Scott Walker, post-recall: Wisconsin is heading in the right direction.

Scott Walker delivered his second (and, if all goes well, final) State of the State address last night.  I was asked to respond in the Citizen editorial forum at the Isthmus.  That post appears here.

Photo: Jenna Pope

The version they published is slightly different than the one I actually sent Walker, which is pasted below:

25 Jan 2012

Dear Scott Walker,

I wasn’t expecting much from your State of the State address tonight, and you didn’t disappoint.

I expected the same old lies, and you delivered: Our schools are broken (never mind that we were at the top of the pack in more categories than we can count before you took office). Our teachers are inept, undeserving moochers who need to be penalized instead of protected - but hey, I couldn’t respect them more! - as evidenced by the same story you always tell (and told again tonight) about the one alleged award-winning young teacher who got laid off because she didn’t have seniority. And every problem that exists in our schools can be solved by your bizarre pet project about fourth grade reading. We’ve heard it all before and we heard it again tonight. 

I expected you to ignore the recall, and you did. I expected you to conveniently fail to mention your promise to create 250,000 jobs, and you did. I expected you to employ your usual shameful strategy of passing off your cuts to health care and education as “reforms” and dare to imply that these devastating cuts actually help local economies and Wisconsin families. You did. I expected you to use a few lame examples of people who saved a few bucks on property taxes as evidence for why all the union busting was “worth it” and you did (and really? One anecdote about one woman who saved a hundred bucks was the best you can do? Ours went way up, as I mentioned before. Guess you didn’t get my message). 

I expected you to pretend that the people support you, that you created jobs, that you balanced the budget. You did, you did, you did. Never mind that a million of us just stood outside in the freezing cold to sign a petition to recall you. Never mind that Wisconsin has lost jobs steadily under your administration, and never mind that Wisconsin has lost jobs every single month for the last six months since your budget went into effect. Never mind that you just last week – in an attempt to cut even more Wisconsin families off from much-needed healthcare benefits – told the federal government that we’re operating on a major deficit, and not a balanced budget, so that you could turn down federal health care funds. Those “facts” weren’t convenient tonight, and didn’t make the cut, as facts tend not to do in your speeches. I’m getting used to this.  Since you seem to be banking (literally) on the “tell a lie often enough people will start believing it” strategy of governance and perpetual campaigning/fundraising, I expected nothing less.

But I got a little more.  There were a few things I did not expect tonight, too.

I was expecting you to try to sugarcoat the pay-to-play mining legislation that’s being raced through the Assembly as a pro-jobs, environmentally friendly proposal. It’s the hot-button issue of the moment, and I knew you’d have to mention it. But I didn’t expect you to sink as low as you did in trying to defend it.  Anyone who’s been paying even the tiniest bit of attention to the facts in this case knows exactly what this legislation is: a political game in which the exchange of money buys political favor from wealthy benefactors and the people of Wisconsin suffer.  At the public hearings for this bill, at which Republican legislators shamefully ignored and openly disrespected constituents (as seems to be the new norm in Wisconsin politics during your administration), the tribal leaders and members of the Anashinaabe nation waited 9 hours to be allowed to speak, one after another, in opposition to this legislation, which violates not just our pristine environment, but local traditions and their sovereign rights. They were ignored.  To add insult to this injury, you had the nerve, in the lowest point in your speech tonight, to appeal to the “history of our badger state” as a reason to support this legislation. What history are you referring to here? The history of exploiting native Wisconsinites? A history of broken promises? That is not history the good people of Wisconsin care to repeat.  We have an opportunity, in this moment, to protect our environment and respect the people who live where these mines will negatively impact their lives.  Your condescending appeal to “respect” at the close of your speech betrays a hypocrisy that brings shame not just on you, but on this entire state.  I am ashamed to call you governor, and that is why I cannot bring myself to do so when I address you in my letters. You have brought shame to this great state, and you seem hell-bent on continuing to do so until you are deposed.  That day cannot come soon enough.

I expected protest; you get that everywhere you go.  We knew that was coming. Drums of protest were audible as you began, and resounding “boos” from the gallery, despite your best efforts to preclude the public from your talk (the NPR broadcasters said only 12 seats were open to the general public); I counted at least a half dozen audible disruptions of your speech (most notably the shout of “LIAR!” when you claimed, right after disparaging teachers by saying they do not “merit” the pay they currently receive, that you “respect” the people of this state). I expected some dissent. But I didn’t expect four people to get ejected during your speech for shouting out objections to your claims.  

