Free Republic

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker polls near the bottom of would-be presidential contenders. Unlike potential rivals, you won't find him on the cover of Time magazine or slow-jamming the news with comedian Jimmy Fallon. But he's a conservative Republican who won election in a blue state, survived a brutal recall campaign, and now posts approval ratings over 50 percent. A budget-slashing chief executive and son of a Baptist minister who straddles the fiscal and social conservative camps. A proven fundraiser who has put his thumb in the eye of President Obama and Big Labor.

MADISON — If U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin can make it there … Well, first of all, what was he doing there? The Janesville Republican — he of the conservative budget hawk gang who has taken an apparent nose-to-the-grindstone approach to his House work after the Romney-Ryan ticket defeat — was hobnobbing with the Big Apple’s media elite Tuesday evening, says the New York Post. It all got the Post huffing, asking this question: “Is Congressman Paul Ryan’s first stop on the 2016 presidential campaign trail in Manhattan?” U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, then Mitt Romney’s presidential running mate, speaks...

MADISON – When the co-chair of the Legislature’s powerful Committee on Joint Finance says it might be best if you stepped down, you know you and your agency are in for a long, hard day. “I can’t believe Kevin Reilly is still there,” Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills said of the beleaguered president of the University of Wisconsin System, under the political microscope for building up hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves during difficult fiscal times. “In the best interest of the state, Kevin Reilly should not be in this position,” Darling said. The finance committee voted to slash...

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -- It is a change that could affect all of us literally down to the core. This week the legislature will take up a plan by the governor that would require anyone arrested for a felony or convicted of a misdemeanor to give a DNA sample. "Present time anyone who is convicted of a felony is required to provide a DNA sample," said Harry Hertel. Hertel, an attorney with Hertel Law SC, sees a problem with the proposal. Mainly he says it requires good people who may have made a mistake to give up something very...

It may not be the only case, or even the most pressing case, in need of an independent investigation, but there’s little doubt the targeting of White House opponents by the IRS needs a lot more sunlight than the Obama administration has thus far provided. Republican Governors Association chair Bobby Jindal and vice-chair Scott Walker demanded a special prosecutor to start an investigation of the expanding scandal: Two Republican governors are urging President Barack Obama to appoint aspecial prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service’s admission that it targetedconservative political groups.Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker call...

He doesn't get the attention of the Sunday talk shows, or Washington's political elite, but the Midwest's dragon slayer, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, is emerging in some Republican circles as the surprising favorite to win the GOP nomination for president in 2016. Untainted by scandal, far from Washington's voter-frustrating gridlock, and reinvigorated by his victory over foes who staged a recall vote, the conservative Walker is also viewed as the best candidate to sop up the Midwest white vote which, had Mitt Romney done better there, would have catapulted him into the Oval Office. But the best part in the...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has a book deal. The publisher Simon & Schuster tells The Associated Press that Clinton is working on a memoir and policy book. The book about her years in the Obama administration is currently untitled and tentatively scheduled for June 2014. Financial terms have not been disclosed. Clinton reportedly received $8 million for her 2003 memoir, "Living History," also published by Simon & Schuster. snip

A recently discovered cache of e-mails raises the question of whether Vaughn R. Walker, the judge who blocked California’s Proposition 8 which protected traditional marriage, had an inappropriately close relationship with the attorneys who argued the case before him. The legal blog Patterico’s Ponderings has published an e-mail exchange between Vaughn R. Walker, the judge who blocked California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, and the law partner of Ted Olson, an attorney who argued against the bill during the trial in 2010 and is currently arguing against it again before the U.S. Supreme Court. Retired Judge Vaughn Walker struck...

As a 15 year old, I never imagined my activism in politics would translate into controversy for me at school. My name is Benji Backer and I attend a public high school in Appleton, Wisconsin. I have always supported the public school system and plan to do so for the rest of my life. Many Americans who stand up for the public school system and the unions believe there is no attempt to sway opinion or that students with opposing beliefs are singled out. Unfortunately, experiences I have had with harassment and bullying prove that wrong. This is a timeline...

