Campaign ’12 W
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker faces an intense smear campaign as the statewide recall election looms.
Crossing The Line in Wisconsin’s Recall Battle
26 NEWSMAX | FEBRUARY 2012 BY JAMIE RENO
hen an obscure blog reported last fall that Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker had com-
mitted the “ultimate hypocrisy” by awarding himself a pay raise while freezing the pay of other state workers, the story caught on like wildfi re. In hours, hundreds of other blogs
and websites picked up the news. But in validation of Mark Twain’s obser- vation that a lie can circumnavigate the globe while truth is still donning its tennis shoes, it turns out the state Constitution forbids elected offi cials from such acts of self-giving: Walker couldn’t have given himself a pay raise if he wanted to. A Walker spokesman later traced
the erroneous report to the state work- ers’ union, which has been at war with Walker ever since he announced steps to rein in state spending and improve its business climate. That rumor is but one of sev-
eral distortions leveled against Walker since union-backed Badger State Democrats announced their plans to seek a recall election against him and his fellow Republicans in the state legislature. Democrat Kathleen Falk, for example, who is frequent- ly hailed as a potential challenger to Walker in the recall fi ght, wrote in a December Op-Ed that Wisconsin was “losing jobs at rates not seen in decades” under Walker. So researchers at Politifact Wis-
consin checked the record, and they only had to go back to Walker’s pre- decessor, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, to debunk Falk’s assertion. Under Doyle, the state suff ered a net loss of 121,000 jobs, while it experienced a net increase of 20,100 private-sector jobs under Walker. Walker’s foes also have circulated
the improbable tale that he increased taxes as governor. Although the idea
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