However, today, with the recall election less than a month away, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in the state, announced a searchable online databaseof recall signatures.



You can search by first or last name and even enter just part of a name. For each signature, you can click on a link that will take you to the exact petition page the person signed. You can see signatures that were marked as invalid by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board and the reason why they were thrown out. We obtained this database from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board through an open records request.

So why, you ask me, do thiswith less than a month before the recall election and a day before the primary? Because the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has always been in the tank for Scott Walker. They didn't really cover the start of the John Doe Probe (search warrant for the Milwaukee County Executives office just before the election in 2010) or ask Walker any serious questions about why he was postponing the Milwaukee County Budget Report for several months (until after the election) when we allit was going to show huge deficits (they turned out to be immensly larger than expected) or the rest of his dismal record as County Executive.

Because they endorsed him for Governor in 2010. Don't even try to find their endorsement on the newspapers own web site - I had to use Google. They just loved his campaign promises of jobs, jobs, jobs.

They're typical corporate media willing to spew GOP propaganda as if it was factual, question everything said or done by Democrats, and only cover the Civil War that Walker started in Wisconsin to sell newspapers (and their coverage is anything but fair and balanced). For example, they covered the several millions of dollars in damages Walkers administration said protesters caused with big headlines. Not so much the fact that most of the damage was caused my media taping down their cords or that the actual cost was a couple hundred thousand dollars. A small article on Walkers signing of several laws (like the repeal of the Equal Pay Act in Wisconsin and other extremist bills) on the last possible day, in private, on the Thursday before Easter and only announcing the signings on Good Friday) with nary a question about how he did this to avoid attention on these measures during the Presidential Primary and ensuring that any media coverage over the holiday weekend would be overlooked by Wisconsinites attending holiday celebrations.

I can imagine how the GOP will use the database and fully expect more phony outrage over the people who signed the recall petitions. I did a search for my own name already just to see if the database works. It does.

Weather permitting, and so far it seems to be (it's been storming for the past couple of days), the Overpass Light Brigade will be out tonight with a message to vote tomorrow. VOTE TO RECLAIM WI seems to be the winning message for tonight. Today and tomorrow there's a "chance of rain" and temps in the mid 60s in southeastern Wisconsin which should help turnout. The GAB estimates a 30-35% turnout for the recall primary.

With the permanent injunction on our horrendous and rammed through Voter ID law, voters won't be hassled about coughing up a "state approved" ID to vote (although some folks were unlawfully denied their vote in April for lack of ID). We still have same day registration and the old districts are still in play until November.

Vote!

More: One of my favorite reporters, John Nichols, has a great article out today on the loss of Walker support.

For all the efforts of Gov. Scott Walker to convince the hosts on Fox and CNBC that he is a popular governor who is threatened not by angry citizens but by “the left, the radical left, and the big labor union bosses” who are “somehow counting on the idea that they can bring enough money and enough bodies into Wisconsin to dissuade voters,” the message from farm country tells an entirely different story. Walker has had the overwhelming spending advantage since the recall fight started last November. Walker has had all the benefits of the Republican Party organization, which has gone into overdrive to aid his candidacy, while Democrats have faced a multi-candidate primary fight.

Along Highway 14, heading out of Dane County and into Iowa and Richland counties, hundreds of hand-painted signs propose to “Recall Walker.” Most list reasons for the governor’s removal: “Worst Job Losses in U.S.,” “Attacks on Collective Bargaining,” “Cut Education,” “Cut BadgerCare,” “Divided State,” “John Doe.”

What has changed? The polling shows that Wisconsinites, who once felt that Republicans had the right equation for creating jobs (tax cuts for multinational corporations, attacks on public employees and their unions, slashing of education and public service funding), have soured on the GOP and its poster-boy governor. They’ve been influenced, of course, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics study showing that, in the year since Walker implemented his austerity agenda, Wisconsin has suffered the worst job losses in the nation. The Marquette poll shows that Wisconsinites now believe that investments in education, good relations with unions, and fair tax policies are more likely to grow the economy than Walker’s “war on workers” approach. The governor admitted Wednesday that the recall contest on June 5 is “a 50-50 race.” But what’s notable is that his numbers are declining, while numbers for the opposition are rising.

Walker, of course, has large, professionally printed signs given out free (they even deliver them). He has mega bucks behind him. Despite his massive $21 million dollar ad campaign (and that's just his spending in the recall election and not the man outside and astroturf groups running ads), his support numbers aren't growing. A recent poll shows his approval numbers decreasing.

More #2: Scott Walker has put a new ad out today. Clearly, he sees Tom Barrett as his recall opponent (or is putting out a last ditch effort to prevent it) by using more lies:

Seriously, Snotty? Wisconsin is Number One in job losses in the entire country despite how many times you say the exact opposite. While we did gain a few jobs in January and February, Wisconsin was back to job losses in the last month reported, March.

