A significant moment in the recall campaign was when Walker and his Department of Workforce Development notified the media that his job numbers had been confirmed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All of the state's media, of course, gobbled up the story and front paged the triumphant news. Not one of them bothered to contact the BLS.
The Uppity Wisconsin Action News Team did, however, contact BLS and we were told that BLS had not confirmed Walker's numbers. Even confronted with an email from the BLS spokesman stating this information, no one in the state's media-- with the exception of WTDY-- corrected the story Walker's numbers had been confirmed.
We know now the truth: BLS released numbers that are lower than the one's Walker was touting.
Walker lied and he used a government agency to do it.
He also lied when he strongly implied that Wisconsin being among the worst in the nation in job growth was not accurate. According to the benchmark data released today, Wisconsin was still one of the worst in job growth in 2011-- a point that was argued repeatedly in this space, before the recall.
More coming soon.