Scott Walker Denies He Is Target Of John Doe Criminal Investigation -
MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) vehemently denied a new report stating he is the target of a criminal corruption probe on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters after a meet-and-greet with volunteers at his campaign’s Wauwatosa headquarters, Walker said neither he nor his lawyers have received a letter stating that he is being sought out in the investigation, which is focused on Walker’s time as Milwaukee County executive. The allegations range from embezzlement to doing campaign work with taxpayer money.
The latest questions arose in after a Friday Facebook post by David Shuster of Take Action News. “According to government lawyers familiar with a Milwaukee criminal corruption probe, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is now a ‘target’ of the investigation,” wrote Shuster.
“A hundred percent wrong. Could not be more wrong,” said Walker when asked about Shuster’s story. “It’s just more of the liberal scare tactics out there desperately trying to get the campaign off-target from talking about what it was to begin with. The recall was about our reforms. Our opponents don’t want to talk about them. Then they shifted to jobs. … Now they want to switch to something else desperately, but there’s absolutely no truth to that whatsoever.”
Walker’s stop in Milwaukee was the sixth and last of the day, which he spent visiting other campaign offices and attending public events around Wisconsin.
Walker said his opponents will throw out “spin” and “false innuendo,” but that voters have nothing to worry about regarding the investigation.
h/t: Amanda Terkel at The Huffington Post
Dana Busted: Loesch, Katz, and other Teabaggers rally to support Kleefisch and Walker -
Yesterday, at a teabagger rally in Racine, Wisconsin featuring Walker/Kleefisch apologists, including Wisconsin Congressman and potential Romney VP choice Paul Ryan (R-WI01), Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R), The Dana Show’s lead substitute host Tony Katz, and of course CNN, KFTK, and Breitbart’s Dana The Devil. The rally featured tons of anti-union right-wing talking points.
Key Loesch falsehoods:
Campaign donations to help the #WIRecall effort and piss off Dana Loesch:
Tom Barrett (D): Governor for Wisconsin
Mahlon Mitchell (D): Lt. Governor for Wisconsin
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Wisconsin Recall: Democrats Expect To Win State Senate -
WASHINGTON — Despite polls showing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) maintaining a narrow lead in his bid to fend off a recall challenge Tuesday, national Democrats said they remain confident the party will come out on top during the election.
Michael Sargeant, head of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a national group focused on electing Democrats to state legislative seats, told HuffPost he is confident that Democrats can win the one state Senate seat they need to grab control of the chamber. Sargeant said polling data shows three of the four Senate recall races within the margin of error. “It is likely we’ll pick up one seat,” he said.
In addition to statewide recalls for governor and lieutenant governor, voters in four Wisconsin Senate districts have recall races of their own. Democrats said they have the strongest chance of defeating either Sen. Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls) or Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), or picking up a vacant Wausau area seat. Democrats are fielding former Rep. Kristen Dexter against Moulton and former Sen. John Lehman against Wanggaard. Democratic Rep. Donna Seidel and Republican Rep. Jerry Petrowski are facing off for the open state senate seat.
The seat became vacant when former Sen. Pam Galloway (R) resigned unexpectely in March as the recall campaign against her was finalized by state officials. Galloway said that her resignation was due to “multiple, sudden and serious health issues” in her family and was unconnected to the recall. State officials said the election would proceed as a special election. Galloway’s resignation leaves the Senate tied.
Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Clyman), facing a recall challenge from Democrat Lori Compas, is seen as the frontrunner in the rural southeastern Wisconsin district. When Wisconsin Democrats unveiled Senate challengers for the first time in March, a Fitzgerald challenger was not among the group. While the district trends Republican, Sargaent gave credit to voters for forcing a recall against the Senate leader.
“I am not going to disregard what she has done,” Sargeant said of Compas.
Following the 2011 recall elections, Democrats closed the Senate gap to one seat shy of the majority, with Galloway’s resignation causing a tie in the chamber.
Sargaent said he sees a Democratic Senate as positive for Wisconsin. “Having a Democratic Senate will restore some sense of sanity in state government,” he said.
The tie caused Fitzgerald and Senate Democratic Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) to become co-leaders pending Tuesday’s election. In addition Walker faces a recall battle against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R) is facing off against state firefighters union president Mahlon Mitchell (D).