MADISON – Here are some lists you don’t want to finish first on: •Worst human being •Guy with most head lice •The naughty list (well maybe you do, you kinky devil, you) •Charlie Sheen’s ‘Hey, What’s in This Punch?’ party •The Society of Actuaries list of top five states facing the steepest health care cost hikes under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Wisconsin comes close to topping the latter list. The Badger State checks in at No. 2 on the Society’s ranking of states expected to be most impacted by underlying claim costs under the ACA, derisively referred...

RICHMOND — Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli II is scheduled to be the opening speaker at the annual CPAC conference next week, as the man he hopes to replace was not invited this year. The conservative attorney general, who has grabbed headlines and drawn support for challenging the federal health care law, climate change and pushing for tougher laws for abortion clinics, is among nearly 40 people listed on the Conservative Political Action Conference Web site as featured speakers. Cuccinelli is set to speak at 9 a.m. on the first day of the three-day conference that begins on March 14...

MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin's Democratic Party spokesman has been removed from his position after comparing Republican Gov. Scott Walker with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Graeme Zielinski made the comments in three tweets after prosecutors announced Friday they closed an investigation involving Walker's former aides and associates. Zielinski apologized over Twitter both to Walker and to Dahmer's victims. Party spokesman Melissa Baldauff said Monday that Zielinski has been removed as spokesman, docked a week's pay worth about $1,000, and will no longer be permitted to post on Twitter. He will continue working for the Democratic Party as an adviser. Walker was...

Bay Area bridge commuters will be ponying up $37 for each of the 150,000 people expected to walk across the new Bay Bridge span during the big Labor Day opening celebration. That's the breakdown on the math for the $5.6 million in toll money going toward the public side of the public-private celebration marking completion of the new eastern span.

Wisconsin's budget picture brightened Thursday, with new estimates that show a surplus will grow to $484 million, giving Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker even more room to pursue their tax cutting agenda. The estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau was nearly $137 million better than one Walker's administration released in November. ... In 2011, Walker took office facing a roughly $3 billion budget shortfall and

Those looking for excellent news in the midst of a clearly-souring global economy can find it in Wisconsin. I am pleased to report Federal appeals court upholds Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s restrictions on public unions A federal appeals court on Friday upheld Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s contentious law stripping most public workers of nearly all of their collective bargaining rights in a decision hailed by Republicans but not undoing a state court ruling keeping much of the law from being in effect. The decision marks the latest twist in a two-year battle over the law that Walker proposed in February...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit has upheld the Wisconsin union law that was the subject of massive protests in 2011, including a takeover of the State Capitol and widespread threats and acts of intimidation. The decision was unanimous in most respects. The full decision is embedded at the bottom of this post.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld Gov. Scott Walker's contentious law stripping most public workers of nearly all of their collective bargaining rights.

Police have arrested a man who allegedly threatened the Wisconsin Capitol on his Facebook page and then told officers he had a molotov cocktail in his backpack after entering the building. The arrest occurred Tuesday afternoon, just hours before Gov. Scott Walker was scheduled to deliver his State of the State speech to lawmakers at the Capitol. Police closed one entrance and evacuated a portion of the building as they investigated the contents of the man's backpack outside.

First Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell proposes the elimination of the state gas tax, then Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal calls for wiping out all state income and corporate taxes. Now Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is talking about reducing income taxes in his state, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

MADISON, Wis. -- The state Medical Examining Board disciplined 11 doctors this week for giving out questionable sick notes to public workers at a 2011 rally to fight Gov. Scott Walker's limits on collective bargaining. The discipline was handed down Wednesday, eight months after 20 other doctors were punished for similar activity. In the latest round, six doctors were reprimanded and five residents were given administrative warnings, a lesser form of discipline. The six doctors who were disciplined were Susan Carson, Jennifer Edgoose, Laurel Mark, Dipesh Navsaria, Richard Schmelzer and Melissa Stiles. Carson is retired; the others are with the...

Walker was asked Wednesday about whether he would push to make Wisconsin a right-to-work state on the heels after his proposal in 2011 that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. Walker said that introducing a right-to-work bill could lead to massive protests like what happened last year over the collective bargaining bill. He said those protests and the recall elections that followed created uncertainty for job creators. Walker said, "The last thing I want to do is create the sense of uncertainty out there." Walker stopped short of saying he would veto a right-to-work bill should it pass.

