FollowUp 31: Wisconsin Republican Dirty Tricks

Ed Shultz has a good analysis of the big lie about jobs.  The lies go far beyond what is popular in the news and the recall election is going to be very close.

One of the things happening is a subtle campaign to discredit unions and teachers in particular.  One of the more blatant efforts occurred recently in Janesville, Wisconsin, with an anonymous flyer listing the salaries of hundreds of the highest paid teachers in the Janesville district.

The flyer urges parents to mail the district a cutout form if they want their student removed from the class of a teacher who signed the recall petition.

Fox 11 has the story:

Fliers seeking "non-radical teachers" in Janesville creating controversy: fox11online.com

This is just the latest of a long series of events designed to break the public schools.  While that may sound like hyperbole, consider that Wisconsin is losing teachers.

"In the end both sides will look at this and say, 'See, I told you so,' " said Dale J. Knapp, research director of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

Knapp said there were three major take-aways from the research.

"The decline in teachers particularly and staff overall isn't a one-year change," he said. "It is a continuation of a three-year decline that goes back to when revenue limits were tightened in 2009-'10."

He said, "declining enrollment districts are the ones cutting the most staff. They're the ones getting hit hardest by revenue limits overall. They're the ones that are really struggling."

Knapp added that "benefits did matter."

"Those districts that were able to do more with benefits were able to either add teachers or lay off fewer teachers than districts in similar situations," he said.

One more video regarding this flyer, this from Channel 3000:


So, as teachers remain under fire and big lies are circulated by the Governor, where are the Democrats?  Speaking with friends in Wisconsin, they are wondering why the DNC and the Obama campaign are not visibly helping Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in his campaign against Governor Scott Walker.

One friend opined that there may be moles from the Walker campaign within the Barrett campaign who are offering false assurances that things are going well.  I don't have any evidence for or against this happening, but with several of my friends concerned, it is important to consider what is happening.  Look back over the last thirty-one posts for a pattern of lies and harm to the State of Wisconsin.  I hope that the Barrett campaign gets its act together.


16 November 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
30 November 2011, FollowUp 1.
4 December 2011, FollowUp 2.
11 December 2011, FollowUp 3.
14 December 2011, FollowUp 4.
15 December 2011, FollowUp 5.
30 December 2011, FollowUp 6.
13 January 2012, FollowUp 7.
17 January 2012, FollowUp 8.
25 January 2012, FollowUp 9.
2 February 2012, FollowUp 10.
9 February 2012, FollowUp 11.
12 February 2012, FollowUp 12.
18 February 2012, FollowUp 13.
22 February 2012, FollowUp 14.
6 March 2012, FollowUp 15.
12 March 2012, FollowUp 16.
16 March 2012, FollowUp 17.
30 March 2012, FollowUp 18.
31 March 2012, FollowUp 19.
3 April 2012, FollowUp 20.
4 April 2012, FollowUp 21.
11 April 2012, FollowUp 22.
14 April 2012, FollowUp 23.
17 April 2012, FollowUp 24.
21 April 2012, FollowUp 25.
29 April 2012, FollowUp 26.
2 May 2012, FollowUp 27.
6 May 2012, FollowUp 28.
10 May 2012, FollowUp 29.
13 May 2012, FollowUp 30.

24 May 2012, FollowUp 32.
30 May 2012, FollowUp 33.
2 June 2012, FollowUp 34.
4 June 2012, FollowUp 35.
5 June 2012, FollowUp 36.

FollowUp 1: Mitt Romney on Job Creation

There are a few problems with Mr. Romney's brief ad that was released today, the biggest being the question of a causal relationship between President Obama's policies and unemployment.  One site that tracks the unemployment figures is Reflections of a Rational Republican, which has the following graphs.

Change in Total Private Employment (in thousands), Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

So, private employment is improving, just not as fast as we would like.

Unemployment Rate, Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Now, it is fair to say that the economy and employment are mostly out of the hands of lawmakers.  What Republicans in Congress have managed to do is push government employment lower which does affect overall unemployment.  President Obama's plans, those that have not been blocked by Congressional Republicans, has had the affect of turning unemployment around, albeit slowly.

But, what about the new college graduates?  Mr. Romney is correct that the unemployment rates are unacceptable.  On his campaign website, he speaks of retraining unemployed workers and of attracting the best and brightest immigrants.  He speaks of limiting unions, perhaps not as much as Governor Walker in Wisconsin.  I cannot find where he addresses anything that will make a difference for new college graduates.

President Obama has been working on opportunities for new college graduates for quite a while.  In December of 2010, he signed an executive order focusing on federal internships and hiring.  He has been a champion for more affordable college, not just in the last few weeks.  The White House has a page of links to the current job initiatives.  Perhaps it is time to give President Obama a chance without the constant obstruction of a Congress that has, in Mitch McConnell's words, the top political priority of denying President Obama a second term.

4 February 2012, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.