Where’s Walker’s budget?

Earlier today, Gov. Scott Walker asked for (and was given) a second extension from the legislature to delay providing the specifics of his proposed 2011-13 state budget. Gov. Walker now wants to give his budget speech on Tuesday; however he will not provide the press – and more importantly, the public – with the details of his budget proposals until a later date.

Here are the details from One Wisconsin Now:

By law (s. 16.45), the Wisconsin Governor is supposed to introduce his budget on or before the last Tuesday in January of the odd-numbered year (January 25, 2011). Already, Walker has received one extension from the legislature, delaying the introduction to next Tuesday, February 22. Based on records compiled by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Walker’s introduction of the budget would have been the latest in at least 34 years. (http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Informationalpapers/75_State Budget Process.pdf) Delaying the budget again, would add more to Walker’s record of tardiness.

While Gov. Walker hasn’t been able to find the time to craft Wisconsin’s 2011-2013 budget by the deadline mandated by state law, he certainly has found plenty of time to send out a bunch of tweets on Twitter, not to mention filling up his time with appearances on various Fox News shows.

I can only hope Gov. Walker will take a break from all his Fox News appearances and Twittering to put the finishing touches on Wisconsin’s biennial budget, because Wisconsin’s citizens deserve to know just how bad the cuts Walker is proposing will be.

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37 thoughts on “Where’s Walker’s budget?

  1. Thats the point, I do not think we will get a budget until the cameras turn off. The most dangerous place in America these days is between Scott Walker and a “hot”camera.

    It is so nice of the Fitzgerald brothers to allow Scotty to steal the spotlight while they sit back anonymously!!

    1. And if he wasn’t giving interviews you would say he was in hiding because he won’t answer questions. Come on.

          1. No maybe he could take the time to meet with Labor…..or the dems in senate…..i dont need a personal phone call but someone does. He wont even return Mayor daves calls ….. but steve douche calls and he runs

            1. Meet with Dems in the Senate — they won’t even show their faces in the state.

              There’s no reason to meet with labor. The votes are there in the legislature to pass the bill. Or let me put it to you a different way, when Democrats controlled everything the last 2 years how often were they “negotiating” with right to life groups, school choice, or business leaders?

        1. I don’t recall Doyle or Obama meeting with “the people” when they passed their legislation.

          1. That was part of the reason that the bill is not perfect. They had the doctors who advocated for Single payer system arrested and had an insurance industry lobbyist write the bill. He also allowed the republicans to be part of the process.

  2. When I was at the State House writing a note to the Governor a man left in a black trench coat, red in the face, and looking disgusted.

    Maybe he was asked to help the Governor get another budget out that falsified the real fiscal standing of Wisconsin?

    1. Also, Bob why is Walker lying about the deficit when he wants concessions, but Doyle was not lying about the very same deficit when he raised taxes?

  3. Scott Walker’s growing media presence and his new administration’s repeated failure to meet long-standing legal deadlines during the biennial budgeting process make me think that the guy has some “issues”.

    Is he avoiding the hard work of being Governor of an important state? In an interview Thursday, Feb 17, Walker made a point of delivering a focus group-tested talking point to local media nuze models about how “he was at work” and so should be the Democratic Senators. Yet it was hard to avoid the fact that Walker was, at that moment, pushing groundless stories to the media rather than working on finding a solution to the growing conflicts.

    If the new Governor is indeed avoiding his legal responsibilities (we already know he is avoiding his ethical ones) then we may begin to see fraying at the edges of the governmental functions his office is in charge of. Delays, missed deadlines, error-laden documentation, etc. will become more and more common throughout the capitol and when dealing with business matters. Ham-handed political appointees with no experience or expertise in the agencies they manage will add to Walker’s woes as legal liabilities mount.

    Walker’s incompetence, so vividly on display in Milwaukee County, will prevent him from ever taking truly effective steps to reign in government spending, inject fairness into the tax code, adapt to new economic conditions or improve the lives of Wisconsinites.

