A collection of political thoughts and responses to political statements in the news and on the web. Progressive politics, LGBTQ politics, environmental politics, &c.
Following the endorsements of marriage equality by Vice President Joe Biden and then President Barack Obama, there have been quite a few people making statements for and against equality. The Minority Whip of the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer of Maryland, is the latest to call for equality.
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD)
released the following statement today after President Obama’s comments
yesterday in support of marriage equality:
“One of the first votes I cast as a member of the Maryland State
Senate in 1967 was to repeal the anti-miscegenation statute that
remained Maryland law. It was a legacy of a discriminatory history of
prejudice and segregation. It was my feeling then and now that
individuals have a right to choose their partners, and society must
accord them that freedom.
“We now confront a variation of that miscegenation issue, and that
has been what to call the relationship between two people of the same
gender. The word ‘marriage’ has held a specific meaning for centuries as
the union between a man and a woman. But it has also meant, in a
broader sense, a commitment of one person to another, recognized by each
of them and by society.
“I have believed that the phrase ‘civil union’ was an appropriate
definition of a relationship that is both different and the same between
two people of the same sex. And I have believed strongly that such
couples must be treated equally under the law.
“Because I believe that equal treatment is a central tenet of our
nation, I believe that extending the definition of marriage to committed
relationships between two people, irrespective of their sex, is the
right thing to do and will not, in any way, undermine the institution of
marriage so important to our society nor impose a threat to any
individual marriage. It will, however, extend the respect due to every
one of our fellow citizens that we would want for ourselves and our
children.”
So, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker now has a clear target, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who won Tuesday's primary. And the distortions and lies are ramping up. There are six claims made in this new ad, with varying amounts of accuracy.
"Walker has focused on creating jobs"
Not exactly. As a new Governor, Mr. Walker called a special session of the Wisconsin legislature in January of 2011 to focus on tax breaks for the wealthiest people in Wisconsin. These tax breaks also went to businesses, which may be where Mr. Walker is claiming he focused on creating jobs, but it didn't work. The new tax breaks resulted in a budget deficit which he later claimed to have inherited.
"and balanced the budget without raising taxes"
Well, it is true that he didn't raise taxes. Instead he cut programs and eliminated collective bargaining for public sector employees who had not supported him in his 2010 election. The budget which had been brought into balance by former Governor Jim Doyle was now out of balance.
"Scott Walker eliminated Wisconsin's deficit."
No. Mr. Walker created that deficit.
"Under the Barrett administration, Milwaukee ranked 4th worst in the nation in poverty"
This is true.
"3rd worst in employment"
Also true, but let's put this into some perspective. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explored the issue of unemployment in Milwaukee and in the state of Wisconsin. Perhaps a graphic from them will help.
The truth is that the Great Recession, becoming evident at the end of the Bush years, clobbered everyone. The City of Milwaukee, as Wisconsin's largest urban center, naturally got hit hard. That hit to Milwaukee was proportional to the hit to the State of Wisconsin and the rest of the United States. Neither Mayor Barrett nor Governor Walker are responsible for the Great Recession.
"and property taxes skyrocketed."
As Governor Walker cut back on services, Mayor Barrett attempted to keep up. Local taxes are the only response to the state pulling back resources or things would have been worse still.
These arguments are distortions and distractions. Governor Walker would not be facing a recall election next month if he really had focused on creating jobs. Instead, he focused on destroying unions, undermining social programs, and removing access to women's health care. That is why he is facing a redo of the November 2010 election less than two years later.
Mayor Barrett has a somewhat mixed record, as was discussed clearly by his biggest primary opponent, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. That record is nowhere near the disaster described by Mr. Walker. But Mr. Barrett has not been a disaster as Governor of Wisconsin as Mr. Walker has. If the Democrats of Wisconsin are wise, they will focus on Scott Walker's real record. In a sense, the June election is placing Mr. Walker on trial. No matter how wonderful or less than wonderful Mr. Barrett, it is Mr. Walker who lied to Wisconsin about his stand on unions and undermined decades of fairness in Wisconsin.
I was going to close the discussion here, but just received a link to Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, a candidate to replaced the retiring Herb Kohl for the United States Senate this November, on MSNBC with Chuck Todd this morning. Her discussion goes far beyond just the gubernatorial race but is germane. The discussion of the recall begins at the 5:50 mark.
Late evening update: Channel 3000 reports that a series of reports at WISC-TV finds the Walker ad misleading. They go through a number of the details, including that Mr. Walker was Milwaukee County Executive for seven of the eight years that Mr. Barrett was Mayor of the City of Milwaukee, which does imply some degree of joint responsibility for the problems in Milwaukee. Read their short article, please, for yourself.