And I didn’t expect you to receive ovations for being booed. I did not expect the force with which the Republican side of the aisle applauded these ejections.  The fact that your divisiveness is one of the things that your supporters seem to love most about your “style” of governance is absolutely baffling to me.  A great leader unites. You only divide. How can you take pride in that? How can anyone applaud it?  I find it shameful. How does this move us forward? Do you really think that by dividing us you can move us ahead?  How can anyone possibly find this admirable? This, to me, is the most puzzling problem of your administration: how you seem to thrive on, take real pride in, “dropping bombs” and bringing out the worst in people.

You asked us tonight “to imagine how much better we can make our government work if we share good ideas and suggestions.”  Well, I’ve been sharing my good ideas and suggestions with you for an entire year and not once did I feel as if we were having, as you claimed tonight, a “conversation.” We are engaged in a deadlock of monologues, and you clearly have no real desire to communicate in any way with constituents who challenge your politics or policies.  Even now that you have (a year into your administration) launched the taxpayer-funded campaign ads that you call “e-updates,” you will not engage with those who have tried hardest to reach out to you over the past year. I don’t expect you to start. I don’t expect Wisconsin politics to return to an equilibrium of respect and decorum until you are out of office.

I wasn’t expecting to agree with you at all tonight. I was expecting, in fact, to disagree with everything you said.  But when it comes right down to it, I have to admit that I couldn’t agree more with the central point of your address: Wisconsin is heading in the right direction. Having spoken loudly and definitively in producing, over the course of only 60 days, over 1,000,000 signatures to see you removed from office, the people of Wisconsin have launched an effort that will not be stopped. And I think you said it best yourself: “Now is the time for action.  Now is the time to get our state working again.  Now is the time to move Wisconsin forward.”  I could not agree more. And there is only one way to move  Wisconsin forward: by seeing you recalled.

Until then,

Heather DuBois Bourenane

Sun Prairie

Walker's Ready to Compromise (His Integrity)

18 August 2011

Dear Scott Walker,

It is with the usual disgust that I read your latest interviews, and after listening to the full audio clip of your conversation with WisPolitics on Monday (8/15), I feel compelled to write you once again, to remind you to stop lying about "what you've heard people say."

What has Walker given up so far, besides his integrity? Photo

Ever since the Republicans lost two seats in the Senate, and even moreso now that the Democrats have retained their own, you've been trying to build a case for yourself as the Moderate Middleman, the Great, Misunderstood Conciliator. Using vocabulary a child perhaps scripted for you, you repeat the same lame lines about bipartisanship and how you're suddenly so ready and willing to work together and compromise and move past the recalls and jobs jobs jobs jobs...

As charming an attempt this may be to quick trick people into forgetting about what a bullying brute you are, I'm afraid it comes too late. And we're not fooled in the least.

Because we aren't about to forget how many times you told us "there's nothing to negotiate." We aren't going to forget how you and your lackeys shut down debate, ignored public and professional testimony, and continue to pretend that you simply don't hear the voices of dissent exploding all around you.

Your arrogance in thinking you can earn back the trust and the support of the people of Wisconsin (much less the legislators of this state who now know you'll throw anyone under the bus!) is staggering. And it's rivaled only by your disrespect for the intelligence of your consituents in thinking (wrongly, of course) that we're just going to "move on" and forget the fireworks that were your detonating the bomb that split this state apart.  

Your sudden willingness to "work together" and "compromise" only proves what we already knew: that the only thing you'll ever compromise are the principles that you campaigned on, your allegiance to the people, and your respect for this state. All of those have been compromised quite enough already. Your integrity, assuming it ever existed, was apparently compromised long before I heard your name. Please spare us the humiliation of seeing you "compromise" anything else.

Representative Peter Barca has already called you out on this nonsense, reminding us that 

When he went to Washington, D.C. to testify before Congress under oath, Gov. Walker said, "bipartisanship is not so good."

And the very day that voters were going to the polls last week to remove two Republican senators in a historic rebuke of the governor’s extreme, divisive agenda, Gov. Walker hid his signing of the most partisan redistricting laws in Wisconsin history.
On the floor of the legislature, Gov. Walker's Republican rubber-stamps have rejected 375 Democratic amendments out of hand, even though many were common sense measures that emphasized accountability or saved money.  And exactly zero Assembly Democratic bills have passed this session.

It is  Gov. Walker's unwillingness to give up his extreme agenda and double-talk that have Wisconsinites feeling so betrayed that half of the state feels that he needs to be removed from office immediately.

If Gov. Walker sincerely wants to work with Democrats he needs to first stop using bipartisanship as a cover for his own partisan actions. If he doesn't, then he ignores the will of the middle-class and the recall election results at his own peril.

Your schoolyard psychology doesn't work on us, Scott Walker. To put it in the terms that bullies like you understand most clearly, you can't take away all the marbles and then say "I'm ready to play nice." There are consequences for bad behaviors and in this case, you're going to get a time out. A nice, long, permanent political time out.  We call it a RECALL. You can think of it as a recess.

