Free Republic

"I think the reason these anti-bike policies are being proposed is it’s a red-meat issue for a lot of Republicans," Bike Fed executive director Dave Cieslewicz told Madison.com. "They have stereotypes about what cyclists are and they don’t see them as their voters. They see attacks on cycling as politically beneficial." WATERLOO, Wis. (BRAIN) — Trek Bicycle's president, John Burke, is urging Wisconsin cyclists to contact their state lawmakers in support of the state's Complete Streets Law, which Gov. Scott Walker has proposed eliminating. Burke, in an email sent this week, also urged them to oppose a $25 state bicycle...

A little more than two months ago, Mary Burke was hoping to trade in her modest Madison house for the governor's mansion. That didn't work out so well for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. But Burke is still on the move. Records show she is selling her three-bedroom bungalow after she recently moved into an upscale apartment in downtown Madison. Burke's 1,465-square-foot house in Madison's middle-class Atwood neighborhood is being listed for $259,900, according to the website for First Weber Group Realtors. Built in 1925, the house has a detached, one-car garage and a total of 10 rooms. Burke, who was...

At first glance, Gov. Scott Walker’s re-election last month looks like a carbon copy of his victory four years earlier. He won the same kinds of voters. He won the same parts of the state. And he won with virtually the same share of the vote: 52.25% in 2010 and 52.26% in 2014. But on closer inspection, there is an important difference: Wisconsin is even more polarized today than it was four years ago. Based on almost everything we know about the Nov. 4 election, the state’s fault lines are deeper and more sharply defined, its voters are more divided...

When mentioning the most polarizing figure in the Democratic party outside of the president himself, that one person who creates a visceral reaction every time he or she speaks, one of the following contestants is invariably in the running for top prize: A) Eric Holder B) Susan Rice C) Charlie Rangel D) Debbie Wasserman Schultz But with Holder on the way out, Rice (thankfully) muted lately after a series of unintentionally comical Sunday talk show appearances, and Rangel stuck somewhere between stupid and 1866, first prize falls to the DNC Chairwoman — who may be forced to update her LinkedIn...

Dear Dan: Go ahead, man. Lean over the toilet and let it out. It must have been hard to include Wisconsin Reporter – even backhanded – among the winners in your post-election “Winners and Losers” column. Don’t fight it, Dan. I’ll hold your hair. In crediting Michael Grebe with Gov. Scott Walker’s Election Day win over Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, you note that Grebe – Walker’s campaign chairman and head of (what you call) “the conservative Bradley Foundation” – “has poured money into online outlets that dig up dirt on Democrats and liberals.” One of those groups, you say,...

Deliverance, II Monday on talk radio we heard a woman pronounce herself devoted to education and say she would vote for Mary Burke because Governor Walker had been bad for teachers and it was “time for a change.” Astoundingly, she went on to agree that teachers should contribute some payment toward their health insurance and pensions, and that they should not be forced to pay union dues against their will. The woman was dumbstruck to learn she was agreeing with Walker on the most salient aspects of his Act 10 reforms, but unmoved on the question of whether he had...

Dear Dan: Go ahead, man. Lean over the toilet and let it out. It must have been hard to include Wisconsin Reporter – even backhanded – among the winners in your post-election “Winners and Losers” column. Don’t fight it, Dan. I’ll hold your hair. In crediting Michael Grebe with Gov. Scott Walker’s Election Day win over Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, you note that Grebe – Walker’s campaign chairman and head of (what you call) “the conservative Bradley Foundation” – “has poured money into online outlets that dig up dirt on Democrats and liberals.” One of those groups, you say,...

Bar graph for each COUNTY in our state for Governor Scott Walker (R) and opponent Mary Burke (D, Trust Fund Baby). It's looking good, already. Milwaukee County to Burke right now, but not by much! http://www.politico.com/2014-election/results/map/governor/wisconsin/#.VFmMH8nw9kg

With more than 289,000 ballots received as of Monday, Wisconsin has significantly increased its 2010 pre-election turnout, when Republican Scott Walker first claimed the governor's seat. This time, he's aiming for a second term that could set up a run for president in 2016.

This started as a top ten list.Let's face it, with President Obama's awful approval ratings and the unfortunate consequences of Obamacare felt like a sting around the country, Democrats were already vulnerable in this year's midterm elections. These gaffes certainly won't help. Let's take a look at some of the worst mistakes Dems have made on the campaign trail so far:1.) That awful/insensitive/shameful and now infamous ad from the Wendy Davis (D-TX) gubernatorial campaign. 2.) Those colorful campaign memos from Michelle Nunn’s (D-GA) campaign, in which her own campaign referred to her as a “lightweight.” 3.) Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) saying he was...

