Trying to get anti-union activist and Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, out of office isn’t easy. The June 5 recall effort may not succeed. Why?
Certainly not because recall is unjustified. Rather, the outcome will be heavily influenced by shock troops from the right. The Rove team (also funded by the Koch brothers) are supporting Walker with millions, “carpeting” Wisconsin with TV ads. The Koch brothers alone have contributed at least $1 million.
The radical right, nationally, really wants Walker to stay in office. They are well aware that a successful recall could serve as a model for other centrist and Democratic challengers to radical Republican governors in states around the country. And so the money bags supporting the hard right are tossing money into an attempt to save Scott Walker.
Under the name Right Direction Wisconsin, the RGA has bought slightly more than $3 million worth of TV time to air its commercials in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, La Crosse and Wausau, according to political insiders.
Schrimpf declined to confirm those numbers.
“We never reveal campaign strategy or ad buys so as to not tip off the other side,” he said.
Overall, the group reported that it had raised more than $12.3 million and spent $5.6 million in the first three months of the year. Not all of that money went to the ads supporting Wisconsin’s Republican governor.
A number of those making donations to the group have ties to Walker.
David Humphreys, president and CEO of Tamko Building Products in Missouri, gave $250,000 to the RGA in February. A month earlier, he gave the same amount to Walker’s campaign fund.
Likewise, hedge fund founder Bruce Kovner, a former chairman of the American Enterprise Institute, kicked in another quarter-million dollars to the Republican group in January, just days after he contributed $100,000 directly to Walker.
Also, John Nau, president and chairman of Silver Eagle Distributors in Houston, donated $40,000 to Walker for the recall in late November. He gave the RGA another $25,000 in March.
Several Wisconsin-based firms coughed up cash for the governors’ group. Among them were the Kohler Co., which gave $25,000; American Transmission Co., $50,000; and Wisconsin Public Service Corp., $10,000.
And then there’s a contribution of $100-grand from Donald Trump, chairman and president of the The Trump Organization, in early January. …Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A little more than a month away from recall, Governor Walker and his supporters should be worried. Wisconsin, a labor state and one of the most prosperous states during the recession, is now, thanks to Walker, in the tank economically.
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin lost more jobs in the past year than any other state, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The bureau’s figures show the state lost 23,900 jobs from March 2011 to March 2012. No other state lost more than 3,500 jobs, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. …
Of those 17,800 were government jobs.
The loss of 6,100 private-sector jobs was also tops among the 50 states and Wisconsin was the only one of those that saw a decrease in total non-farm jobs, which includes both the public and private sector. ...Minneapolis Star Tribune