Or, you could just drop out again, like you did in college. Maybe you can even get one of your sponsors to buy you a VP bid and you can run away to bigger and better things like your idol Palin did, too. Whatever you choose, I wish you the worst, in all of your endeavors.

In the meantime, stop lying. Stop ignoring us. Like we always say: We won't forget. We will recall.

And I would really appreciate it if you would just resign, since you apparently suddenly care so much about how much elections cost. This will save us a lot of trouble.  

Yours in dissent, and also fury,

Heather DuBois Bourenane
Wisconsin voter, taxpayer, parent and person whose specific comments you refuse to keep in mind



P.S. What are your supporters going to do with all those "He's got nads" shirts now that you're a moderate centrist?  Your base must be so disappointed in you! Little girls whose parents let them wear profane shirts to school and companies that are being capitalistic must feel very threatened by this terrible news.

Breaking News: Scott Walker accidentally says something true

22 June 2011

Dear Scott Walker,

I was absolutely shocked this week to read, in an article whose very title ("Walker says most voters aren't interested in recall elections and want to 'move on'") makes clear that there's going to be some serious lying going on, that you actually, if accidentally, said something true.

http://www.loleconomy.com/images/inconvenient_truth.jpg

Before we get to your accidental truths, though, I just have to say first that I find unconscionable your audacity in making claims about what voters are "interested in," considering your absolute refusal to engage in any sort of dialogue or discussion with, respond to, or even make eye contact with as far as I can tell, any citizens of Wisconsin who do not blindly support you.  I, for instance, have been telling you for months exactly what I'm interested in, and it's generally a tie between your recall and your resignation, and you keep telling me how you're going to keep those specific comments in mind. Your phony, tired claims about the "majority" become increasingly ingratiating the longer you refuse to connect with your constituents. The very idea of  of you having any idea what people are "interested" in is an absurdity of the highest order. You claim, in this  interview, that you're not really a divisive or "polarizing" force, that the unions are the ones dividing the people of Wisconsin. But the fact that you continue to refuse to acknowledge or communicate with us, coupled with your audacity in claiming to speak for us, proves otherwise. You are the most divisive governor in the United States. And I cannot wait to see you recalled.

That aside, though, I think it's a rare enough occasion for you to say something true that we should take a minute to discuss it.  To rule out any confusion, I should probably make clear that I am not talking about the most glaring lie in this article, in which you pretend (as usual) that unions - and not you, personally, are responsible for the outrage over your attempt to both revoke teachers' rights AND cut education so drastically that districts have no choice but to balance their budgets in cuts to staff and wage freezes. You said: “The union is purposely ginning up this mindset that (teachers) are under attack, they’re under siege --  I think unfortunately creating great fear and division among teachers and other public employees, with the whole idea (to) use this as an issue to try to leverage a change in the political leadership.”  Unbelievable. You could not have gotten this more wrong. Nothing true here.

The truth, ironically, comes in the bit where you babble on about how people "aren't interested" in the upcoming and inevitable recall elections, including your own. Here's what you said, in case you forgot:

“People are ready to move on,” Walker said in an interview after an appearance in Washington, D.C. “And I don’t just mean one party or another. I think just in general. The average citizen in Wisconsin I talk to, it’s like they’ve had it … They want us to be talking about jobs. They want us to be focused on that … And so having another political campaign -- it’s going to happen, it’s not like they can avoid it. But it’s not something they’re particularly interested in.”
Walker said that “when I talk to people, if that issue comes up, they’re like, ‘Can’t that just be over?'”

Crazy, I know, right? Where to start with this?  Well, why don't we start by addressing the lies, since they are the elephants in the room:

• You don't talk to "average citizens." You only talk to those you count among the faithful. The rest of us you ignore and/or insult.
• People don't want to hear you talking about jobs. They want you to create jobs instead of destroying the ones we already have, which you are not doing.
• People aren't just "interested" in the recalls. They are invested in them. They are passionate about them. And not just because we want to see "our own party" in office, as you imply. But because we have been shocked back to life by the egregious abuses of power that we have seen in your administration and we could not possibly be more interested in seeing you out of office.  It's the #1 thing we're interested in, actually. 
• The majority of people in Wisconsin want you out of office. Period.  You would lose in an election held today and you know it. You are deliberately and intentionally lying to promote the impression that the "silent majority" supports you despite the fact that you know full well this is untrue. You should be ashamed of yourself for never once giving serious, respectful attention to the outrage, fears and concerns of over half of the people in Wisconsin. Shame.

But in spite of the usual, shameful lies, not much is news here; we've heard all this before. There's a great analysis of your lies here, in a very nice article titled "Disingenuous Walker Lies Disingenuously" (the only way you know how).  We're used to your lies. But the surprise was in the truth.  Here's what you said that is true:

• People are ready to move on.  