H/T: John Celock at Huffington Post
Michelle Obama Supports Marriage Equality So That ‘Everyone Is Equal Under The Law’ -
In President Obama’s public endorsement of marriage equality, he noted that he arrived at his position partly because he wants to impart the value of equality to his daughters, Sasha and Malia, who have friends with same-sex parents. In Michelle Obama’s statement on marriage equality today — a response to a question posed on Twitter about the Obama family’s discussions surrounding gay marriage — the First Lady echoes these sentiments:
MICHELLE OBAMA: This is an important issue for millions of Americans, and for Barack and me, it really comes down to the values of fairness and equality we want to pass down to our girls. These are basic values that kids learn at a very young age and that we encourage them to apply in all areas of their lives. And in a country where we teach our children that everyone is equal under the law, discriminating against same-sex couple just isn’t right. It’s as simple as that.
h/t: Tara Culp-Ressler at Think Progress LGBT
Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak sentenced to life in prison for complicity in killings of protesters -@AP /@BreakingNews #HosniMubarak #Egypt
— Justin Gibson (@JGibsonDem) June 2, 2012
Enyart says he's considering run for Congress in 12th District | Elections | News Democrat -
Belleville attorney William Enyart, adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard, confirmed Friday he has been approached by 12th District Democrats to run for Congress in place of Brad Harriman on the November ballot.
Enyart said he is considering whether to run for the office but is yet undecided.
“I have had some people approach me and I think that is a great compliment,” Enyart said. “I plan to sit down with my wife and family to discuss it.”
Enyart is married to retired St. Clair County Circuit Judge Annette Eckert. He said he was called at about 5 p.m. Wednesday about the position, a day after Harriman announced he would drop out of the race for health reasons. He wouldn’t reveal who spoke with him.
Should he run, Enyart said he would most miss working with “a lot of fine airmen and a lot of fine soldiers” if he left the National Guard. He said his most proud work was helping people recover from natural disasters such as floods and blizzards.
He enlisted in the Air Force in 1969 and was on active duty for four years, two with the 375th Medivac Group at Scott Air Force Base and two with the 824th Combat Group in Okinawa.
When asked about his political philosophy, Enyart said he was uncomfortable with being labeled.
“I serve the American people and the people of the state of Illinois,” Enyart said. “I make sure the president of the United States has trained and ready soldiers and airmen in case he needs them and that the governor of Illinois has trained and ready soldiers if he needs them.”
A lack of political experience isn’t necessarily a liability, Enyart said. He said he has a long track history of working with the federal, state and local governments to get things done.
h/t: BND.com
Mitt Romney Vice-Presidential Pick Could Come Earlier Than Expected -
WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - Senator John McCain waited until just before the 2008 Republican convention to name his vice presidential pick, sticking to a timing tradition thought to pump up party activists before the big push to Election Day.
This year, there is at least a small chance that Republican Mitt Romney might break with tradition and name his vice presidential choice earlier in the summer, according to people advising the campaign.
Romney and a small circle of confidants are working quietly on a list of high-profile Republicans being considered for the No. 2 position. The confidants include his wife, Ann, long-time adviser Beth Myers and campaign manager Matt Rhoades.
Outside advisers to the Romney campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity, say he has the option of announcing his choice well before the Republican convention where Romney will be nominated, in Tampa in late August.
The tradition is to announce the No. 2 around the time of the convention to inspire grassroots activists and seek maximum publicity for the final two-month push to the Nov. 6 election.THE VETTING WINDOW
Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who was a senior adviser to Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, said the probing is extensive because the vice presidential choice is the first high-profile decision the candidate makes and it must be done correctly to show Americans the candidate can be trusted.
“It was everything you could imagine, making available your tax returns over X number of years, documents on everything you owned, anything that could prove embarrassing,” said Lehane.
Gore started out with about 20 names. Then the list was cut to 10 and then down to five and the rigor of the vetting became more serious. He eventually chose Senator Joe Lieberman, a moderate Democrat who later became an independent and was a top choice for McCain in 2008.
“A lot of these folks didn’t get through the initial vet - not necessarily because of anything scandalous. You start to look at votes, at positions. At the end of the day you end up with a limited number of folks,” said Lehane.Most Republican analysts expect him to pick a relatively safe choice to avoid a repeat of McCain’s 2008 pick of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who enlivened the Republican conservative base but was seen as not up to the job of vice president.
h/t: Huffington Post
Ultra-far-right fringe causing trouble.
The Daily Advertiser, a Gannett-owned paper serving central Louisiana, is standing by its decision to run an advertisement today in which a far-right extremist group suggests that President Obama and Democrats are conspiring to murder Catholics and Christians.
The ad shows a photograph of a Catholic priest who was shot and killed in Mexico in the 1920s, and suggests that President Obama and Democrats would do the same. It was posted by a user on Reddit this morning.
The ad copy is no better:
“AMERICA is under siege by the same evil (obama and democrats) as history shows over and over…We must learn from it or we are doomed to repeat it. We must be triumphant over terror.”
As with most newspapers, The Daily Advertiser says it does screen advertisements to ensure that blatantly false, overly offensive or otherwise inappropriate content is kept out of the paper.