Dear Concerned Citizen: On November 6, citizens across the state and country voted to reelect President Obama. As a result, the implementation of federal health care reform continues to move forward. While I may disagree with the federal health care law, health insurance exchanges will now be built. To do so, federal law provides states three options: 1) create a federally run exchange; 2) create a state-run exchange; 3) establish a partnership plan requiring the state to administer the exchange for the federal government. The most important consideration for me in deciding which option is best for our state is...

Dear Concerned Citizen: On November 6, citizens across the state and country voted to reelect President Obama. As a result, the implementation of federal health care reform continues to move forward. While I may disagree with the federal health care law, health insurance exchanges will now be built. To do so, federal law provides states three options: 1) create a federally run exchange; 2) create a state-run exchange; 3) establish a partnership plan requiring the state to administer the exchange for the federal government. The most important consideration for me in deciding which option is best for our state is...

Wisconsin is example A of how screwed up our country is. Two years ago, we elected Scott Walker and Tea Party Senator Ron Johnson. The Republicans took over both the state assembly and state senate. In short, two years ago, the Republicans took our state back. Tonight, our state voted to send the flaming liberal lesbian Tammy Baldwin to the US Senate, and re-elected Obama as POTUS. Despite that, tonight we also re-elected all our incumbent Republican US House members (republicans control 5 out of 8 House seats), added two seats to the Republican majority in the state senate, and...

...The emails reviewed by the AP offered an unusual, behind-the-scenes glimpse of the interpersonal relationship between Ryan and Walker. Although as a congressman Ryan's emails are exempt from disclosure under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, messages sent by Ryan or his aides to Walker or the governor's staff are subject to Wisconsin's open records law. The week after Ryan was tapped as Romney's vice presidential candidate, the AP requested all such emails since Walker was elected in November 2010. It received 1,037 pages of them late Friday....

And the wheel keeps turning in Wisconsin. The long, strange trip is not over. First it was Dane County Judge Sumi who interjected herself into the legislative process by striking down the collective bargaining reform law, only to be overturned by the State Supreme Court which rejected challenges to the process used to pass it Now a different Dane County judge has struck the law down again, this time on the ground that state employees have a constitutional right to collectively bargain, and has reinstated the law as if the legislature never passed the reforms.

Wisconsin public high-school teacher Kristi Lacroix has endured yells, curses, laughs, derision, and threats to her face. It isn't students who give her grief, though. It's the other adults. One woman spit on Lacroix while she shopped for groceries at Pick'n Save. At Capt. Mike's Beer & Burger Bar, a table of teachers moved when she sat nearby, while another patron suggested someone should assassinate her. Her sin? Being a teachers union member who opposed the recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. As a political conservative, Lacroix had become frustrated when she learned her union supported liberal candidates and agendas....

The Walker Art Center truly did go to the cats, and the world meowed its approval. On Thursday, Aug. 30, more than 10,000 folks turned up for the outdoor Internet Cat Video Festival at the museum's Open Field area. Organizers had expected 2,500 to 3,000. By Friday afternoon, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, Slate.com, Buzzfeed and Mashable had all contributed articles to the viral purrs going around the Internet. And those stories were shared hundreds of times on Facebook and Twitter. "Internet cat video stories galore today," wrote technology journalist and former New York Times...

Speakers include Ryan, Romney and Scott Walker. Watch live 6pm central. Stream at source. This should be good!

WAUKESHA, Wis.-- The largest crowd of the campaign so far for a Mitt Romney event welcomed home favorite son Rep. Paul Ryan at a massive rally here in the congressman's district Sunday night, pushing the GOP's vice presidential nominee to tears as he took the stage, setting off cheers with two simple words: "Hi mom." With that, voice cracking, Ryan showed his Wisconsin credentials to a crowd the Romney campaign hopes will be emblematic of the charismatic congressman's support in the Badger state, a reliably Democratic enclave the Republican candidate hopes to turn red this fall. "My veins run with...

The newest names on the Tampa convention speaker list, from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus's Twitter feed: Thrilled to announce that @luisfortuno51, @GovWalker, @tedcruz, @pambondi and @samolens will all be speaking at the @GOPconvention! Bondi and Olens are the attorneys general of Florida and Georgia, respectively, and both endorsed Mitt Romney in the GOP primaries. There's nothing surprising about the fact that Scott Walker would address the GOP convention, and Luis Fortuno and Ted Cruz are two of the Republican Party's young Latino stars. Still no sign of Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich ...

