Despite Scott Walker's absurd lie on national TV recently that he has "never even once had anything but great things to say about teachers," the truth is that Walker has been leading a smear campaign against Wisconsin's teachers from his first day as governor.
Here is a timeline:
2010-2011 Campaign Website -- Repeatedly smeared Wisconsin teachers and said, "Wisconsin's education system is failing our children" and "underperforming teachers must not be allowed to continue to fail our children." Education seciton that contained these comments were recently removed.
January 3, 2011 -- In his inaugural address, Walker attacks teachers and other public workers's salaries and tries to pit low-wage workers against public workers, saying, “We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots."
February 11, 2011 -- When Walker announced his intention to kill teachers' unions and other public sector unions, he said that he was prepared to bring in the national guard to deal with worker unrest. Clearly, Walker's statement was a smear on teachers and other public workers, because it intimates that teachers and other public workers would react as a union thugs requiring the National Guard's services.
February 21, 2011 -- Sent out a press release with a sub-headline of "Viagra for Teachers," which attacked teachers in Milwaukee for having a health care plan included all prescriptions.
March 3, 2011 -- Sent out a press release with subheadline of "Arbitrator Reinstates Porn-Watching Teacher."
March 8, 2011 -- Sent out a press release with a subheadline of "Teachers Receiving Two Pensions" and another attacking Green Bay teachers called "10,000 Per Year for Doing Nothing"
March 10, 2011 -- Sent out a press release trumpeting his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in which he attacks the seniority system that protects older-- and more expensive-- teachers from being fired and replaced by younger, less-expensive workers during budget crunches.
March 31, 2011 -- Creates the absurd "Read to Lead" task force and smears Wisconsin teachers by making the completely bogus claim that 1/3 of Wisconsin fourth graders cannot read at a basic level. Such bogus claims are simply intended to undermine public confidence in Wisconsin schools.
Clearly, during the first six months of Walker's administration, he mounted a smear campaign against teachers and other public workers, but because the vast majority of Wisconsites still adore their local teachers, he's doing the only thing he can: do his obfuscate n' deny bit.
Governor, Wisconsites know better-- and that's why your approval rating is in the mid-30s.