The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg is claiming that 18-year-olds should be denied the right to vote because they are “so frickin’ stupid about so many things.” In a video first posted by the Daily Caller, Goldberg laments the culture’s obsession with youth and argues that conservatives should “beat out” young people’s belief that “socialism is better than capitalism.”
The magazine fired popular conservative columnist John Derbyshire in April after he topped off a long history of racism and sexism by advising children to avoid “concentrations of black.” It later ended its relationship with Robert Weissberg, who had ties to the white nationalist group American Renaissance.
H/T: Igor Volsky at Think Progress
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BREAKING: Judge orders George Zimmerman to turn himself in within 48 hours. Bond revoked. -
(Source: nbcnightlynews)
Recall Election Could Foretell November Vote -
The Wisconsin vote pitting Gov. Scott Walker against Tom Barrett will send a message about Americans’ attitudes toward candidates who cut collective bargaining rights.
And in many ways it is. The outcome of the election on Tuesday will not just decide the state’s leanings on matters of budget, taxes and policy, as well as the ultimate trajectory of Mr. Walker’s fast-rising political prospects. It will also send a message about a larger fight over labor across the country, and about whether voters are likely to reject those who cut collective bargaining rights, as Governor Walker did here last year for most of the state’s public workers, setting off this battle in the first place.
Broadly, the results will be held up as an omen for the presidential race in the fall, specifically for President Obama’s chances of capturing this Midwestern battleground — one that he easily won in 2008 but that Republicans nearly swept in the midterm elections of 2010.
On a recent afternoon, Mr. Walker, who is only the third governor in the nation to face a recall election, dashed onto a makeshift stage on a loading dock here as supporters screamed, the song “Only in America” pounded from loudspeakers, a bank of television cameras rolled and Mr. Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, beamed behind him.
Mr. Walker’s Democratic opponent, Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, who holds the hopes of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents who began seeking Mr. Walker’s recall just a year into the governor’s first term, has trailed in some public polls, though Mr. Walker’s lead has generally fallen within each poll’s margin of sampling error.
He has drawn his own outside help from national Democrats as well as from union groups, which are operating at least 32 field offices here and say they have been building neighborhood alliances with advocates for environmental issues, women, retirees and other causes. In the last few months, Mr. Barrett has raised more than $4 million in contributions — a lot, though not on the same scale as Mr. Walker, who benefited from a quirk in state law that allowed him to raise unlimited contributions (in some cases, as much as $500,000 from individual donors) for his campaign’s expenses before a recall was officially declared by the state.
At a restaurant in Mondovi, a small town in western Wisconsin, a table of women continued their bridge game the other day as Mr. Barrett asked for the crowd’s votes, pledged to end the “civil war” that has boiled over in Wisconsin in the last 16 months and poked at his opponent’s blossoming national profile.
“He loves being the poster boy for the Tea Party movement in this country,” Mr. Barrett, addressing another group jammed into a cafe in Menomonie, said of Mr. Walker. “And he has had a lot of success — he’s become the rock star of the far right.”
Former President Bill Clinton was expected to arrive here on Friday to campaign for Mr. Barrett, but to the disappointment of some voters, Mr. Obama has not appeared in person to bolster the campaign, nor have his top surrogates.
Although the president has conveyed his support for Mr. Barrett, the recall is an undeniably complex calculus for Mr. Obama’s strategists: Wisconsin has voted for Democrats in every presidential election since 1988, but the margins have sometimes been remarkably slim, and the recall election has led independents and Republicans who voted for Mr. Obama four years ago to take sides. He needs their votes in November and may not want to alienate them by stepping conspicuously into the fight.
Wisconsin residents once brimmed with stories of bipartisan cooperation — or at least civilized discourse between opposing political sides. Overflowing here now: stories of marriages, friendships, workplaces, Thanksgiving dinners divided by the fight that began in February 2011, when Mr. Walker announced plans to cut benefits and strip collective bargaining rights for most public workers.
Winning this election may be less a matter of convincing undecided voters, if there are any, than of getting people to the polls. The splintering that started when Mr. Walker cut bargaining rights has seeped into other issues: austere budget choices; a voter ID law; removal of a law that allowed people to seek punitive and compensatory damages in state court over employment discrimination; efforts to encourage iron ore mining,
Among the voters, the sides are stark and, more than a year after tens of thousands of protesters marched around the State Capitol in Madison, surprisingly raw.
“We don’t want the state taken over by the Koch brothers,” said Mary Jean Nicholls, a former teacher, referring to Charles and David Koch, billionaire industrialists who are among Mr. Walker’s supporters.
Craig Dedo, a computer consultant and Walker supporter, said the race boiled down to one question: Who runs Wisconsin? “The Democrats and the unions, who are the takers?” he asked, “or the Republicans, the party of the private sector and the people who pay the bills?”