Walker: Hypocrisy On Parade

Two stories made the paper, and yes, they clearly show how the paper is in the tank for Scott Walker.

The main story on the bottom of the front page of the Metro Section is a long series of quotes about how Walker is ticked off that the the County Board is considering sending out a mailing to explain the referendum on the proposed sales tax.

Somehow, the article manages to include all of Walker's faux outrage, but does not offer any proof. It does mention that Walker admits the mailing is perfectly legal, but that he still feels that advocates on behalf of the referendum. No mention on how it does, though. The article only explains what it says. Unless, of course, Walker believes that just allowing people know the truth about it is unfair.

The article somehow manages to get Walker's talking point about how it "might hurt sales," but not mention the fact that this is blatantly false. Nor does it mention the consequences of not properly funding the necessities, like public transit, as Walker's budget would do.

And for the detractors that would point out that it is a waste of taxpayer money to put this flyer out on the air, I can sympathize and even, to a certain extent, agree with that argument. But if you really want to argue that the County Board has no business informing the citizens of Milwaukee County about the facts regarding the referendum, you lose a lot of my sympathy by the simple fact that no one has ever complained about Walker using his office to campaign and advocate his causes on talk radio and right wing blogs.

Perhaps this is why Charlie Sykes and Scott Walker are so afraid of the Fairness Doctrine. They don't want the other side to have a voice, because then the voters and the citizenry would be informed.

In the other, smaller story, the County Board made the shrewd move of making Walker take ownership of the raise he wants to give to his Chief of Staff, Tom Nardelli. It makes sense, since he was so proud of getting a legal opinion and gave a lot of his other staffers healthy raises, even while he wants to lay off hundreds of workers and cut services. But he did that under cover, when no one was looking. Now that the eyes of Milwaukee County, and yes, the State of Wisconsin, were upon him, he threw Nardelli under the bus.

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Again, the paper shows their bias by not once even mentioning all the other raises Walker gave to his other cronies.

Perhaps I should take the bet offered by my friend, blogger Elliot Stearns. But then again, it would be in very poor taste to take money from a man in a wheelchair. Maybe I'll just make him sign a copy of his book for me.