Political Heat

Governor erroneously blames recalls, protests, for a different year of slow growth Seriously, Gov. Walker, I JUST wrote about this. In a statement to Chicago journalists earlier today -- because heaven forbid the governor of Wisconsin actually speak on the subject in Wisconsin -- Gov. Scott Walker took time out of his schedule to explain, once again, the reason that jobs were so slow in the state had nothing to do with him or his policies: Walker commented on a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed Wisconsin added private-sector jobs at a 1.1% pace in the 12-month period from March 2012 to March 2013, while the U.S. added jobs at a 2.0% rate . ... “These numbers are March to March, and in March of last year, we were still three months out from the recall election ,” Walker said at a press conference in Chicago, where he appeared at an economic forum. “And as I point out repeatedly, employers in the state were basically frozen until they knew what would...

Lacking contextual meaning, WMC ads conceal Walker's dismal job creation record Recent advertisements in support of Gov. Scott Walker are trying to highlight new ratings made by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve. According to the Philadelphia Fed, Wisconsin now ranks as second in the country in terms of potential economic growth. On the surface, that ranking sounds like things are finally turning the corner in Wisconsin. After months and years of lagging, finally we’re at the top of the country in an economic ranking! But the context of that ranking is significant. It doesn’t mean that Wisconsin is poised to be the next-to-best state in the country. Rather, it means Wisconsin has the second best chance of seeing positive growth in the next six months. Part of that is due to some economic recovery. But a good portion of where that ranking is coming from is the fact that, since Wisconsin has faltered for so long, it has nowhere but upwards to move . Case in point: the rece...

Job creation claims by the Walker administration are crafted to look better than they are Scott Walker’s book, the upcoming “Unintimidated,” should be a magician’s manual. With all the smoke and mirrors he and his lackeys throw around surrounding his supposed economic successes, Walker really is the king of illusion. Or maybe delusion. There are three especially callous ways in which Gov. Walker tries to swindle the people of Wisconsin into believing his bogus claims on jobs. The first: he showcases surveys that are meaningless . Take, for example, a survey that Gov. Walker touted showing that Wisconsin had jumped from the 41st best state in the nation to do business in to 17th place. That’s a significant gain... but without the context of how the rankings are crafted, it doesn’t mean much. It means even less when the context IS given . The rankings in that particular survey ask more than 500 CEOs across the nation to rank states based on perceptions of states’ business...

Leftists and moderates should focus on the bigger picture, and not quibble over the party's methods To Burke, or not to Burke. That is the question. Well, not really. No one is being forced to support Mary Burke as a candidate for governor at this point, and any notions that suggest otherwise are overblown accounts of what the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is really doing. The infighting among Democrats in Wisconsin about Mary Burke has less to do with her policy positions and more to do with how she’s becoming a candidate. Mary Burke is considering a run for governor To be sure, there are definitely some party members who find her views to be wrong for them personally , with several going so far as to say that they couldn’t support her candidacy were she the eventual nominee for the party. While they may say that now, it’s hard to imagine any Democrats , who are so ardently against current Gov. Scott Walker, sitting on their hands in 2014 if Burke wins the nomina...