This past weekend at the DPW Convention, I became convinced more than ever that Scott Walker will have a very tough time beating Tom Barrett this November. Why? Because of several things.
Listening to Barrett’s speech on Saturday, it was impressive to see how fired up he was. He was committed to go above and beyond and truly make an impact with the crowd, of which he succeeded. He kept firing off the issues that make him the better candidate over any Republican, especially Walker. That should concern the Walker camp, since right now they’re embattled with an in-party fight with Mark Neumann over who should be the Republican nominee. While Barrett could easily sit it out and let the Republicans duke it out, he’s choosing to get right in it.
Walker and the Republicans should be concerned about the whole “jobs” issue Barrett is successfully touting for himself. I think that’s why Walker’s so heavy on this “Brown Bag Movement” and Neumann is hyped on conservatism. Barrett and the Democrats are essentially yanking the jobs topic away from the Republicans in an effective manner. Barrett’s jobs ad shows how successful he has been in Milwaukee. Furthermore, whenever Republicans attempt to make Barrett a big bad guy with state business giants like MillerCoors or Harley-Davidson, the corporations themselves calm things down and end up making Republicans look foolish. If Milwaukee big businesses end up rallying behind Barrett, that’s a bad sign for Walker. It can happen too – Walker’s positions, especially on mass transit and high speed rail, are totally against what businesses in the Milwaukee region have been asking…demanding…for years.
Ultimately, it comes down to what the people of Wisconsin want. To be frank, I think the businesses and residents of this state want a person to truly promote the American Dream and continually put Wisconsin in a good light. The notion that Wisconsinites should rally behind a politician who promotes driving in an old Saturn and brown bag lunches is absurd, to say the least. Americans since 1776 have always had the motivation and the dream to be prosperous and successful, and to never stop until those goals are achieved in their lives. What Walker is promoting is to basically stall that American Dream for the entire State of Wisconsin. Why try to get a Cadillac when an old Saturn is all you need? Why bother with places like the Cheesecake Factory when all you need is a brown bag lunch? Wisconsinites will be finding out sooner rather than later that the brown bag mentality isn’t necessarily the mentality a state needs in order to achieve great success in landing new businesses, jobs and technologies.
That’s why we need Tom Barrett as our next governor.
I agree with you 100%. Walker’s idea of economic development is to cut taxes, cut jobs, starve public & mass transit and hope that the much discredited trickle down theory works again. With the Wisconsin Technology Council behind high speed rail, Walker has a pro-business group against him on this issue at least.
This was the first time in a long time that I’ve seen Mayor Barrett this energized. I was afraid he’d be as laid back as we was the last time he ran for governor or the last mayoral campaign and that it would cost him. But he seems ready and eager for this one!
We need Barrett like we need another term of Jim Doyle. Cutting taxes for the wealthy, whether you believe it or not – creates jobs. It’s worked every time. I dare you to name a time it didn’t work. And yes, it even worked for Bush.
Cutting GOVERNMENT jobs reduces spending, especially when the average government salary and benefit is higher than that of a private sector job. For crying out loud a bus driver in Madison made more than the mayor did in 2009! You think some money might not be well spent?
And MadCityMan – we already have a bus line that goes between Milwaukee and Madison. You ever heard of Badger Bus Lines?
What’s Tom Barrett going to do to get jobs in WI and prevent them from leaving? He’s already said he’s not going to repeal combined reporting, which would save Harley some of the 22 million dollars in taxes they have. Tom Barrett’s record for raising taxes is atrocious, all the back to his days in the state legislature and US Congress. And so far, Barrett has yet to tell me he is going to be any different than Doyle. You can protect your Wisconsin Deomcratic politicians all you want, but this is what they’ve given us:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/23/best-states-for-business-beltway-best-states_table.html
48 of 50. Woohoo!
“We need Barrett like we need another term of Jim Doyle. Cutting taxes for the wealthy, whether you believe it or not – creates jobs. It’s worked every time. I dare you to name a time it didn’t work. And yes, it even worked for Bush.”
Quick, name the only President since World War II to preside over an economy in which federal government employment rose more rapidly than employment in the private sector.
If you’re stuck, the answer is George W. Bush.
