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Wisconsin Recall Election Seen as Referendum

You might be thinking to yourself “Hey, what’s this political crap doing on Todd’s blog?” Well, I got my start in political blogging and stopped 3 years ago because I found it wasn’t healthy for me or my family or my business. The things I learned as a political blogger I now apply in my business practice and to the ideas I post here…

I’m going back to politics for one post simply because I feel that this recall election affects everyone in the country — not just us cheeseheads — but at the same time, I think people don’t have much bandwidth for civic issues they perceive don’t affect them. Here’s ABC’s perspective on the Wisconsin recall…

“In a battle viewed largely as a barometer for November’s showdown between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, Wisconsin voters on Tuesday will decide whether to oust Gov. Scott Walker for what Democrats contend is an unacceptable attack on organized labor by the GOP lawmaker.

During the winter of 2011, the Badger State became locked in a standoff as Walker pushed to roll back union rights for many public employees, infuriating labor groups in the state and around the country. While the governor ultimately succeeded in signing a law that stripped most public employees of their collective bargaining rights on pensions and health care, and limited their pay increases, the backlash against Walker set the stage for this week’s recall vote.

“It’s a statement about what role we think the public sector ought to play,” said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There are fundamental differences between the two parties here, and they mimic the debate in Washington. Republicans want to reduce the size of government, and they view the public sector as a hindrance to job growth, while Democrats want to use the public sector to spur job growth, promote fairness and serve as a safety net. We can’t do both. Wisconsin is a swing state, and it represents a lot of the diversity we find in the country in general, so for that reason I think the recall here is a symbol of the larger argument going on.”

Recent polls show Walker leading his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. A survey of likely voters conducted by Marquette University Law School from May 23-26 showed Walker with a 52 percent to 45 percent advantage over Barrett. But public polling can be unpredictable because of the special nature of the summertime election, and that poll came before the two opponents engaged in a heated debate Thursday night.” Get more here: Wisconsin Scott Walker Recall Election Viewed ss Referendum – ABC News.

In 2008, I stepped down from my position as 3rd Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin due in large part to bad experiences in dealing with campaigns and party officials. While I never had a bad experience with Scott personally I did have one with his campaign. Despite the bitter taste in my mouth, I’ll be voting for Scott tomorrow. For me, there is an important issue at stake; namely, from my perspective powerful forces like unions outside our state are trying to influence how we live here for their own purposes. Scott Walker promised to bring fiscal sanity back to Wisconsin and for the most part he has kept those promises. Of course people and organizations who have been feeding at the public trough are pissed but Wisconsin and the United States cannot continue handing out public monies they way they have. Scott Walker has been good for Wisconsin and the US; I encourage you to support him tomorrow…

PS Did you know this is only the third time in our nation’s history that a governor has faced a recall election?

Wisconsin sheds 8,200 jobs

Scott Walker - Cartoon
Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

July was a rough month for Wisconsin’s economy, giving up much of the big employment gains the Badger State boasted in June.

Uncertainty and worry about the national economic picture played a part in last month’s disappearance of more than 8,000 jobs, Gov. Scott Walker and others say.

Bloody numbers

Wisconsin shed 8,200 total jobs in July, according to the latest seasonally adjusted data from the state’s Department of Workforce Development.

The private sector cut 12,500 jobs last month on a seasonally adjusted rate, but public sector growth made up the difference.

It’s a monthly reversal of fortune for an economy that saw the creation of 9,500 jobs in June, more than half of the meager job growth nationwide.

“Wisconsin is not immune to the national economic slowdown this summer, and we are seeing the effects of the national economy in our July numbers,” DWD Secretary Scott C. Baumbach in a news release.

Campaigns not buying social media

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Image via Wikipedia

How effective new media can be for candidates looking to convert an online presence to a victory on Election Day, however, is still a subject for debate.

Some believe that while effective Twitter or Facebook accounts can make candidates more approachable, they also can make politicians into more polarizing figures.

The prime example discussed at the event, titled “Going Viral: How Campaigns Are Using Social Media,” was Sarah Palin, who has the ability to drive a news cycle with a 140-character tweet or drive a policy conversation by tapping out a Facebook note, as she did last year when she wrote of “death panels” during the debate over health care reform.

By tweeting, Palin — who often gets taken to task by the media for making errors in her casual notes to followers — is able to preserve and build support from fans who care more about her approachability than her accuracy. Just last week, Palin accidentally tweeted that John Raese was from Pennslyvania, when he actually is running for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia.

“She’s definitely more likely to be the Republican nominee for president but less likely to actually be president,” said Matthew Hindman, GW assistant professor of media and public affairs.

Read more here: politico.com

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