Republicrap: Turds from the Capitol

Just a fun, few days from the Republicans have provided a steaming pile of news. 

1. After preaching how important law enforcement is before and during his election, Walker announced last month he'd impose layoffs to state prosecutors because they wouldn't agree to furlough days.  Walker stayed with that completely contradictory stance, until another took center stage:  he realized that he didn't have the legal authority to do so.  So, today, Walker flipped again and said, "public safety is a top concern of my administration and thousands of Wisconsin families that cannot be disregarded. For this reason, we will ensure that prosecutors are not furloughed and receive the funding necessary to pursue justice."  Now, please understand, yesterday this wasn't important at all.

2. Wisconsin's own Reince Priebus, the Republican National Chairman says the Wisconsin vote in 2010 was, indeed, a mandate to act.  That's a mandate in a governor's race in which a three percent swing would have swung the election the other way.  In Milwaukee in 2008, the people of the city voted for a "sick leave" ordinance , 69%-31%.  That seems like a mandate.  When the ordinance even passed a court of appeals, that's when Walker and his pals went to work.  Igonoring this mandate, Republicans passed a bill which Walker signed into law to make such local ordinances illegal (because Walker said it would be bad for businesses).  Milwaukee Democratic Rep. Christine Sinicki called it "a slap in the face to the people of the City of Milwaukee."  If you're scoring at home, a 5+% gubernatorial victory is a mandate to do whatever you want if you're a Madison Republican, while a 38% margin, legally upheld victory on a local ordinance can just be made illegal if it doesn't fit in with the Republican agenda.

3. My personal favorite: As you no doubt know by now, Governor Walker--after eliminating collective bargaining and passing legislation to purposely break public unions; after his legislators called public workers all sorts of nasty names including slobs, thugs, and greedy; after mandating wage cuts of around 8% only to some public workers (with no discussion, by the way), a package he implies his bartender brother would love to have--has just announced a program to recognize outstanding state employees. As Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl writes, "Wow, this could be one awkward awards ceremony."

News from the last few days also includes the serious charges of fraud in recall petitions, fast-tracking open-pit mining in ecologically fragile areas (original post from Uppity Wisconsin), and a guilty plea for illegal campaign contributions from a Walker backer who amazingly says he didn't realize he did anything wrong, even though he also made illegal contributions to Walker's campaign in 2005!

I thought the aroma I smelled was the result of the springtime fields of nearby farmers. 

I guess I was mistaken.