Oh, and one more thing…
According to MarketWatch, the metro Milwaukee area was ranked as the 20th best place to do business, marking the third year in a row that Milwaukee has ranked in the top 20 of the annual survey of the 101 largest metropolitan areas, and Milwaukee was ranked higher than metro areas such as Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Chicago.
Kinda flies in the face of your assertion that Tom Barrett turned Milwaukee into a terrible place to do business.
And how long do you think that is going to last with the second lowest reading scores in the nation coming out of MPS and no college graduates coming to Milwaukee?
http://www.jsonline.com/business/96226434.html
Oh hey, look at that. Pittsburgh and Atlanta is on the rise!
Oh but hey, maybe we can get another Spanish manufacturer to come to Milwaukee by giving them special tax breaks to build things we don’t need, like Talgo and the train. Wait a minute, don’t we already have Super Steel? Doyle and Barrett can’t even build useless things right!
“Cutting taxes for the wealthy, whether you believe it or not – creates jobs. It’s worked every time. I dare you to name a time it didn’t work.”
No actually it doesn’t and I believe that President Reagans tax cuts for the wealthy cost President George H W Bush his second term. AND the mess we are currently in occurred despite the President George W Bush tax cuts for the wealthy (which are about to expire).
Harley’s problems aren’t from combined reporting…and recently published articles state their anticipated state tax for this year will be closer to $1 million.
You didn’t explain to me where tax cuts didn’t work.
I didn’t say it was completely combined reporting, but they still have about a 22 million dollar tax burden.
http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/HD_News/Company/newsarticle.jsp?locale=en_US&articleLink=News/0418_press_release.hdnews&newsYear=2009&history=news
Unless WI does something, Harley will be moving to a state with a better business climate.
Harley is most likely moving out of the states period.
“You didn’t explain to me where tax cuts didn’t work.”
It’s the economy stupid.
And I believe Milwaukee County taxes rose faster than State of Wisconsin taxes…that spend thrift Gov. Doyle did better than our County Exec Scott Walker.
Scott Walker never proposed tax increases, the County Board overrode his vetoes every time.
And after years of complaining that Scott Walker of slashing spending, you guys are now calling him a big spender and taxer.
http://bloggingblue.com/2009/07/16/stay-classy-scott-walker/
Can’t have it both ways.
Scott Walker never proposed tax increases, yet the tax levy from the first budget he proposed to this last year’s budget that he proposed rose by over 30%.
If Scott Walker really wanted to claim he hadn’t increased County spending during his time in office, then the tax levy he proposed this year would be identical to the tax levy he proposed in his first executive budget.
So if Obama presents a budget to COngress with no tax increases, Congress makes a budget with tax increases and spending, they send it to Obama and he vetoes and sends it back to Congress, they override his veto – did Obama propose a tax increase?
The answer is no. He did not. That’s what happened to Scott Walker.
But as Zach said…County Exec Walker never proposed a county budget that included a tax decrease year over year. He was always ‘satisfied’ using last year’s budget levy as his starting point for the next year. He knew he was incapable of negotiating with the county. And he won’t be able to corrall the legislature.
If he can’t work with the county board to get the tax cuts he wanted, how do you think he’s going to do with an even more intransigent state legislature? County Exec Walker doesn’t know how to govern once he manages to get elected.
“Cutting GOVERNMENT jobs reduces spending, especially when the average government salary and benefit is higher than that of a private sector job.” And once you lay them off you pay for their unemployment and nobody’s doing their job. Highly effective economic ploy…NOT. Why do you think the outsourcing of security at the courthouse isn’t returning the savings that was projected? Somebody assumed the contractor would/could hire all of the former county employees and forgot to figure for unemployment benefits. Who was that again?
Show me where that didn’t save money, because it did. Sure, it didn’t meet projections, but still saved money. Unemployment is temporary, not permanent, that money will be recouped.
Unemployment money is never truly recouped. Reduced employment results in reduced spending and reduced tax revenues, particularly for an entity like the county that has sales tax as part of their revenue stream.
But the point that they didn’t meet projections had nothing to do with whether they ‘saved’ money or not…the issue is they aren’t smart enough to make a proper projection.
“We need Barrett like we need another term of Jim Doyle. Cutting taxes for the wealthy, whether you believe it or not – creates jobs. It’s worked every time.”
