There's no question that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who is trailing in the most recent polls, came out swinging against Gov. Scott Walker in a televised debate Friday night.
But whether he landed enough punches to sway enough voters in the June 5 recall election remains to be seen.
During the debate, sponsored by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, Democrat Barrett went after the Republican governor on a variety of issues, The Huffington Post reported.
According to a story by Amanda Terkel:
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett aggressively went after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in the first of two gubernatorial debates, taking him to task for an ongoing corruption probe, repeal of an equal pay enforcement law and out-of-state fundraising. Walker largely stuck to his talking points, spending more time going after unions than directly attacking Barrett, and telling viewers that the way to heal the polarized state was to re-elect him on June 5 and move beyond the recalls.
"This is not a rematch or a do-over," said Barrett, referring to his unsuccessful race against Walker in the 2010 gubernatorial election. "We cannot do-over the decision of Scott Walker to start a political civil war, which resulted in this state losing more jobs than any other state in the entire country in 2011.
Walker — who holds — fired a few shots of his own as well, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Walker noted that unemployment and taxes went up during Barrett's time as mayor.
According to the Journal Sentinel:
Walker said Barrett hasn't said enough about what tough choices he would have made to balance the state budget and what choices he would make going forward in the next budget.
"We don't really know what Barrett's going to do," Walker said. "He hasn't told the voters. He doesn't have a plan."
After the debate, both the Walker and Barrett campaigns wasted no time in declaring their candidate the winner.
"Tom Barrett won the first general election debate against Scott Walker in overwhelming fashion by focusing the discussion on critical issues of jobs, honesty, trust and the people of Wisconsin," the Barrett campaign said in a statement Friday night. "The debate drew a strong distinction between their approaches to leadership."
In a press release sent out less than five minutes after the debate ended, the Walker campaign said:
Governor Scott Walker delivered an exceptional debate performance this evening, handily defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the first of two televised debates ahead of the June 5 recall election.
“Governor Walker showed Wisconsin voters tonight why he is the best choice to move Wisconsin forward,” said Walker campaign spokeswoman Ciara Matthews. “Governor Walker’s reforms transformed a $3.6 billion budget deficit into a $154 million surplus, saved taxpayers over $1 billion, and helped Wisconsin employers create over 35,000 jobs. Mayor Barrett knows the truth is on our side, which is why he is resorting to angry and desperate tactics to distract voters and hide from his failed record as Milwaukee’s mayor.”
Both sides also sent reporters a myriad of "Fact Check" press releases throughout the debate in which they pointed our "misstatements" made by the opposing candidate. The state Republican Party emailed the media at least 10 such press releases during the one-hour debate.
I'm not for layoffs, I'm not for deficits. But I'm most certainly not for measures designed to rob the other side of political funding now and from now on and pretending it's about the budget. All Walker and the Fitzes had to do was write a sunset into Act 10 to reinstate full collective bargaining once economic growth reached a certain percentage again. Unions didn't cause this mess -- it's the economy, with layoffs that mean less income tax and sales tax revenues. Divide and conquer is a recipe for push-back.
The Democrats are using the same divide and conquer strategy by targeting the wealthy as being the bad guys. We on the right see the left going to the extreme when states like IL raise taxes across the board by 66% or even higher, and then still don't have enough revenue to cover their expenditures. Did you hear about the Chicago teacher's union rejecting a 2% pay increase in recent contract negotiations? Unions are nothing more than people, just as corporations are nothing more than people. Even if the union or corporation ceases to exist, the people that made up those entities still exist are just as capable of contributing to political parties as their former collective entities were. The whole taking away a funding source argument is nothing but a giant red herring argument.
The Republican party would be better off without his ilk.
I can't intelligently speak on behalf of another's motivations no more than you can. What I can tell you is that right to work legislation does not prevent private sector unions from forming. In fact, private sector unions in right to work states tend to have a more involved membership that carefully selects decent leadership which tends to follow James Riddle Hoffa's model of treating union/management relations as a symbiotic arrangement as opposed to one based on conflicting ideologies. In general, unions in right-to-work states tend to be foundationally stronger than their counterparts in closed shop states, which let's face the reality of the situation, have just become outright complacent, lazy, and unrealistic in their demands/expectations.
