew in advance how Walker's dark money advocacy groups performed a coup of Wisconsin's Supreme Court.

CMD Excerpt:
"The dark money groups that bankrolled the Walker team's recall victories got the decision they wanted from the justices they swept into office with their spending," said Lisa Graves, Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy.

“It comes as no surprise that a court elected with $10 million in support from the same dark money groups under investigation would overturn years of precedent and open the door to unlimited secret funds in Wisconsin elections, fully coordinated with candidates,” said Brendan Fischer, General Counsel of the Center for Media and Democracy.

That these judges continued to hear these cases and rule as if there was no conflict of interest is a major scandal in of itself.

This ruling permanently smears the reputation of our state's supreme court and will have a chilling effect on justice in Wisconsin for years to come. Read CMD's full denunciation of the John Doe Ruling here.

ADDITIONAL

WPT - Howard Schweber On John Doe Proceedings

Blue Cheddar - Corrupt Wisconsin Supreme Court kills John Doe investigation

Democurmudgeon - Already a Laughing Stock, Wisconsin Supreme Court clears Walker, kills off John Doe probe, orders evidence Destroyed w/video Mike McCabe perspective

Wisconsinites To Rally Against Koch Brothers Puppet For President

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Wisconsin Gazette Excerpt:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is set to officially declare his candidacy for president next Monday and Wisconsinites are ready with a warning to the rest of the nation about the Republican's "dangerous agenda."

The rally against Walker will be held at 4 p.m. on July 13 at the Waukesha County Expo Center, 1000 Northwest Road, Waukesha.

People For the American Way, Voces de la Frontera, Americans United for Change, We Are Wisconsin, League of Conservation Voters and a coalition of more than 20 local and national grassroots activist groups are involved in planning the event.

Scott Walker is scheduled for about 5 p.m. at the expo center.

On the Web …

To join in the event, go to this page on Facebook.

PR Watch - Koch Brothers Declare Scott Walker Is Our Man

Desmoines Register - Scott Walker Said He Was "Surprised" By Koch's Hint He's Their Favorite (Walker said he was under the impression no one was supposed to know until after the primary.)

Janesville Forum: Matt Rothschild On The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

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The Rock County Progressives present an educational forum:

Speaker:
Matt Rothschild on the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is a homegrown network of citizens fighting government corruption and working for fair elections, judicial integrity, media democracy, and open and transparent government. The Democracy Campaign pursues these objectives through research, citizen education, community outreach, coalition building and direct advocacy.

Rothschild was the longtime editor and publisher of The Progressive magazine, where campaign finance reform, clean elections and real democracy have been priorities since the days of the publication's founder Fighting Bob La Follette.

When:
Wednesday, July 8
6 PM-6:30 PM cheese & cracker reception (nonalcoholic potluck)
6:30 PM - 7:45 PM, speaker & discussion

Where:
Basics Cooperative Natural Foods Store
1711 Lodge Dr.
Janesville, Wisconsin

* This is an independent event not affiliated with Basics *

Directions:
from Madison route 90 until 1st Janesville exit, south on Route 26 past route 14, look for Toys R Us on the right, right on Lodge Drive, on right across from Toys R Us. The Community Room is to the left when you come in.

Local Rep. Loudenbeck Listed Among Those Smashing Wisconsin's Open Records Laws

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Apparently too ashamed of their red state policies to stand with them (who could blame them?), a cabal of state republicans, seemingly at the behest of Gov. Scott Walker, refused to say who is behind their red state plan to gut Wisconsin's open record laws.

JS Online Excerpt
Madison— A dozen Republican lawmakers shot the state's open records law full of holes late Thursday, but they are declining to say who is the prime force behind shielding legislators and other government officials from having to show the public how they make decisions.

All 12 Republicans on the committee voted for the motion. Among republicans listed is south-central assembly representative Amy Loudenbeck (ALEC).

All four Democrats on the committee voted against the proposal.

Once again, much like Justice Michael Gableman's recent bizarre request to hold a court review of a conviction in Walker's first John Doe scandal, only to suddenly reverse and cancel the request, voters and the media should not allow these episodes to just fade away if they're suddenly dropped without their sponsors fully explaining themselves.

ADDITIONAL:

PR Watch - As Walker Announces, WI GOP Moves to Gut Open Records Law

The Myth Of Matching Funds In The Bucks Arena Deal

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The press conference held by Gov. Scott Walker a couple weeks ago on his plan for hooking taxpayers with half of the cost for a new playpen for the Milwaukee Bucks, in my view, held a treasure trove of his ideological schisms on how he sees his fiduciary responsibility in office and the role of government.

But also among his statements was the promotion of a 50/50 match in funds for the new arena between taxpayers and the team's owners.

The problem with that from a taxpayers point of view is Kohl's "gift" of $100 million for a new arena is wrongly assumed to be part of the current ownership's share for a new arena.

JS Online Excerpt: April 17, 2014
Kohl announced in December he was searching for additional investors to take the franchise into the future. He made a condition of a sale that the team would remain in Milwaukee. [ ... ] This is a major step forward in my goal in keeping the Bucks here," said Kohl ...

In my view, Kohl's condition on the sale not only changed the direction of pursuit between any parties interested in keeping the team in Milwaukee, his gift created a third party fund exclusive of the new owners and government.

That is to say, without knowing the precise wording of the sales contract between the seller, former Bucks owner Herb Kohl, and the buyers, the onus of keeping the team in Milwaukee falls entirely on the new owners ...because if they don't, the sale is null and void and team ownership would revert back to Herb Kohl. Again, that is my interpretation taken from media reports and not from a reading of the actual sales contract. So I am not 100% sure about that claw-back feature or the triggers of the condition. Then of course, there is also the NBA's franchise licensing in the mix to consider.

But if anything matters it should be that Kohl's sale condition does not "run" with the team or the new owners because IF the NBA takes control of the team and they move it out of Milwaukee, the NBA or its current owners would LOSE Kohl's $100M for an arena to be built elsewhere. In other words, Kohl's gift runs with the land (a MKE location) as a prime condition of the sale.

In short, Kohl's generous $100M gift operates like a state incentive for the team to stay in MKE. It also lowers the $500M arena tab to $400M. In this interpretation, the Bucks owners $150M stake then becomes 37.5% of the $400M balance against the government taxpayers 62.5% share. My point is Kohl's gift or any other third party cash donors for the arena should countdown the total cost of the project with the balance remaining shared equally (50/50) with the owners and taxpayers, if, IF the narrative to make a deal with matching funds is a key sales point as Scott Walker seemed to imply.

The question to ask is where are our elected leaders to challenge any of those numbers or basic assumptions on behalf of the taxpayers? As usual, I don't think anyone is looking out for the taxpayers, and particularly more so when it involves these nefarious big-money public/private partnerships.

ADDITIONAL:

Think Progress - Wisconsinites Blast Scott Walker’s Stadium Deal As ‘Outrageous’

CapTimes - John Nichols: Don't just hand Walker arena bailout