The RW always follows the Joseph Goebbels playbook: Whatever the lie, keep repeating it and saying it louder and people will believe it's the truth. It's not. It's a big fat lie.

Barrett has responded to the ad:



Barrett has said that Wisconsin under Walker lost more jobs in 2011 than any other state in the nation. "Scott Walker has misled the people of Wisconsin, caused unprecedented political turmoil and division, and overseen a sputtering Wisconsin economy that leads the entire nation job loss. No amount of slick TV ads paid for by wealthy, right-wing donors from out-of-state can hide these facts," Barrett spokesman Phil Walzak said.

More #3: Pay to Play Edition: Well lookie here. It certainly pays off to be a Republican donor:

A top political appointee at the state Department of Natural Resources chose not to send a complaint against an Oconomowoc waste hauler to the Department of Justice for prosecution despite findings by agency staff that the company was treating fields with so much human waste from septic tanks it risked poisoning nearby wells, DNR records show. Scott Gunderson, executive assistant to DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, “made an extra effort” to deal with the complaint internally last year even though the agency’s enforcement staff urged that the case be referred to DOJ, which could have imposed fines of tens of thousands of dollars.

Gunderson, a former Republican state representative, received $750 in campaign contributions from the owner of the company, Richard Herr, and Herr’s wife in 2006 and 2008. Last week, Gunderson said he forgot when he agreed to oversee the case that he accepted political contributions from the Herrs, major supporters of Republican campaigns as well as some Democratic candidates. Gunderson said even if he had been aware of the contributions, it would not have influenced his decision.

Wastewater specialist David Bolha, the lead investigator, said he and other agency staff feared potential threats to public health, including possibly dangerous levels of nitrates in wells. Elevated nitrates levels can cause a potentially fatal blood disorder in infants called blue-baby syndrome. Also, according to the investigation files and citations, the company provided more than 60 inaccurate records after Bolha found inconsistencies in a 2010 inspection. Bolha reported he eventually was provided three sets of records by the company during his inquiry, each with different tallies of acreage and volumes of waste spread, each revised so the company appeared closer to compliance. “Our recommendation, looking at this with my staff, was that we felt this was serious enough for the DOJ rather than citations,” said Saji Villoth, a DNR environmental enforcement specialist in Milwaukee. “The biggest thing I was concerned about was groundwater pollution. Once the nitrates are there, you can’t get them out.” In addition to the threat of steeper fines, Villoth said any settlement with the DOJ likely would have included a requirement that Herr pay for testing wells in the areas near the spreading. No such testing agreement accompanied the final DNR settlement of the case.

At a second meeting, on Dec. 20, Kleefisch (Representative Joel Kleefisch who was seen on viral video voting for absent colleagues and is husband of Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch) — who also received $100 in campaign donations from Herr and whose wife Rebecca received $2,250 from the Herr family during her campaign for lieutenant governor — challenged Gunderson to reconsider the citations the DNR was weighing against Herr. “In the age of the DNR/Wisconsin Governor being pro-business, why is the DNR giving Herr 5 citations and why can’t 2 or 3 be taken away as a show of good faith?” Joel Kleefisch asked, according to Bolha’s notes of the meeting. He also reportedly asked that the fine be reduced. Kleefisch didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Aside from being a Scott Walker flunky, just why would Scott Gunderson work so hard to prevent the prosecution of someone charged with spreading human waste from septic tanks on farm fields at THREE TIMES the legal limit allowed on his permit? Yeah, that's right, human waste (the stuff that gets flushed down toilets) that can enter wells and contaminate ground water.Of course! I guess the subdivisions and neighboring farms didn't contribute an amount that would have made their lives and health a primary factor in his decision-making.Naturally, Gunderson wasn't the only beneficiary of campaign largess:(information in italics is my addition)

Our fearless Governor also approves:

Enforcement by the DNR has dropped precipitously at the agency in the past two years with the issuance of violation notices reaching a 12-year low last year. Referrals to the Department of Justice also are down dramatically, from the 12-year annual average of 65 to 21 in 2011. Stepp and other administrators blame the drop on lack of staff as well as a change in philosophy that emphasizes cooperation with businesses and bringing violators into compliance earlier in a case rather than relying on prosecution. In a statement Friday, the governor’s office praised the DNR’s approach. “Increasing compliance and decreasing the number of environmental regulation violations is a good thing for Wisconsin’s valuable natural resources, Wisconsin residents, tourism, our economy and ultimately for the next generation,” Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie wrote.

Poison that well water, boys, just keep those bucks flowing in... The GOP makes sure that it treats its donors right.

By the way, despite the fact that Jefferson County, where the field was located, is in the readership area of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I had to find this information in the State Journal.

More #4: Tom Barrett is out with a new ad:

A bit mild, IMHO, but a good appeal to moderates and independents.

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