Political Heat

Comparison of economic slowdown makes it easier to see that we're doing worse under Gov. Walker Here's an easy way to describe Scott Walker's performance on job creation in the private sector... Pretend that we were traveling between Madison and Milwaukee on I-94. In 2010, when Gov. Jim Doyle was leaving office and Scott Walker was just about to be sworn in, let's say that we were traveling at about 60 miles per hour. That's fast, probably not as fast as we'd have liked to have gone, but still a decent pace. Two years later, in September of 2012, we've decided to drive back to Madison from Milwaukee -- but this time, instead of driving the "Doyle car" on jobs, we're in the "Walker car" on jobs. And how fast would that car be going? It'd be traveling about 36 miles per hour on the interstate . Which, as anyone can tell you, you don't want to be doing, especially around the Marquette Interchange.

Poll findings should cause us to wonder, "why can't our politicians act on bipartisan agreements?" The figures presented below are from the latest Marquette Law School poll, which you can find here . Several issues in the state of Wisconsin polarize the citizenry, an observation that isn't that hard to take note of. The right and the left can’t seem to see eye-to-eye on anything these days. But on two specific issues it seems there is room for compromise -- that is, if the political establishment is willing to allow it. On the issue of same-sex marriage , the two sides still see some disagreement. Only 17.6 percent of those who consider themselves Republicans support allowing gay and lesbian couples full marriage rights, while 64 percent of Democrats see no harm in expanding those rights to same-sex couples. Yet when it comes to granting at least some rights , Republicans and Democrats can reach common ground. More than 36 percent of Wisconsinites who consid...

WISGOP celebrates slower job growth under Scott Walker's tenure The Republican Party of Wisconsin released a statement this week that aimed to do some major damage control on behalf of Gov. Scott Walker’s track record. Walker, who was named loser of the week by UW’s Badger Herald, is under immense criticism for his failure to produce significant job growth during his first couple of years in office. Currently, our state is ranked 44th in terms of private sector job growth -- a significant drop from the end of 2010 when our ranking was 12th in the nation. But that didn’t stop WISGOP from touting Walker’s record -- at least, his record as they see it, from the perspective of their rose-tinted glasses. In the three years before Governor Walker took office, Wisconsin lost 150,000 jobs. Excessive taxes, out-of-control spending, and a large regulatory burden on our job creators hurled our state down the wrong path. According to the Republicans, it seems, the losses in jobs...

Incumbents have huge advantages in Wisconsin elections What did we learn from tonight? The spring election results demonstrate a simple notion, that incumbents do really well in Wisconsin. So well that people are willing to engage in cross-ticket voting just to keep the familiar office holders in power. Tony Evers and Pat Roggensack were the liberal and conservative candidates for office, respectively. Evers won his race, and Roggensack won hers. Both candidates won by the same percentages, relatively speaking. Which means that the people who determine the outcomes in Wisconsin elections -- i.e. the moderates -- are content with incumbents keeping the office they hold, so long as they don’t “rock the boat,” so-to-speak. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin needs to heed the outcomes of tonight with this special warning: Scott Walker, being the incumbent governor, has a huge advantage already for 2014. It's going to take one helluva candidate to defeat him next year.

Proposal would require "triggering mechanisms" for recalls of local officeholders A proposed bill in the State Senate would limit the recall process for local officials . Under Senate Bill 114, recall petitions for “a city, village, town, town sanitary district, or school district” officials would require a statement describing a specific criminal or ethical wrongdoing that had occurred before a petition could be circulated. Currently, recalls for elected officials need only a reason to be listed, and doesn’t require a “triggering” mechanism such as criminal activity or unethical behavior before it can come about. The law proposed would only affect recalls at the local level. Statewide officials -- state senators, the governor, and any other officeholder elected to serve in state government -- would be exempted from the law because they are bound to state constitutional standards, as would county officials. Changing those standards requires an amendment, while cha...