Similar to the description of insanity- Repeating the same mistakes over and over expecting different results!! June 5th Wisconsin moves forward with Gov Walker!!! Whoooooooo Hooooooooo We have assumed control!! We have assemed control!! We have assumed control!!
Walker, it turns out, also restructured debt--no change from Doyle there. What is different is that he has increased state debt more than Doyle did, and wasn't forthright about it. He claimed to have a surplus. This is much, much worse than axing state programs and jobs to "balance the budget." Increasing state debt is not synonymous with "It's working." More Walker budget shenanigans, on top of ALEC and the rest of it. I'm guessing this is really going to upset a lot of people. Mr. Hoffa, bloviate about "hypocrisy" being "DPW" all you wish. The true hypocrisy lies with our Governor.
Walker restructured debt and increased interest expense, and raised taxes on low income seniors by butchering Homestead tax credits. Tax and spend "conservatives." GOP, fix your party! Recall Scott Walker!
Mike in OC, all I do is read the newspapers and watch the news. The information is there for all. Anyone take you up on your "Second Amendment Solution" invitation to your home yet? ; )
Obviously, you missed the bottom line. The last three previous Governors, and especially Doyle, issued new original debt on top of refinancing old debt. Walker is merely refinancing old debt. Nowhere can I find anything in any of morninmist's links or online about new original state debt being issued under Walker - it's all just refinancing. That's the difference - and it's a HUGE one! Also, Doyle promised that he wouldn't approve a budget raising taxes while campaigning, but then did that very thing, remember? That on top of raiding funds, leaving outstanding liability with the state of Minnesota, and receiving and spending the largest federal stimulus in our state's history - and it still wasn't enough to get to a GAAP balanced budget. That's why people were finally fed up and wanted change. By not issuing any new original state debt, Walker is being true to the spirit of his promises regarding the budget. And the only reason he's refinancing previously issued debt is out of compromise to avoid deeper cuts from the state budget and mass layoffs of state public workers. But, if you really prefer that he get to a GAAP balanced budget, while also maintaining his promise on holding the line on taxes, then why aren't you calling for deeper cuts and mass layoffs?
"Governors delayed debt payments in the past. During the economic downturn Governor Doyle’s administration postponed debt to maintain state operations. But even during the recession, he did not delay debt payments at the speed or size Governor Walker delayed in the past year" That's because Governor Doyle didn't have the debt load to deal with that Walker now does because Doyle created a majority of it through new original debt offerings during his administration - duh!!! You really couldn't figure that one out on your own?!?! Unlike your precious Doyle, Governor Walker hasn't issued any new original debt obligations thus far - it's all just refinancing what previously existed. And the only reason he's doing that is out of compromise to prevent having to make deeper cuts to the budget or mass layoffs to public employees, which I'm sure would just act to enrage your side even further if he did, so I don't know why all of sudden your side is now attacking him for doing what he's doing - care to explain??? Man, for a guy that loves to post links to crap, you can't even read the full Politifact investigations, cause if you had, you would have realized all of this and avoided making yourself look a fool here. Then again, we don't expect very much from the koolaide drinking crowd that is unable to think for themselves, so carry on! Once again proving that Democrats prey upon the low information, non-thinking voter.
Thank you Mayor Barrett for bringing the truth to the people of Wisconsin during the debate. Thank you morninmist for conducting and presenting the research. Recall Scott Walker.
Here are a liberal's two open letters to his conservative friends and family. Without name calling he describes his well thought out rational for opposing Walker and his agenda. Decide for yourself. It is worth reading with an open mind. http://baronvonreed.com/category/baronish-musings/on-politics/
@Progress2day Fearful Walker keeping low profile, trying to run out the clock. Afraid of the people http://politi.co/KY0h0O #recallwalker
Ashland Current @ashlandcurrent Editorial cartoon: supporting Walker: http://www.ashlandcurrent.com/image/12/05/29/editorial-cartoon-supporting-walker
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/illinois-state-lawmaker-meltdown-house-floor-let-people-194225738.html