JS still loooves Scott Walker. That's one thing I know from reading the "paper," although online. The newspaper's love affair with the guy who's singlehandedly trying to ruin Milwaukee County's government and quality of life continues unabated. Steve Schultze boosts Walker's candidacy for governor in a late-developing story.
Walker, he discovers, has been raising money and seems to be running for governor:
It's a story filled with boosterism:
... Walker has pulled in more than $272,000 from 128 large donors in recent months, including a broad array of business and political leaders, in his still unofficial Republican quest for governor in 2010...
"He'd make an excellent candidate if he decides to" run for governor, said Russ Darrow, a local car dealer who lost a GOP U.S. Senate primary in 2004. Darrow gave $1,500 to Walker in July.
...Walker acknowledged that the distinction between his status as a potential rather than official candidate often is blurred for many.
"It's no great surprise, and even though I'm not saying it, I usually get introduced as the next governor or the guy who should be the next governor," Walker said.
The story's "late-developing" because it ran on Feb. 22, three weeks after Walker filed his report and long after other media outlets reported how much he had raised.
Schultze is impressed with the numbers, but WisPolitics, which actually talked to someone besides Walker boosters, reported way back on Feb. 6:
Critics of the county executive often gripe he can’t seem to put up impressive fundraising numbers and that Milwaukee County’s problems are now his after eight years in office. Both pop up again. Walker reports raising $413,000 in the second half of 2008, compared to Doyle's $622,000 during the same period. Insiders call Walker's take a decent number but not one that blows away observers, and some Republicans continue to take a wait-and-see approach to his bid. Last fall’s numbers were likely low-hanging fruit -- donations from regular supporters that Walker could pick up without much work, some say.
In the meantime, former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann seems more and more likely to challenge Walker in a primary, and some Republicans say they’ll give him a look...
What prompted the JS story weeks later? Maybe Schultze was just bored hanging around the court house, but more likely a Walker operative pitched the story, or -- perhaps even more likely -- Walker told a JS editor how great things were going, and Schultze was assigned the puff piece.
One reason Republicans are willing to "give a look" to Mark Neumann, rumors say, is that he is willing to put up $3-million of his own money. That should give Walker some pause. If Neumann wants to run, Walker's early fund-raising efforts will not scare him out.
And Steve Walters still loves Randy Koschnick.
Walters and the JS decided the most important thing about this week's debate between the Supreme Court candidates was a demand by Koschnick that Abrahamson return some contributions from lawyers who have a medical malpractice case before the high court, or recuse herself, suggesting not too subtly that maybe the Chief Justice could be bought.
What the paper didn't bother to report was that members of the law firm on the other side of the case, Foley and Lardner, also have given to Abrahamson -- and to every other member of the court who will hear the case, Tom Foley points out. Maybe all seven will have to recuse themselves.
As Abrahamson said:
"The antidote to anyone buying you, or buying a campaign or buying a judicial vote, is to get small contributions from diverse groups, so you are beholden to everyone in the state and you are not beholden to any single group."
She has received several thousand contributions, diluting any special influence, while Koschnick has only a handful of big donors.
What's more, Koschnick took contributions from lots of lawyers who later appeared before him in circuit court, Cory Liebmann reports. That hasn't showed up in the news media either.
That's showbiz. The show may not go on, as Gov. Jim Doyle proposes that Wisconsin taxpayers get out of the movie business. His budget would replace film industry tax credits with a $500,000 grant program. Reports are that the $5 million in tax credits it gave to a Johnny Depp film. "Public Enemies," shot here in 2008 was pretty much a wash and didn't make the state any money, which is the whole idea. The new grant program would be targeted toward Wisconsin-based companies that create jobs in the state in the film and video industries, rather than paying for Depp's hair stylists.
No insurance? No problem The debate over Gov. Jim Doyle's insurance plan has brought forth the fact that Wisconsin and New Hampshire are the only states that don't require drivers to carry car insurance. Doyle does not propose changing that.
Why not?