I can’t let you lie like that. We just came off a decade where taxes for the wealthy were cut to the lowest levels in generations, and we also ended up falling 17 MILLION JOBS below the post-World War II trend of growth.
And the reason that bus driver ended up making more than the Mayor of Madison was because they were following your favored philosophy of not hiring people due to the benefit cost. So they ended up paying OT to people because you still need to have someone driving the bus. Not surprisingly, this simple lesson of business eludes you, which is why you cling to such a failed philosophy.
And as the article notes, Barrett is not only showing some life, he’s POSITIVE on the ability of this state to grow and improve. All that Sykes-people like you have is negativity and whining, in addition to an awful record of governance-by-ideology. Unlike the 2,000 square miles surrounded by reality known as suburban Milwaukee, the other 80% of the state doesn’t go for whining and blaming, which is why suburban Milwaukee sticks up like a sore, red thumb in a sea of Wisconsin blue.
Walker’s in big trouble, and the fact that his folks are going out of their waay to avoid and discredit Neumann instead of staying steady and having a decent debate on the issues makes it clear they know their candidate has a serious problem. And he probably doesn’t have the goods to solve it.
Lie like what? After Bush implemented his tax cuts, there was 55 consecutive months of job growth coming out of the mild 2001 recession. Then we got hit with a housing bubble.
The reason the bus driver made more than the mayor is because your friend the public union was able to negotiate ridiculous terms in their contract. What term specifically? The term that those with most seniority get first crack at overtime. So the people making the most money get the most overtime, compounding the problem. Not suprisingly, 3rd grade multiplication eludes you, which is why you stick up for a bus driver making 150k a year on tax payer dollars.
Sure, if I was running for governor, I would be positive about WI growing too. But he has yet to come out and say he is going to change the business climate that Doyle has cultivated. 48 of 50.
Oh, and welcome back, Greg….glad you’re back contributing.
Zach, the thanks should be from me to you for allowing me to come back after a two-year hiatus. I’m glad to see so many are opining on this post – the more opinions, the better!
don’t kid yourself greg, you’re just on a post convention high. You forget that Repubs have momentum and no one wants a 3rd doyle term, besides barrett doesnt want to be governor, he just wants to lose and go back to being mayor. Walker will win by 8% easy
Wow, someone’s been reading those GOP talking points.
“Walker will win by 8% easy.”
Maybe in Brookfield, but certainly nowhere outside of suburban Milwaukee. Results and substance do matter outside of angry-man radio, and the voting booth certainly exists outside of both of those.
And don’t you love staffers/ tools like sqwuidknuckle with this equally lame talking point.
“Scott Walker never proposed tax increases, the County Board overrode his vetoes every time.”
Yeah, funny how that worked out. On a related note, I’d like to propose that you grow a pair, objectively discuss Scotty’s RESULTS AND OUTCOMES and say something of legit added substance in one of your posts. But I understand that won’t happen…just like Scotty and his lackeys understood his stunt of no property tax increase would never go through.
It’s amazing how cynical Scotty Boy and the guys pulling his strings are, and how stupid they think his followers are. If you had a semblance of pride you should be totally offended by their approach, but the fact that you aren’t and support it tells me either you are just that weak, or you’re being paid.
Walker will be lucky if he wins 1 election this year, forget 2.
Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not a staffer although I have been giving thought to volunteering. I know that Scott Walker has done everything he can to bring the fiscal house in order in Milwaukee County.
You want results and outcomes? We all know Scott Walker has made massive cuts to the County Park system because you lefties have been bellyaching about it every step of the way. Trivia question – Which US park system won the gold medal from the National Recreation and Park Association for a population of 250k and over? Answer – Milwaukee County. Oh, is that a talking point?
Hey squidknuckle? Homestead, G’town, Arrowhead, or Waukesha West for your diploma? And why do folks like you resent bus drivers who play by the rules of the game, as well as other working people who try to gain fiscal advantages? Is it because they’re the “little people” and somehow different than the corporate trust-funders you spend all day wishing you could be like? Again, either 2 people drive those buses during the hours of service where they are demanded, or 1 gets a lot of OT. “None of the above” is not a legitimate answer to this situation…but that’s the answer your type always seem to come up with, and you wonder why you don’t win elections (and won’t win this November).
