Headlines

News

Are Wisconsin's Deer in the Headlights?

by Emily Osborne — June 1, 2012 - 3:38pm

This past year Governor Scott Walker imported "Dr. Deer" or Dr. James Kroll all the way from Texas -- and asked him to conduct a review of Wisconsin's deer management program and policy. Kroll holds the title of White-Tailed Deer Trustee, a position created by an executive order from Walker. Under this position Kroll will provide analysis and recommend changes to Wisconsin's deer management program. Kroll, who considers hunting on state-managed game lands "the last bastion of communism," is being paid up to $125,000 dollars for less than a year's full-time work. Kroll released his interim report in March with his final report due in June. Deer hunting advocates are concerned that his final report could somehow advance a privatized vision of Wisconsin's deer management in ways that could disadvantage a public hunting model and favor a game farm model.

News

Plan B: Recalls will Determine Control of Wisconsin Senate

by Rebekah Wilce — June 1, 2012 - 11:28am
  • Topics: Politics

    • Most of the headlines in recent weeks have focused on embattled Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's effort to ward off a recall, but four Wisconsin State Senate seats are also up for grabs in the June 5 recall elections. These four elections could swing control of the Senate to the Democrats. Last summer, six senators faced recall elections, and Democrats picked up two seats. If they pick up one more seat in the June 5 election, they win control of the Senate and put a halt to the Walker agenda.

    News

    Wisconsin Recall Roundup June 1, 2012

    by PRW Staff — June 1, 2012 - 12:39am
  • Topics: Democracy, Economy, Education, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • Walker and Barrett Clash: Dead Child, John Doe and New Jobs Numbers Dominate Debate

    Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his recall challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett met in Milwaukee last night for their second and final debate. The structure of this debate, moderated by one of Wisconsin's leading newsmen, WISN's Mike Gousha, allowed for more back and forth between the candidates and led to heated moments as underdog Tom Barrett went on the offense. Barrett slammed Walker for cutting a campaign ad that features a dead child in an attempt to criticize Barrett for the Milwaukee Police Department's under-reporting of crime. There is no evidence that Barrett knew about the under reporting or the tragic death of the child. Barrett defended his police department: "Milwaukee police arrested that man and put him in jail, but did not use the right code when reporting the crime... you should be ashamed of that commercial, Scott Walker," Barrett charged. Walker did not apologize.

    News

    Citizens United Unleashed in Wisconsin Recall

    by Will Dooling — May 31, 2012 - 4:49pm
  • Topics: Democracy

    • Recent campaign filings show Governor Scott Walker raising over $30 million to defend himself against recall versus $3.9 million raised by his challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Barrett is being outspent 12:1, but even these numbers do not account for the full amount of spending in the race. Since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case, an array of outside groups are playing a major role in elections and Wisconsin is no exception.

    Wisconsin's historic recall battle may be seen as a test of grassroots gumption (30,000 volunteers collected close to one million recall signatures) against big outside money in a post-Citizen's United world. With less than a week before the election, spending numbers regarding these outside interest groups are changing by the hour. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) is working hard to track the money and illuminate exactly how high the spending outside of the candidates will go. Right now, WDC pegs total spending in the race at $62 million, including at least $21.4 million in disclosed spending by outside groups in addition to an estimated $7.5 million in undisclosed spending on so-called "issue ads" designed to influence the election.

    Here is a brief look at the five biggest outside interest groups spending in Wisconsin's 2012 recall.

    Op-Ed

    Wal-Mart Does Good by Leaving ALEC

    by Lisa Graves — May 31, 2012 - 2:48pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Democracy, Ethics, Public Relations

    • It's big news when one of the largest corporations in the world changes its policy. And, today, the really big news is that Wal-Mart announced it was leaving the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has been called "a corporate lobby masquerading as a charity."

    The Center for Media and Democracy launched ALECexposed almost a year ago to shine a spotlight on ALEC. CMD's analysis and ongoing investigation have fueled hundreds of news articles and other reports exposing deeply troubling information about ALEC's operations and extreme agenda. And, CMD has served as a research engine that has helped empower hundreds of thousands of people to speak out against ALEC's agenda and activities. Through ALEC's task forces, corporate lobbyists are voting behind closed doors as equals with legislators on templates to change our laws.

    News

    Walker Appointees Soften the Blow for Polluter -- Again

    by Sara Jerving — May 31, 2012 - 2:00pm
  • Topics: Environment, Health

    • In the midst of a scandal over allowing a corporation to skirt punishment for records showing it dumped large amounts of human sewage sludge on land, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has now refused to require the corporation, Herr Environmental, to test for contamination of nearby wells.

    News

    Texas-Based "True the Vote" Gearing Up to Combat "Voter Fraud" in Wisconsin Recall

    by Brendan Fischer — May 31, 2012 - 11:32am
  • Topics: Election 2012, Democracy, Labor, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • An out-of-state Tea Party organization recently called a "GOP front group" by a Texas judge is again intervening in Wisconsin's recall election and perpetuating unfounded fears of "voter fraud," a spectre also raised by right-wing media, Governor Scott Walker, and most recently, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Reince Priebus.

    With polls showing the recall election between Walker and his challenger Tom Barrett tightening to a dead heat (49-49 in a recent survey by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake), Republicans have been invoking fears of "voter fraud" to cast doubt on a potential Barrett victory, despite repeated investigations finding no evidence of in-person electoral wrongdoing.

    Op-Ed

    ALEC Slips Exxon Fracking Loopholes into New Ohio Law

    by PRW Staff — May 31, 2012 - 10:32am
  • Topics: Energy, Environment

    • This piece was first published by Connor Gibson at GreenPeace and is being cross-posted by the Center for Media and Democracy.

    Wake up and smell the frack fluid! But don't ask what's in it, at least not in Ohio, cause it's still not your right to know.

    Ohio is in the final stages of making an Exxon trojan horse on hydrofracking into state law, and it appears that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) connected Exxon's lawyers with co-sponsors of Ohio Senate Bill 315: at least 33 of the 45 Ohio legislators who co-sponsored SB 315 are ALEC members, and language from portions of the state Senate bill is similar to ALEC's "Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act."

    ...disclosure of fracking fluids? On behalf of ExxonMobil?!

    News

    Wal-Mart 18th Corporation to Dump ALEC, Becomes 22nd Private Sector Member to Leave

    by Rebekah Wilce — May 31, 2012 - 9:57am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations

    • Wal-Mart, a member of ALEC's corporate "Private Enterprise" board and of the Public Safety and Elections Task Force that adopted Florida's "Stand Your Ground" as a "model" bill, announced yesterday that it is "suspending" its ALEC membership.

    News

    Wisconsin Recall Roundup May 31, 2012

    by PRW Staff — May 31, 2012 - 9:41am
  • Topics: Wisconsin Protests

    • Walker's Biggest Donor Pays No Taxes

    Governor Scott Walker has been talking about protecting Wisconsin taxpayers a lot in his campaign to keep his seat in the June 5 recall election, but it appears some taxpayers are getting more help than others. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Walker's biggest donor, the Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, paid zero state income tax in 2010. Scott Bianchini, the tax director for Hendricks' company, ABC Supply Inc. "declined to comment when asked whether Hendricks, who is chairman of ABC, had other income such as salary or dividends that could have been taxed in 2010." Hendricks has been in the public eye recently after a video was released in which Hendricks asks Walker about how to make Wisconsin a "red state" and if he will implement anti-union "Right to Work" laws. Walker responded by saying his "first step" was to "divide and conquer" unions. Hendricks subsequently gave Walker $510,000 for his recall campaign making her his top donor.

    Syndicate content