Mr. Casady, who served seven years as the Chief of Police, is now Safety Director of Lincoln, Nebraska. He is the first two and a half of testimony and another two minutes is question and answer.
The rest of the seventeen minute video is Mr. Gray, a city councilman of Omaha, Nebraska. He is largely responsible for the similar legislation in Omaha. Mr. Gray's testimony begins at 4:17 and runs for about five minutes with the rest of the clip being question and answer.
This discussion of why the LGBTQ Community should have legal protection from harassment is something that I wish could be heard by those who continually claim that they are "protecting the family". This was an important part of more than seven hours of a public hearing yesterday in Lincoln.
Part of the discussion involves a decision made a few days ago by the Attorney General of Nebraska, Jon Bruning, that local municipalities "are not authorized to expand protected classes beyond the scope of the civil rights provided for in state statute." The question was asked by Nebraska State Senator Beau McCoy, the author of LB 912, a bill that failed in committee, that would have prohibited local communities from creating hate crime laws.
Brilliant and well thought out answers by both Director Casady and Councilman Gray. Many thanks to Aksarbent for making this available.
As the duly elected Governor of Wisconsin I have been steadfast in my
beliefs that limited government and fiscal responsibility should be the
cornerstone of putting my state back on the road to prosperity.
Mr. Walker was "duly elected" and he may really believe that he has been working toward "limited government and fiscal responsibility". His actions indicate otherwise.
I am facing a recall by the big-government public employee unions and their minions
who are threatened by the voters actually being in charge of where their tax dollars are being spent.
In November of 2010, the majority of Wisconsin voters resoundingly said
enough-is-enough to the status quo and put me in charge of a state that
had been beholden to big government special interests with a
tax-and-spend mentality that created a $3.6 billion deficit.
No. Former Governor Jim Doyle did not leave office with a huge debt. The debt was caused by huge tax breaks that happened under Governor Walker. I covered a few of the details in FollowUp 13 and FollowUp 25.
In less than a year we were able to eliminate this deficit and provide the freedom of choice for public employees
. Our reforms are allowing them to decide if they would like to
spend more than a thousand dollars a year in union dues or keep their
money. We put a stop to the unions’ railroading of the taxpayers'
hard-earned dollars.
See my links, just above, to look at the redistribution of wealth in Wisconsin under Governor Walker. Unions were not "railroading" tax dollars. That is absurd. I covered a great deal of what really happened, including the courts overturning part of Mr. Walker's attacks on unions, in FollowUp 19.
What we need now is your help in telling the unions we do not want
another tax-and-spend liberal at the reins of power in Wisconsin.
You can do this by contributing $20, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford by clicking here
.
Sorry, I have disabled that link. Mr. Walker seems to be getting plenty of money from out of state without my helping him.
I have been a man of my word to the voters of this state and have always
led by putting the interests of Wisconsin taxpayers first.
No. Mr. Walker is a liar. He has put corporations first, not taxpayers.
Since taking office,
I have eliminated a bureaucratic and bloated budget mess
left by the previous administration without raising taxes or laying off
state workers
. Thousands of Wisconsinites are back on the job, and statewide
property taxes have decreased for the first time in years.
Stand with me today with a generous contribution of $20, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford
.
It looks like Wisconsin is doing slightly better than Illinois and Michigan and not as well as Iowa and Minnesota. Wisconsin is not doing horribly, but Mr. Walker's brag seems a bit shallow.
The people of Wisconsin deserve to see the bold and courageous choices I have made come to fruition.
It is time to stop these out-of-state special interests
in their tracks and let them know that our conservative values will not
be taken lightly
.
The choices made by Mr. Walker were certainly bold. In fact, they had little to do with his campaign promises. The out of state special interests are favoring Mr. Walker, not opposing him. He has the biggest money. Two days ago, Time Magazine did a story on Mr. Walker's fundraising windfall. "Since mid-January, Walker’s campaign has raked in more than $13 million,
according to financial disclosure statements released this week. During
that time, two-thirds of his cash came from outside the Badger State."
With your help, I will be the first Governor of Wisconsin elected twice in my first term.
Thank you for your support,
Scott Walker
Governor
Too many lies. It is my hope that Wisconsin's Democrats come together after the primary on Tuesday and turn out their voters in June.
This is the first time that I have heard Joe Biden in full support of marriage equality. His explanation on this morning's Meet the Press makes sense. Thank you, Mr. Vice President!
6 May 2012, Afternoon Update: Apparently there has been backtracking by the White House and by Mr. Biden. My guess is that the Vice President spoke what he really thinks on Meet the Press and is now modifying that statement so that it is more politically expedient for November's ballot. Not really surprising.
