Thursday, March 5, 2009

Walker: Hyper-hypocritical And Malevolent


As I wrote about last night, the Milwaukee County Board has established a committee to spearhead getting stimulus dollars into the county and to put them to work to rebuild the infrastructure that Walker has neglected for the past seven years.

I also mentioned that Walker was going to try to hinder this any way he could:

Unfortunately, this committee has already hit a roadblock by Walker when he ordered his department heads to not cooperate with this committee in any shape, way or form. This is insanity. It doesn't matter whether Walker thinks the stimulus dollars are a good idea or not. The bill has already been signed. It's a done deal.

For Walker to refuse to take advantage of the money, even though we are going to get taxed to pay for it, is no longer political posturing. Again, it is utter insanity. It is like chipping in for an elaborate feast, and then, even though you're literally starving to death, you refuse to eat any of the food.

A full twenty-four hours after my post, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published posted a story on their webpage that covers the same thing:

Milwaukee County supervisors aim to sidestep County Executive Scott Walker's aversion to seeking federal stimulus aid with their own state lobbying but fear foot-dragging by county department heads could hamper the effort.

The active participation of staff who take their orders from Walker is needed for the county to effectively compete for its fair share of the stimulus money, Supervisor Theo Lipscomb, chairman of a new task force on the topic, said Wednesday.

Given Walker's high-profile disdain for seeking stimulus aid, Lipscomb is not optimistic about getting full cooperation for the board's pursuit. Five county department heads were named to the task force by County Board Chairman Lee Holloway in an effort to draw them into the application process.

But Walker said Wednesday that he won't let any county staff participate. Walker will allow county staff to help apply for federal money only for projects that meet his criteria: no required county match and no ongoing county costs.

But that isn't all. Walker, who was once for federal money, even though it required a local match and maintenance costs, then against it, then for it again, then against it again, is now for it again, sort of. In other words, the weasel continues to waffle. He has flip-flopped on this so much, and has given such hypocritical stances, I wouldn't be surprised if Walker doesn't know where he stands on the issue anymore.

He states to the reporter that he will take the money if there is no local match, and if there's no ongoing costs, but then states that he is OK with some 18 projects, which include at least some road repair. Somehow, Walker must figure that he is again in make-believe land, where the roads, once newly laid, won't ever buckle from the ice of a Wisconsin winter, won't ever wear down from having thousands of cars, buses and trucks riding over it on a daily basis, and will automatically salt and plow themselves. Amazingly (or maybe not so amazingly) the reporter never challenges him on this.

But that still isn't all. Walker's malevolence shines through when he comes up with this doozy:

If the state approves money he didn't ask for, Walker said, he'll reject it. If the County Board puts up a fight, he'll consider legal action to prevent the money from being spent, he said.

"We're not going to do something that puts us into a potential budget deficit," he said.

The possible conflict over accepting or rejecting federal aid to the county may be unprecedented, the county executive said.

Wow. Just wow. First of all, Walker never asked for any stimulus money from the state, so by that statement, it would mean that if Walker had any integrity in him, he would refuse all money, even for his illegal and short-sighted tax cut*.

Then for him to have the gall to say that he is concerned about a potential budget deficit...

The only county budget in the last seven years that didn't have a midyear crisis, or end up as a deficit like 2008, is the year he took himself out of the process entirely. Not to mention that there will be still hundreds of millions of dollars in pension obligations and neglected infrastructure problems that will have to be addressed sooner or later. And it won't get any cheaper later. And transit, can't forget transit. Unless there is a lot of money poured into the transit system, it will be drastically cut, by at least 35%, in next year's budget. That is going to hurt a lot of people, and a lot of businesses.

But negligence apparently is no longer good enough for Walker, who is desperately trying to salvage his gubernatorial campaign, which has received continuous setbacks even before he has officially announced that he is running.

Now, Walker wants to take a more proactive role of hurting the county by threatening to "take legal action" if the board overrides any veto of his. I don't even know if he would have any legal grounds to stand on. What is he going to do, state that the Board is out of line by doing the job he should have been doing himself?

If Walker does try anything like that, I think he will be surprised by the level of backlash he will receive from the public. People who are already out of work, or are very afraid of losing their jobs, are not likely to be very forgiving to someone who would try to prevent even a little bit of help come through. On top of that, the infrastructure is in very bad shape and getting worse with each passing day. The citizens can see that things are wrong and need to be fixed. Even Walker's buddies in talk radio and at the newspaper won't be able to save his political career from the black mark he would give himself.

This cavalier attitude would, however, explain one of his most recent jaunts to Washington, D.C., where he was schmoozing up to special interests and to former Governor Tommy Thompson. Tommy must have taught him all about the "Stick it to Milwaukee" method of administrating.

It is hard to believe that he would go this far, and allow the County taxpayers to suffer this much, just for the sake of his own personal political aspirations.

I wonder if, with all of Walker's hyper-hypocritical grandstanding and his blatant malevolence to allowing the county any succor, if some people might, just might, find it to be malfeasance yet?

Heh. You'll have to pardon me if I don't hold my breath.

4 comments:

  1. I take mild offense with your description of Walker's antics in this sentence,

    "Even Walker's buddies in talk radio and at the newspaper won't be able to save his political career from the black mark he would give himself."

    Obviously, you have made an incorrect use of the word, "career," in this instance. A more appropriate noun might be, "ass."

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  2. This has been Walker's career all along. He really rode corrections in the state legislature and now Wisconsin has one of the most expensive systems in the country.

    Now he wants to turn all of Milwaukee county into a campaign prop to appeal to a minority of Wisconsin voters in the GOP right wing.

    The question we have to ask ourselves, is Walker a luxury we can't afford?

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  3. My apologies, non quixote.

    I shall make sure to call it more accurately. But give me some credit, please. I got the weasel part down correctly, don't I?

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  4. And still, Walker will be shocked when Mak Neumann comes riding in as the savior of the WisGOP and offers to be their candidate.

    Walker will be left hold his rancid sack of melting campaign promises and discredited ideas.

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