That is so true! We are ready to move on (dot org!). We are ready to move on to the recalls. We are ready to move on to undoing the damage that has been done to our economy, our schools and our government (which, thanks to you and your cohort the people now have shockingly little faith in). We are ready to move on to getting real work done that brings people together to move Wisconsin forward. We are ready to tighten our belts and do our share, but we are ready to stop the tax cuts to the wealthy and corporate power-launderers who have purchased control of our government. We are ready. We are energized (thanks to you!). And we will move on. Without you.

I am ready to move on. Are you?  

Resign.

And soon,
Heather DuBois Bourenane
Taxpayer, future recall election voter, and average Wisconsin citizen who is extremely interested in seeing you out of office

PS: Remember how YOU were elected County Executive in Milwaukee in a recall election yourself and you praised people for "standing up and taking their government back?"  Turns out you accidentally said something true then, too:  "Too much is at stake not to get involved in the game." As true today as when you said it then. You might want to keep that in mind as your henchman Fitzgerald the Elder fights to take away this right to ensure a government of, for and by the people.

Valuable Advice: 5 easy lies to tell your children to make your summer living easy

 



If you have, or plan to be near, children this summer, there are a certain number of lies you should tell to ensure that things go smoothly, by which I mean to make sure those children do not ruin your summer, as kids are wont to do, bless their tiny little summer-loving hearts.

1. 

   Ooh...those look fun! Too bad they don't exist.

   Water balloons do not exist. Or, if it's too late for that, water balloons are extremely dangerous.  Never, ever, let a child too young to fill and tie his/her own water balloons find out how absurdly, addictively fun those things are.  Of all the fun things to do with kids in the summer, this is the worst. Partly because it's the most fun, and therefore the thing they beg for most, but mainly because it takes AGES to fill up all those balloons, and a matter of seconds for them to finish throwing them at your neighbor's car.  Refill, repeat. Refill, repeat. And then YOU are going to have to keep filling up more until your fingers are bloody, and spend hours scouring the grass and driveway to destroy the evidence of their vandalism.  The best way to avoid this scenario is, of course, lying.  I recommend informing a curious toddler or preschooler that the balloons are "toxic" and "filled with a liquid that could burn your skin," like beer bottles.  This should work. Older, smarter kids who can't tie yet should be told that water balloons aren't appropriate for kids 12 and under because some families can't play with them for religious reasons, so it's not nice of us to disrespect their beliefs by playing with them in front of them. And you know what it feels like to be left out. It's not nice, is it?

2. 

   "Subject to change without notice" - I like that!

   The public pool/beach is "closed" on cool/cloudy days. Unless your children are old enough to swim independently under the supervision of the lifeguards while you lounge about and read novels in paradise, I highly recommend this essential summertime lie, or you will spend your day shivering miserably in the water and/or carrying an cold, wet person all over the place. Then be sure that whatever you do that day, you do not drive past the pool/beach, or you'll have to come up with a new lie for why the pool/beach is now "open." WARNING: THIS ADVICE IS ONLY GOOD FOR CHILDREN WHO CANNOT READ YET!
   

3. If you don't hold still, you'll be blind.  This is an extreme and potentially traumatizing lie, so normally I wouldn't endorse it, but it's preferable to the equally traumatizing screaming and running and chasing and forcing plus crying and wiping and rinsing and more screaming that comes with your child jerking his/her head around just in time to get an open eyeful of sunscreen.

4. It IS past your bedtime.  Adjusting to long summer days can be very taxing, and trying to get your kids to bed at their normal time gets harder and harder as the days get longer.  Fortunately for you, however, there's a pleasant side-effect of this in that your child no longer fully understands when he/she has to go to bed and is easier to trick as the summer goes on. This is a particularly helpful lie on camping trips, when there aren't a lot of clocks around, and you can put the kids down early and get to the adults-only business. They can have microwave s'mores when you get home. Don't feel guilty about it. Look what they just did to your tent.

5. If you don't/do [perform x thing you don't or do want them to do] then we will not/will go get ice cream.  This is more of a threat/bribe than a lie, but let's face it: you're getting that ice cream either way. Because nothing can make a good summer go wrong faster than not getting ice cream.  But this threat/bribe works wonders in the most dire of circumstances and is a proven cure for tantrums, rudeness, sibling fights, refusal to carry one's one beach crap back to the car, and much, much more. Just make sure the kids don't catch on. I'd suggest that you show you mean business by maybe now or then only getting a cone for yourself if they've been particularly troublesome, but that's going too far. No parent should really withhold ice cream from his/her child. That's just not right.

Time to fill up all those balloons: about 1 hour

Time to throw/pop them: 1 minute, give or take. But almost worth it.

Have a great summer!

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