    Extreme right-wing Senators and Assembly members will continue to push the Koch Brother’s anti-science corporate agenda and they too will begin to make mistakes as their stress levels increase closer to election day. In some cases – in safe districts – republican tea partiers will respond by trying to become more extreme. Those in less secure districts will repeat the mistake of turning to marketing and media consultants for advice on how to “be”. Either way, the damage they have already done to the social fabric of our communities will haunt them until they are trounced by challengers who simply point to the dagger they aimed at the heart of Wisconsin’s middle class.

    And so it begins.

  4. “Is he avoiding the hard work of being Governor of an important state?”

    It’s what he did for 8 years in Milwaukee County, so why would this be any different? It shows just how badly the media covered this race when this easy-to-discover fact never seemed to make it to anyone north of Hwy. 60.

    As you mention, if Scotty’s so hard at work to try to solve this alleged budget problem, why is he spending more time grabbing the nearest camera or telephone interview to Char-LIE and co instead of actually trying to reach some kind of labor agreement?

    1. The agreement has already been met. There are votes to pass the bill. What more do you need?

      1. No, there hasn’t been an “agreement;” that would imply both parties agreed to the proposal, when clearly that’s not the case.

        1. Is your new standard that both sides of any issue need to agree for any legislation to move forward?

          1. I’m simply pointing out that there wasn’t an “agreement;” this was just foisted upon folks. I just felt the need to clarify that point.

            1. Ok yes. I did not mean to suggest Walker and unions were in agreement. I simply meant there was enough agreement for passage of a bill. Did not mean to mislead anyone.

            1. Both parties, on the heels of a huge victory, claim a mandate and overreach not taking any consideration of the other site…sounds pretty similar to me.

              Of course the Republicans actually showed up to vote against Obamacare. 🙂

  5. Zach, I really expect better of you. Come on, think. How can he put “final touches” on a budget bill before the budget repair passes? He’s going to be basing numbers and assumptions off of what passes in the repair bill.

  6. It’s also worth noting “For 14 of the last 17 biennial budgets, a delayed
    submittal date has been requested by a Governor”

    so it’s actually not all that unusual.

    1. And again – with both houses controlled by Democrats, and Doyle as governor, this “50 years of successful collective bargaining” couldn’t get a deal done. They went a year an a half over and had 2 months after they knew Walker and Republicans had won. If they could not come to terms under circumstances, tell me how there was any chance they’d get a deal done now. Was there any other way that would result in the sort of cost savings the state needs?

    2. When it’s finally submitted, Walker’s budget proposal will be later than any other since 1977.

      What’s more, Walker asked for and was given a second extension on Friday. I don’t recall any governor in recent memory requiring not just one, but two extensions to submit a budget.

      1. Not quite sure where to look it up and I’ll be the first to admit that my memory is not the greatest, but I really thought that not too far back (can’t remember if it was Doyle or Thompson) we were well into the summer running along without a budget.

        The 2007 Budget:

        The budget, 115 days overdue, was the second-latest spending plan the Legislature ever adopted…

        …By passing the budget Tuesday, the Legislature avoided delivering the latest budget in Wisconsin history by four days. The latest budget was passed Oct. 27, 1971.

        1. OK I just realized that we’re really talking about 2 different things – my post & links are when a budget deal was done, you were talking about when a budget proposal was submitted by the governor. My bad for misunderstanding.

          Though to some extent, I’d probably argue that when the individual steps get done is less important than when the it’s all wrapped up & finalized & takes effect. Presumably, there budget won’t be as heavily contested as some – probably a lot less debate than normal so it could still get done in a relatively timely manner. That is certainly not to say a lack of debate is a good thing.

  7. The pushing back of the budget isn’t a big deal.

    What is a big deal however is him consistently lying about the danger of the capital. It’s not the fucking middle east, the protests have been incredibly peaceful.

    I was there yesterday and saw republican Assembly members walking through the crowd without being hassled. In fact, they 8 troopers that Robin Vos walked out with is only appropriate for a cartoon villian.

