Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Madison Capitol Times editorializes today on Friday night's Total Recall/Walkergate Debate. Walker versus Barrett (and John Doe):
Scott Walker and Tom Barrett have had debates before, but . . . It’s different now, as they prepare to debate Friday evening.
Walker is the most controversial governor in the nation, a right-wing firebrand whose attack on collective bargaining rights has provoked mass demonstrations, lawsuits and a recall election that has transformed the politics of Wisconsin. And Barrett is the challenger who carries the hopes of those who would defend labor rights, public education and public services in a historically progressive state.
But the issue that will likely be the most contentious of the first debate of the Wisconsin recall campaign between Walker and Barrett is a John Doe inquiry into felony wrongdoing by Scott Walker’s aides and political donors. The probe, which is led by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, has already produced felony convictions, and now top aides to Walker when he served as Milwaukee County executive face trials that will raise the question asked recently by a Milwaukee anchorman: “What did the governor know and when?”
Tonight’s debate between Walker and Barrett — which will be aired live statewide at 8 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Television — will be wide-ranging. But Barrett, in television ads and public appearances, has posed two questions that are now unavoidable:
“Governor Walker, will you release all emails, sent and received, between you and the people in your office, who have been charged and pled guilty to criminal wrongdoing? Will you tell us, who is funding your legal defense, which has already paid more than $100,000 to criminal lawyers?”
But we wouldn’t stop there.
If the John Doe probe comes up in the Friday night debate, the questions that Barrett has posed are important. But they aren’t the only ones that need to be answered with regard to the probe. Here are two more:
1. What does Scott Walker know about the funding of the increasingly expensive legal defense for his former aides?
2. Has the governor engaged in conversations with those aides or others about payment for the defense of those aides?
3. When did the governor last speak to indicted aides?
The last question is an important one, as one of those aides, Kelly Rindfleisch, who faces trail on four charges of felony wrongdoing stemming from her service as a Walker appointee in the Milwaukee County executive’s office worked until just days before her indictment in January 2012 as a campaign fundraiser for Walker.
The New York Times Magazine this Sunday will feature a major takeout on Wisconsin's political landscape headlined "How Did Wisconsin Become the Most Politically Divisive Place in America?" It was posted online Thursday.
Polling from a couple of days ago showed Barrett with momentum, closing the early lead Walker enjoyed to 3 points, within the margin of error. Madison Politiscope: New poll shows Wisconsin recall race close.
Rachel Maddow did an exceptional report on Thursday about what is at stake in Wisconsin: the survival of our democracy v. corporatocracy servitude.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Arizona is a long way from Wisconsin, but you can still help. The Arizona AFL-CIO put out this message today:
Recently, a video surfaced of Gov. Scott Walker revealing his plan to divide and conquer Wisconsin’s working families.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen and Wisconsinites and other working families from across the country worked together in unprecedented ways to stand up to his policies that have hurt working families and Wisconsin communities.
And, it is going to be the grassroots efforts of people talking to Wisconsin families until Election Day that will show Walker he cannot divide and conquer us. You can help.
We just launched a great new online tool, called the Friends and Neighbors (FAN) program, to connect with people in Wisconsin about the recall elections without having to leave home.
A recent poll shows the race is a dead heat2 and it is going to come down to the side that turns out the most people from now until June 5.
Walker and his political allies are relying on millions in out-of-state donations from corporate donors and right-wing billionaires to blanket the state with misleading ads.
They may have unlimited money, but we can cut through the noise by having real conversations with Wisconsinites about how Walker’s policies are wrong for them and their communities.
Click here now to sign up for the FAN and get started connecting with Wisconsin voters.
Let’s show Walker in these final weeks leading up to the recall elections on June 5 that working families in Wisconsin and across the country are more united than ever and ready to stand against the extreme policies that are leading our country in the wrong direction.
In Solidarity,
Rebekah Friend
Exective Director, AZ AFL-CIO
P..S. Need some more motivation? Check out this video that recently surfaced of Walker talking about his strategy to “divide and conquer” working families.
1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/wisconsin-democrats-say-polling-shows-a-dead-heat/2012/05/22/gIQAWKediU_blog.html
2 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/wisconsin-democrats-say-polling-shows-a-dead-heat/2012/05/22/gIQAWKediU_blog.html
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