Wisconsin Recall Ad War Gets Underway

Wisconsin "Governer" Scott Walker may have trouble spelling his job title in his latest email, but he has no trouble raising and spending money on ads to improve his image as the state braces for a high-stakes, high-dollar recall campaign.

Today, Walker will unleash a $1 million ad buy according to new sources. As of his last report, Walker has raised over $12 million, much of it from out-of-state donors writing checks as large as $250,000. Because of a quirk in Wisconsin's campaign law, Walker can raise unlimited sums during the pendency of the recall. When the election date is actually set, however, he must abide by state spending limits, including a $10,000 cap for individual contributions.

One million people signed a petition to recall Walker in 60 days in the fall of 2010, almost half of the voters in the last statewide election. Since the Walker campaign failed to formally challenge a single signature, a recall election is likely to be scheduled soon. With all the money Walker needs to unload, it is likely that his ads will be up from now until election day on top of a series of ads run by the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity group.

Issues Dogging Walker

"Smoking Gun" Video Released

Walker faces recall largely because citizens feel he misled them by never talking about his plan to balance the budget by putting an end to collective bargaining. Collective bargaining started in Wisconsin 50 years ago. Walker's "budget repair bill" ended most forms of collective bargaining and forcibly extracted significant pension and health care concessions from Wisconsin workers even though the largest unions promptly agreed to concessions in order to keep their bargaining rights. Walker said shortly after introducing his collective bargaining bill "we introduced a measure last week, a measure that I ran on during the campaign. If anyone doesn't know what was coming they have been asleep for the past two years." At that point, many reporters attempted -- and failed -- to find any evidence that he spoke about his union-busting plans during his race for governor.

Now, old tape has surfaced that shows that to the contrary, Walker in fact told editorial boards that he would negotiate wage and benefit cuts with unions using the collective bargaining process. Footage of an Oshkosh Northwestern's editorial board meeting with Scott Walker, which took place one week before the 2010 election, was quickly turned into an online video melding Walker's contradictory remarks on the topic by the blog "Uppity Wisconsin". Democrats are already calling it a "smoking gun" video.

"Walkergate" Ad Released

For its part, the Wisconsin Democratic Party is starting to signal the approach it will take in the recall ad war. The state has been riveted by a secret "John Doe" investigation that has garnered charges against half a dozen Walker former staff and campaign donors, 15 felonies and 3 misdemeanors so far. Almost every week there is another hearing in the criminal case involving allegations of secret email systems, campaigning on state time, illegal campaign contributions and old fashioned embezzlement of funds. The investigation is being run by the Milwaukee County District Attorney and involves the time period when Walker was Milwaukee County Executive and campaigning for governor. Walker himself has lawyered up with experienced criminal defense attorneys and was recently called in to testify under oath before prosecutors. More charges are possible.

The Democratic Party did a small ad buy on CNN showcasing its new "Walkergate" ad. The ad juxtaposes news video from the John Doe scandal, with old Watergate video. Esteemed news anchor Walter Cronkite makes an appearance as does MSNBC's Ed Schultz, who asks: "What did Scott Walker know and when did he know it?"

Six Months of Job Loss Triggered by Austerity Budget

Walker ran for governor and won on a promise to create 250,000 jobs in the state. Walker says in his new ad that he created "thousands" of jobs. In fact, what is most remarkable about Wisconsin is how few jobs have been created at a time when the rest of the country is bouncing back.

Bucking national trends, Wisconsin has suffered six straight months of job loss since Walker's budget kicked in, the worse performance in the nation. "Frankly, it's a little bit inexplicable to us," Mike Klonsinski, chief operating officer at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. But it is not inexplicable to the economists who have studied the situation. Walker cut more than $1.6 billion from K-12 education, $170 million from aids to localities and more than $300 million from the University of Wisconsin System, a driver of the state's economy. "The pain of Gov. Walker's budget is working its way through the state," says economist Steven Deller of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Economists at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve recently predicted that Wisconsin is one of only six states that will have continued job loss due to Walker's austerity budget.

"Governer" Changes his Title

Walker and his staff appear rattled by recent developments. On Friday, the governor temporarily lost his job title. In his weekly state email, the governor signed off as "Governer." This is on top of an earlier gaffe when a press release from his office misspelled his hometown Delavan as Delevan.

While the typo has drawn chuckles, for some in Wisconsin replacing the governor has become a serious, full-time endeavor.