Scott Walker May Face A Spot Of Bother This Fall

Could Wisconsin be tired of the boy dunder?

Scott Walker is hoping to win his third term as governor of Wisconsin this year -- though really, more like his fourth election, since he came close to getting recalled that one time, but then managed to win that, and, with lots of Koch money, got reelected. Amazingly, now that they've had some time to get to know him, Wisconsinites may finally be finding him a little tiresome, what with him being so very Scott Walker and all. It may be the whining. We bet it's the whining.

Politico has a nice long piece about the state's waning enthusiasm for Walker in what Dems hope will be a Blue Wave year. While Republicans still think he's the neatest thing ever for some reason, there's a fair bit of polling indicating independents, who've come through for Walker in the past, are feeling considerably more meh about him this year.

Democrats think this might be the year to turn the jerk out of office. His opponent, Schools Superintendent Tony Evers, has led in recent polls, and three former Walker aides have appeared in an ad for Evers. Then there's this desperate smear ad against Evers that Walker has released, accusing Evers of failing to revoke the teaching license of a skeevy teacher who watched porn in the classroom and openly commented on junior high school girls' bust sizes. (The teacher was fired, then appealed in court and was somehow reinstated.) The thing is as mean a campaign ad as we've seen, and oh, hey, its central claim, that Evers could have revoked the teacher's license but decided not to, is a straight out lie. 

You see, under the law when the teacher was shitcanned in 2009, Evers didn't have the power to revoke the teacher's license, because at the time, licenses could only be revoked for teachers who met a strict legal standard of posing a "danger to students." Evers actually worked to get the law changed so that, in future cases, he or another state superintendent could revoke a teacher's license in a similar case. The change passed in 2011, and Evers's campaign manager, Maggie Gau, says Evers should be recognized for fixing the law:

The people of Wisconsin know Tony has spent his lifetime doing what is best for our kids, that he followed the law, and when a loophole in the law on teacher licenses needed to be changed, he worked with both parties to toughen the law so any offending teacher now would lose their license to teach.

We are shocked that Republicans who blame Barack Obama for the 2008 recession would lie about a schools superintendent who actually fixed a problem. Imagine that. Fortunately, Evers's supporters seem to be enthusiastic about his chances -- the week after he won the primary, he received over a million bucks in donations. Dems hope "Walker fatigue" will help, and that voters will remember how tired Scott Walker was of Wisconsin when he decided to run for president:

[When] asked whether the people of Wisconsin could trust he was committed to a full term as governor, given his 2016 presidential run, Walker stopped dead in his tracks.

"Tony Evers ran for superintendent for a four-year term and a year after, he's running for governor. You ask him the same question?" Walker asked a reporter, pointing to the reporter's voice recorder, then pressing: "That's on the record, right? You're going to ask him the same question?" (POLITICO later asked Evers' campaign; the answer was "yes.")

God, he's such a whiny little shit. Better ask the schools superintendent whether he'll stay in Wisconsin and not run for president, huh? In any case, Walker promises he'll stay governor and not try to be president any more, because perhaps there actually IS a level of humiliation too great for him. Not that he's petulant or anything, but Walker followed that pledge up with this reminder that he doesn't need you peons, he just stays in office because you can't get by without him, and look at all he's sacrificing for you ingrates:

"A lot of people have said I could have easily gone on and done something else. I could have joined the Cabinet, could have joined the public sector," Walker said. "But instead, I'm committed to being governor."

Don't cry for me, Manitowoc .

Anyway, Walker has his campaign against Evers all planned out: Beyond telling voters Evers is actively in favor of creepy bad teachers, he'll portray Evers as in thrall to unions, which are evil, and as a very bad man who'll raise taxes and tank the state economy, which is doing OK. And maybe fix roads and bridges that are falling apart thanks to Walker's budget cuts -- apparently some people have taken to calling potholes "Scottholes."

At least one Republican consultant, Brandon Scholz, thinks Donald Trump could be a major issue, considering how close Trump's electoral margin was in 2016:

This guy just says and does things that make you recoil [...] The balancing test there is: OK, you've had victories on issues that you've long wanted, but the guy doing them makes you want to throw up in your mouth. What do you do? Do you stay home and not vote? Or do you vote for the folks on the ticket, to make sure that what goes on for Republicans and conservatives, and what goes on in the state capitol is what you want?

Maybe he should have added, "Please applaud."

[ Politico / Wisconsin Public Radio ]

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