I ignore what a Wall Street mag recommends for places for exploitation, and deal with reality. This state has unemployment and poverty rates more than 1.0% below the national average, median incomes above the national average, job growth increasing since that evil “combined reporting” was put in place, and a culture of appreciating life that I’ll put on par with anywhere. That sounds like things are going right to me
Scott Walker has FAILED in his job. Both in controlling spending, and in putting the County on solid fiscal ground for the future. He has also failed in turning around the mentality and image of Milwaukee County, and uses his “promotional’ bike ride to denigrate the very area he is allegedly trying to promote. A real leader recognizes the tough hand that is dealt, and works to make something out of a rough situation, as Barrett did last year by negotiating furloughs and job attrition with the city’s unions? The reuslt? A much better fiscal surplus, and no need to borrow against pensions from people who actually work for a living.
You have the typical suburban Milwaukee mindset of wanting the be the tallest midget so you can say you did better than someone else. And that mindset is what keeps that good city from being a great one. I appreciate what is good, and work to make it and my performance better, without worrying all day about other people’s business. That’s why people like me make end up making decisions during the work day…and you end up listening to Charles Sykes tell you what to blab so you can “annoy a liberal.” Tells a lot, don’t it, son?
Now, you’ll try to bring up some other hackeneyed, obtuse argument to waste time and throw things off track. Take it somewhere else, cause I will not waste my time playing your little game. This ain’t New Berlin West’s debate club, this is the big-boy world, and you win here based on how you deal with reality, not in how convincing you look when you make your argument.
I have a brother that is part of the AFL-CIO. When they fill need to do overtime, it is first on volunteer basis. If they don’t fill out all the time, then they go down a list. A list who’s order changes frequently, not based on seniority. This is a system that makes sense, the person with the highest base pay won’t necessarily get the most overtime. Do you get that? If I make more money than you for base salary, but we both work the same overtime hours, I will make more overtime money because of multiplication. This isn’t the bus driver’s fault. This is the power of the public unions and the politicians that bow to them. Scott Walker has shown, via the Milwaukee County Courthouse security guard layoff, that he won’t bow to public unions. Sorry I had to spell that out, but it looks like you needed it.
Did you not see the fancy chart I posted up there. Did you notice WI all the way at the bottom?
As for borrowing against the pensions, part of that money borrowed was used to plug a hole in the pension fund as well as invested to recoup the money used to plug the hole. The return on the investment so far has been quite remarkable actually, well above projected. Oh, before Walker and the Board could make that move, they needed approval from your Democratic controlled Madison.
And you think you have me pinned down, huh? I live on the lower East Side of Milwaukee. I walk to the Metro Market for groceries. I happen to have a graduate education in a non-liberal arts program. Your assessment of me makes you the obtuse one. It’s funny that this isn’t the first time on this blog that people assume I don’t even live in Milwaukee.
And a bit hypocritcal on the talking points, aren’t you? You can’t go two posts without mentioning Charlie Sykes(whom I’ve never listened to).
The problem with Scott Walker is that he is an ideologue and lacks any sense of the practical. Problems that arise which don’t fit his strict concepts of cut taxes, etc. will be difficult, if not impossible to remedy.
Milwaukee is 96th out of 100 worst places to start a small business…
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2010/01/18/daily7.html
Let me help you correct your reply:
“The Milwaukee METROPOLITAN area is 96th out of 100 BEST places to start a small business.”
This report wasn’t limited to the City of Milwaukee and it was a ranking of best to least…if it had truly been a listing of worst places, 96th would be a good ranking!
Let me help you correct your reply:
“The Milwaukee METROPOLITAN area is 96th out of 100 BEST places to start a small business.”
This report wasn’t limited to the City of Milwaukee and it was a ranking of best to least…if it had truly been a listing of worst places, 96th would be a good ranking!
Good lord, that is what I get for being in a hurry when I post. 96 out of 100 IS NOT A GOOD RANKING!!! There are 95 metro areas better than Milwaukee. The report was not stating that these are the best places to do business, simply ranking 100. WI has a horrible business climate right now and that includes Milwaukee. Compare us to a place like Texas where people are moving to in droves!
And if this had been a list of 200 metro areas or 500 metro areas, 96 wouldn’t look so bad either. LOL!
And they can have Texas!