    1. It may be largely peaceful when it comes to the physical, but there’s no way I believe there isn’t a lot of verbal attacks being thrown around.

      Oh by the way, if it’s not the middle east, knock it off with the Mubarack signs.

      1. Knock off the White Slavery signs. Ask Paul Ryan to stop calling it Egypt, etc, etc,

        I’m sick of the pivoting arguments, I’m sick of it when liberals do it, I’m sick of it when conservatives do it. I’m sick of it. We aren’t children, so let’s not act like it.

        Listen, forgotmyscreenname in each crowd there are people who take things steps too far. When the Tea Party was in town last april 15th I was walking around the capital, where I used to work checking out the scene, and was called a nazi, a cocksucker, etc. In fact, my coworker (a lovely 22 year old lady) was nearly physically assaulted.

        Many of the people there where very polite however, you can’t just go around saying “IT’S DANGEROUS ITS A WARZONE” when it isn’t. It’s irresponsible and frankly is them trying to create an untrue theme.

        1. The only slavery talk I heard was from Senator Coggs (while he was still in the state) and fellow union protestors. As if a secure job, pension, health benefits, plenty of vacation and sick time amount to slavery.

          1. I was referring to the racist signs at the Tea Party Rally in Madison after the election of Obama and prior to the HC vote.

            If you’d like me to show you the pictures, I can, but I doubt you really truly need them.

            Also, do you truly need to have the last word? Especially, if all of those words are pivots. This is why discourse in this nation is so fucking terrible. People can’t have legitimate conversations, and you truly can’t help yourself.

            I used to enjoy reading your posts and discourse, I suppose maybe, just maybe I had higher hopes for this discussion.

            Shame on you.

            1. Bullshit, DJ. There’s plenty of TALK about “racist” Tea Party signs in Madison, but please SHOW ME THE PHOTOS. That’s because the left has villified the Tea Party rallies in every way possible.

              But let us look at the Madison rally this week, shall we?
              — Unions call on members to come to the rallies, call in sick, and PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION.
              — Unions are running phone banks to get people down there.
              — Unions are orchestrating the dissent comments (Every ‘I voted for Walker, but he’s gone to far’ comment is a load of crap…that’s a union talking point).
              — The UNION rallies had photos of Walker as Hitler, his photo in the crosshairs…so much for the civil discourse.
              — Our esteemed Senator Taylor (the running coward) compared Walker to Hitler.

              And you saw ONE sign at a Tea Party rally and still think the Tea Party is the offensive party?

              No, what I find offensive in this entire debate is that the ELECTED majority has gone through the legal process to move a bill through, and the Democrats decide to SILENCE any debate because of their chickenshit move.

              It is the Democrats and Unions who are trying to run over the process.

              1. Well Mark, welcome to the conversation and I’m glad you stopped by. Now take off your hat and sit for a few.

                http://www.dane101.com/tea_party_tax_day_protest_photo_gallery?page=2

                That page has some nice imagery with crosshairs, religious rhetoric, etc.

                Would you like me to track some of the earlier ones down?

                Finally, what exactly is illegal about running phone banks to get people to support your cause? AFP did some auto calls as well, OH NOO THAT’S OFFENSIVE.

                Seriously Mark, this is what you call discourse?

                Take a nap.

                PS: I know a friend who gave 500 dollars to the Walker campaign who’s down here today protesting. Why, because he’s a Republican Teacher.

                I know people from Janesville who are here, who in droves voted out the Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, who are here because they are union members and believe in collective bargaining.

                I know people who are here who voted for Walker, who take a look at this bill beyond the union stuff and say “Holy cow, he’s going to completely gut SeniorCare, which my grandma uses.”

                If you think that none of the people here voted for Walker, and they are lying I say you should probably pay attention to credible public opinion polls.

                Stop being such a union hating kook, and settle down.

    1. The first one is my favorite…..she’s attending a public rally on public grounds, yet she thinks she has a right not to be recorded.

      LOL

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