Scott Walker | Boots & Sabers

Walker Announced New ID Process to Facilitate Voter ID

by Owen | 0700, 11 Sep 1414 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments

Madison – Today, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Health Services announced a new process regarding photo identification cards. Since 2011 Act 23, the DMV has been issuing free photo identification cards to those who need one to vote. Now, DMV is additionally offering to verify underlying documents, free of charge, to make sure everyone who wants an ID for the purpose of voting, is able to get one.

“While most voters have identification, or the ability to get an ID, this verification system provides an option for the very small number of people who do not, without any cost to them,” Governor Walker said. “It’s imperative that we ensure access, and protect the integrity of the voting process, so all voters can be confident in the system.”

The no-charge verification process will be fully operational on Monday, September 15. Applicants can obtain more information about the process online at wisconsindmv.gov or by calling 608-266-1069.

Senator Mary Lazich, Representative Mark Born, and Representative Michael Schraa have been instrumental with their efforts to safeguard the vote of Wisconsin citizens.

AFSCME To Unload on Walker

by Owen | 0655, 11 Sep 1414 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments

Here it comes…

The nation’s largest public sector union is mounting an intense effort to eject Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from office this fall, determined to oust the Republican who punctured the power of organized labor in the state.

“We have a score to settle with Scott Walker,” Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said in his first interview about the union’s midterm strategy.

…

“We’ve lost 70% of our membership in the state,” said Saunders, adding that the union is down to about 25,000 members there. “But let me tell you something: the members that remain are some of the most committed and dedicated members that we have all across this country.”

Report: Mrs. Chisholm Driving Anti-Walker Witch Hunt

by Owen | 0733, 10 Sep 1414 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments

If true, this is yet another insight into Chisholm’s character. Of course, after we have watched him run this investigation, we already know he lacks integrity.

Now a longtime Chisholm subordinate reveals for the first time in this article that the district attorney may have had personal motivations for his investigation. Chisholm told him and others that Chisholm’s wife, Colleen, a teacher’s union shop steward at St. Francis high school, a public school near Milwaukee, had been repeatedly moved to tears by Walker’s anti-union policies in 2011, according to the former staff prosecutor in Chisholm’s office. Chisholm said in the presence of the former prosecutor that his wife “frequently cried when discussing the topic of the union disbanding and the effect it would have on the people involved … She took it personally.”

Citing fear of retaliation, the former prosecutor declined to be identified and has not previously talked to reporters.

Chisholm added, according to that prosecutor, that “he felt that it was his personal duty to stop Walker from treating people like this.”

Municipal Spending Down

by Owen | 1949, 6 Sep 1414 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Good.

The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance issued two reports this week, one showing municipal spending per capita declined 3 percent as Walker’s public union reforms and first state budget took effect, and the other measuring the state’s business climate.

According to the group’s annual MunicipalFacts report, cities and villages with at least 2,000 residents spent on average $823 per capita in 2012, down from $848 the year before. Per capita spending grew 2.2 percent on average in the previous six years. Spending dipped 1 percent in 2009, which was the first decline in more than a decade.

Curt Witynski, assistant director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, chalked up the reduction to a combination of factors, including “good management of public dollars by municipal elected officials, Act 10, strict levy limits and several other changes included in Gov. Walker’s first budget, such as the repeal of language requiring municipalities to maintain certain minimum spending thresholds on libraries, police and fire protection” and “the reduction in shared revenue and other intergovernmental programs like transportation aids.”

Burke’s Tenure on Madison School Board Gets Scrutiny

by Owen | 2047, 4 Sep 1414 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments

Walker makes a point.

MIDDLETON — Gov. Scott Walker says his Democratic challenger Mary Burke hasn’t addressed low graduation rates for black students as a member of the Madison school board and doesn’t want to save taxpayers money by implementing the law that effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers.

Mary Burke wants to be our next governor. Her record really only has two things to measure. First, she was an executive at her father’s company at a time it was outsourcing thousands of jobs to China. She left that company about a decade ago. Second, she’s been on the Madison School Board for 2 years. Other than that, she appears to have been fairly unemployed since leaving Trek. Given that her resume is so thin, we have to evaluate what is there.

In this case, her record on the Madison School Board is worth examining. Or is it somehow untoward to examine someone’s record nowadays? Perhaps the media would be so kind as to actually run some stories about her actions – and inactions – on that board.

Governor Walker Proposes Expanding School Choice

by Owen | 2202, 3 Sep 1414 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments

It’s a start.

MIDDLETON — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he doesn’t have a number in mind for how much he wants to grow the private-school voucher program, should he be elected to a second term.

Walker said Wednesday after touring a sensor manufacturer in Middleton that he wants to grow the program in stages, so there is capacity for all the students who wish to participate.

Walker has been an advocate for school choice for years, so we know his heart is in the right place. Personally, I’d like to see something more bold. Let’s do full, statewide school choice that’s available to any family who chooses to participate. It is difficult to make any rational argument as to why the government should only allow an arbitrary few families a choice in a handful of districts while families elsewhere do not get that choice. Why is a kid struggling in the Hudson district, for example, any less deserving than one in Milwaukee?

Tear down this cap, Governor Walker!

Walker Needs a Second Term Agenda

by Owen | 1026, 31 Aug 1414 | Politics - Wisconsin | 1 Comment

Hopefully Walker is getting the message. He seems to be.

Walker says there is Republican voter fatigue after the 2010 election and two series of recalls in both 2011 and 2012.

Walker says in the coming weeks he will be announcing details about what he calls an aggressive agenda should he be re-elected.

There is nothing that will get conservative voters more jazzed than a strong conservative agenda. To date, Walker has shied away from offering one for his second term. All he has done is defend his record during the first term, but he does not have to defend that record to conservatives. We get it. The problem is that he has given no indication for what’s next.

What would I like to see? In no particular order:

Statewide school choice
Right to work
Major tax reform (like eliminating the income tax)
Major spending reductions

What do you want to see in Walker’s second term?

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