Madison -- Fresh off a visit to Milwaukee to campaign for Mary Burke, former President Bill Clinton has cut an ad for the Democratic candidate for governor. "If you're ready for a governor who will get up every day thinking about your family and building the middle class, you're ready for Mary Burke," Clinton says in the ad. The spot features the former president speaking directly into the camera -- a technique often used by Burke's opponent, Republican Gov. Scott Walker. The election is Tuesday.

MADISON, WI (AP) — Republican Gov. Scott Walker is leading Democrat Mary Burke in the last Marquette University Law School poll released before Tuesday’s election. The poll released Wednesday showed Walker with 50 percent support, compared with 43 percent for Burke. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Walker and Burke were tied with 47 percent support in the previous poll released two weeks ago. The one before that, on Oct. 1, showed Walker with a narrow 5-point lead. The latest poll of 1,164 likely voters was done between Oct. 23 and Sunday. Walker was campaigning...

According to her resume, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke spent 1994 and some of 1995 working as the “Administrator” of the non-profit trade group Bicycle Industry Organization (BIO). However, an IRS document shows an address for the trade group that also happens to be a home formerly owned by Burke – a home that was purchased at least seven months after Burke claims she left BIO. According to Burke’s resume, Burke left BIO in 1995 and that same year returned to Trek Bicycle – her family’s business – as Director of Forecasting and Strategic Planning. According to a Dan Bice...

MADISON, Wis. – Another high-ranking Trek Bicycle Corp. executive on Thursday bolstered claims that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke was fired by the global bicycle firm launched by her father nearly 40 years ago. Until this week, Burke claimed her success at Trek was evidence she ought to unseat Republican incumbent Gov. Scott Walker in next week’s election. Wisconsin Reporter revealed Tuesday that Burke’s family terminated her in 1993, following her disastrous performance in the company’s European business unit, according to multiple former Trek executives and employees. Burke responded Wednesday to the allegations by clarifying that her position was “eliminated”...

In my item on Marquette Law School’s favorable final poll for Scott Walker yesterday, I touched briefly upon a story alleging that Democrat Mary Burke had been fired from her family’s bicycle company in the 1990′s. Burke has touted her business acumen and ‘job creation’ experience at Trek as a centerpiece of her gubernatorial campaign. I expressed some degree of skepticism over the Wisconsin Reporter’s scoop, as the top named source in the piece is a Republican county chairman, and other quotes were mined from anonymous sources. Burke initially denied the allegations outright, calling them “ridiculous” and “completely false.”...

Following an event during which some African American attendees walked out on a Barack Obama speech intended to galvanize them into voting for Mary Burke, the Wisconsin Reporter claims that a pivotal event from Burke’s career has been falsely described by her during the campaign to cover up an embarrassment. The article also claims that Burke included falsified information related to her job performance on her resume, a resume which she submitted before she was appointed as Wisconsin’s commerce secretary. Burke has claimed that, after two years heading Trek Bicycle’s European operations during which sales figures rose substantially, she was...

A month ago, Wisconsin’s most respected pollster showed Walker at 50 percent and leading by nearly six percentage points. Two weeks ago, the race tightened considerably, with Democrat Mary Burke pulling into a tie with the incumbent — thanks in large measure to some puzzling shifts in the internals. Marquette Law School’s final poll of the race shows dramatic movement back toward Walker. Boom: New Marquette Law School puts Walker at 50%, Burke at 43% among likely voters (with a D+2 LV sample). #mulawpoll— MULawPoll (@MULawPoll) October 29, 2014 He also edges Burke by one point among registered voters,...

A document dump attempts to create an impression of scandal around Scott Walker, though none exists. on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services28 In order to understand the latest turn of events in embattled Wisconsin, it is necessary to review recent history. Before running for the governorship in 2010, Scott Walker served two terms as Milwaukee County executive. Milwaukee County is a Democratic Party stronghold, one of the three most resolutely Democratic of the state’s 72 counties (the other two: Dane, the seat of state capital Madison and main campus of the University of Wisconsin; and Menomonee,...

MADISON, Wis. — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke once gushed over former Gov. Jim Doyle raiding almost $1.4 billion from the segregated transportation fund to balance several state budgets, claiming the series of moves made good business sense. But after admitting last week those actions contributed to a projected $680 million shortfall in the transportation fund, Burke is trying to pretend she never fully supported those transfers. “When we collect revenue, particularly from the gas tax for a certain purpose, I think it’s reasonable to say that it stays there,” Burke told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters and the newspaper’s editorial...

Wisconsin has made huge strides in the protection of unborn babies and mothers in our state. In just 2013 alone, our new lifesaving laws gave mothers more information about their unborn children and helped save 465 babies, who now sleep peacefully in their beds. But we still have far more work to do. maryburkeThat’s why so many Wisconsinites are concerned by Mary Burke’s recent statement in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel interview about her position on legislation that would protect unborn babies who are capable of feeling pain. When asked what she would do with legislation that would “ban abortions after...