Scott Walker is now proclaiming that he will not sign any Right to Work (for less) legislation if it should come to his desk. Hmmmmm. Following his now infamous promise to Wisconsin billionaire heiress Diane Hendricks that he was going to start making our state a red, Right to Work state by starting a divide and conquor strategy starting with public employees in the documentary As Goes Janesville that aired on PBS last year, this is a change.
He's also apparantly changed his tune on ending Same Day Voter Registration, something he proposed when giving a speech last week in California. Republican legislators are busy working on a bill to do just that as I diaried yesterday.
Saying he wanted to stay focused on improving the state's business climate, Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday that he would not sign a bill to end same-day voter registration because of its cost, and signaled that a right-to-work law was not on his agenda.
On same-day registration, Walker said a recent Government Accountability Board report that says it would cost the state $5.2 million to end the state's same-day registration law convinced him that he should not sign such a bill.
"There is no way I'm signing a bill that costs that kind of money," Walker told reporters.
Scott Walker is not flippity floppity Mitt Romney. He has firm, extremist beliefs and his history tells a tale of never compromising, much less changing positions. So, I wonder, is he simply learning or just lying to us again?
Rick Snyder, Republican Governor of Michigan, made those same statements about Right to Work (for less) legislation, then rammed through that same legislation and signed it in secret while the paper was still warm from being carried from the Legislature without so much as one public hearing.
I don't trust these guys farther than I can pick up and throw the State Capitol building. And for good reason: these guys lie like rugs.
One possible consideration is that he might be feeling a bit concerned about his re-election prospects in 2014. While Republicans gerrymandered our Legislative districts by cramming Democratic voters into a small minority of districts, they can't gerrymander statewide offices. Walker and the GOP saw that Democrats received a much higher total vote count throughout the state and that only their gerrymandered districts kept Republicans in the majority in the State Legislature and Congress.
Continued extremism, despite majorities in both State Houses, could mean Walker would face a tough re-election.
Of course, Walker lied his way into office in the first place. His jobs, jobs, jobs campaign, lies about negotiating with state workers and the value of collective bargaining were revealed to be lies as soon as he was sworn in as Governor. His budget which stripped so much from the people of Wisconsin and gave so much to the rich and corporations have resulted in massive job losses in the state. His solution was to make up submit his own set of jobs numbers right before the recall election, a practice he continues today. Our media, of course, went right along with him.
Democrats, however, are rightfully suspiscious of this new, shiny, jobs-oriented Scott Walker:
But Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) said Walker should state flatly that he would veto any legislation that ends same-day registration.
"I am uncomfortable with the wiggle room he gave himself," Richards said of Walker.
Richards said that, shortly after being elected, Walker promised to consult with state workers. He didn't and instead proposed sharp limits on collective bargaining for public-sector unions.
It will be interesting to watch how this plays out.
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In other Walker news:
Scott Walker lied talked about his own college experience while revealing plans to develop online programs for the University of Wisconsin system. While we all know that Walker was booted out of Marquette University for unacceptable campaign tactics during a student government election, something Walker has gone to great lengths to hide, he's sticking to the mythology he's created and used in the past.
Walker said he believed he is about 16 credits short of graduation. Walker enrolled at Marquette in 1986, but left school to take a job with the American Red Cross.
Uh huh, yeah, right.
The governor said that, when he left Marquette, he felt he would go back and take courses part time. But then he said he got married to Tonette, his wife, and the couple had two sons, Matt and Alex.
Walker, old enough to be a grandpappy, hasn't done a thing about it since he left college. This BS might sell in front of Tea Baggers, but nobody with half a brain believes he's ever going to set one toe into a college classroom.
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In another story coming out today, it seems that Scott Walker might be having second thoughts about his half a million dollar request to renovate the kitchens (there are two) in the Governors Mansion.
Slammed in the Madison press yesterday about his desire for "a gold plated kitchen", the half million dollar request (an amount that could buy a few houses), is being withdrawn.
The funding request was removed from Wednesday's agenda for the State Building Commission, although Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said it will return if enough donations cannot be raised.
The project includes renovation of the first-floor kitchen, as well as the private quarters kitchenette on the second floor. The main kitchen was last renovated in 1986, while the residential kitchen on the second floor has not been renovated since the late 1960s.
(bolding is mine)
So it seems that the half million bucks might get re-submitted even more quietly in the future to avoid public scrutiny and blowback.
In a state where worker rights, take-home pay, social services and education have been massively stripped away because of claims that "we're broke", the request for maga bucks so the Governor can live large clang a very hollow bell that can be heard across the state.
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