<p>MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker plans to speak next week at a prominent think tank that denies the existence of man-made global warming.</p> <p>Walker is scheduled to appear Aug. 9 at the Chicago-based Heartland Institute. His keynote speech is part of a dinner celebrating Heartland's 28th anniversary.</p>

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) criticized the Mitt Romney campaign on Wednesday, saying it had failed to help the presumptive GOP nominee connect with voters and define what he stood for. Walker, appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said the Romney team had focused exclusively on making the race a referendum on Obama, but in the process had not properly presented its own candidate to the public. “I think there’s a lot of caution,” Walker said. “I think the mistake that they’ve made is the feeling like it can just be a referendum on the president. It’s certainly a part of...

Since the Supreme Court upheld President Obama's health-care mandate, there has been exhaustive discussion about the philosophical basis of this federal law. As Election Day approaches, debate will surely grow about the proper role of our federal government. But while much attention has focused on Congress' intention to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act, too few are studying the law's practical impact. The best place to see the effects of the law is in our nation's laboratories, the states. Although the Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of the act, Wisconsin shows that it is bad policy. The...

Since the Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s health-care mandate, there has been exhaustive discussion about the philosophical basis of this federal law. As Election Day approaches, debate will surely grow about the proper role of our federal government. But while much attention has focused on Congress’s intention to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act, too few are studying the law’s practical impact. The best place to see the effects of the law is in our nation’s laboratories, the states. Although the Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of the act, Wisconsin shows that it is bad policy. The...

Wauwatosa - U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan is at ease and on message when he talks about America's fiscal challenges. But when it comes to talking about the possibility of being tapped as the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee, the Janesville native clams up. "Next question," Ryan said Tuesday when asked what it was like to be vetted for the position by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. "I don't think it's helpful to the Romney campaign to fuel this speculation, so I don't think it's in their interest to comment on these things. So that's why I'm not," Ryan said....

....Under the health care law, by 2014, states must implement a health insurance exchange, or a Web-based marketplace where people can shop for insurance, or defer to a federal program. States need to submit plans to the federal government by Nov. 16 that demonstrate their readiness to launch health exchanges. ....."We care about having a health care safety net for the vulnerable Floridians," Scott said on Fox. "But this is an expansion that just doesn't make any sense." ....."Hopefully we won't have to worry about it because by November we're going to have a new president-elect who is going to...

MADISON — Gov. Scott Walker is pledging to fight the U.S. Supreme Court, vowing that he will not implement the federal health care reform law, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the law is constitutional. Walker said in a statement shortly after Thursday’s court ruling that he hopes that Republicans will be in control of Congress and that the White House after the November elections and that they will repeal the law. “If there is no political remedy from Washington and the law moves forward, it would require the majority of people in Wisconsin to pay more money for...

New Berlin - Jill Werner thought she'd retire in the School District of New Berlin. A 15-year-employee of the district, she started as a math teacher and then became a guidance counselor at New Berlin West Middle/High School. Colleagues and parents commend the way she connects with students as a counselor and coach, and Werner said she loves West's students, staff and families. But when Waukesha North High School came calling earlier this year, Werner, 42, accepted. The counseling position at North comes with less salary and benefits, she said. But it's a ticket out of a district she and...

A year and a half after the abrupt end of Wisconsin's high-speed rail plan, the federal government has reimbursed the state for the money spent on the project. That $14.6 million payment could be the last official action in the aborted effort to link Milwaukee and Madison by passenger rail. But Minnesota officials are trying to keep high-speed rail hopes alive, while Wisconsin officials are wrestling with issues surrounding new trains and other upgrades for Amtrak's Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line. Starting with former Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson in the late 1990s, state officials had pushed to extend the Hiawatha to...

MADISON — The dark fiscal clouds are starting to lighten in Wisconsin’s largest school District. But Milwaukee Public Schools‘ fiscal picture could be a lot brighter, had its teachers’ union chosen to open up its labor contract with MPS and agree to some salary concessions. Tweaking the deal could have saved scores of positions, opening up the opportunity for more teachers in the classroom, more programs to bolster the academic achievement of a school system that has seen its share of failure, and perhaps offering relief to Milwaukee taxpayers. Life is all about choices, and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association...

Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker said the federal government needs to “reign in” the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because they have “run amok,” in remarks at a Jobs Summit hosted by the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. "[W]e need to reign in, particularly two key areas, the National Labor Relations Board and the EPA so that our employers have certainty as to know exactly what’s going to happen in the future in those two critical areas,” Walker said during a press conference at the event.

Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) disagreed Sunday with Mitt Romney's conclusion that the failed recall election in Wisconsin was evidence that American voters want fewer public workers such as teachers and firemen. “I think it's slightly different – I think in our case what they wanted was people willing to take on the tough issues not only here but across the country,” Walker told CBS's Face the Nation. “I know in my state our reforms allowed us to protect firefighters, police officers and teachers. That's not what I think of when I think of big government.”

Gov. Scott Walker urged Mitt Romney to develop a more cogent economic message Thursday in order to win over the fickle swing voters needed to carry Wisconsin and win the presidency. The Republican governor’s advice was more a critique of style than substance, but he warned Romney that framing the fall election solely as a referendum on President Barack Obama would be a risky bet. “He’s got plans … But I think it’s got to be, narrow it down to a very simple set of messages that embody the larger plan that he has,” Walker said of Romney’s fiscal and...

To his sworn enemies, Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker's victory last Tuesday over Democratic challenger Tom Barrett by 53 to 46 percent has been as hard to spin as it has been to accept. There's no getting around it: The unions lost. It was public-sector unions who led the effort to recall Walker following passage by the legislature last spring of a fiscal reform plan that included tough limitations on union bargaining power. Unions and allied groups by this January had gathered nearly a million signatures to put the recall on the ballot. During the entire campaign, some 50,000 volunteers...

Labor unions suffered a setback in Wisconsin last week, but anyone who thinks they've been knocked dead is living in a dream world. There are laws on the books which ensure that the unions will always bounce back. Scott Walker knocked them down, but they will come back up like a bobo doll, and long after he is out of office, they will continue clutching for more power. All the laws are on their side. The only certainties are death and tax [exemption] Labor unions are categorized as tax-exempt 501(c)5 organizations. In 2010, these organizations collectively held $32,498,906,714 in assets....

On Tuesday night, the recall effort against Governor Walker was soundly defeated in a resounding 7-point victory by the sitting Republican governor. In addition to Governor Walker, Lt. Governor Kleefisch and three Republican State Senators also defeated Democratic challengers by large margins. But the lone victory for recall challengers appears to have occurred in Senate District 21 where Democrat John Lehman posted an 800 vote lead over Republican incumbent Van Wanggaard in Racine County. Despite the lead, the election is likely headed for a recount and reports are trickling out of Racine of irregularities, electioneering, and outright fraud. Nevertheless, the...

It was predictable. In Indiana, where Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) instituted by executive order a similar reform seven years ago, government-worker unions have since lost 91 percent of their dues-paying membership. In Wisconsin, Democratic and union bosses (a redundancy) understood what was at stake if Walker prevailed: not benefits, not “rights,” but the very existence of the unions. So they fought and they lost. Repeatedly. Tuesday was their third and last shot at reversing Walker’s reforms. In April 2011, they ran a candidate for chief justice of the state Supreme Court who was widely expected to strike down the law....

Let's give Wisconsin voters some credit. While others try to find easy right-versus-left explanations for Gov. Scott Walker's decisive victory last week, Badger State voters appeared to be more worried about their state's purse. Their fiscal anxiety reflects a national trend. During the 1990s economic boom, state and local governments awarded generous health and pension benefits to union workers. Now the pensions and benefits are being paid from shrinking revenues in a sluggish economy. The result is a fiscal crisis in cities and states with deepening deficits and threats to public services, ranging from police and firefighters to parks and...

Wisconsin shadow hangs over NetrootsBy CHARLES MAHTESIAN | 6/10/12 7:08 AM EDT PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Last year, the liberal Netroots unleashed their ire on President Barack Obama for short-shrifting the progressive causes they thought he’d champion in the White House. This year, they had a more pressing matter on their minds: a fear that Republicans, backed by the boatloads of cash that helped Scott Walker win in Wisconsin, could make even more gains up and down the ticket — and perhaps even beat Obama in November. There wasn’t any time or appetite for airing the left’s frustrations with the president....