Citizens United's Latest Purchase: Governor of Wisconsin

Of course all of us little people have been sitting around wondering just what the Citizens United money would buy first.  Really?  With an nine digit war chest, I suppose we should be able to answer that question.  

Any damned thing they want.

A MeanMesa Math Note 

The "purchasing power" of Citizens United Money:

• "Nine digit" war chest?  Let's see.  
• One hundred thousand dollars is a "six digit" war chest -- $100,000 = six digits.
• One million dollars is a "seven digit" war chest -- $1,000,000 = seven digits.
• Ten million dollars is an "eight digit" war chest - $10,000,000 = eight digits.
• One hundred million dollars is a "nine digit" war chest -- $100,000,000 = nine digits.
• And, by the way, $999,999,000 also = a "nine digit" war chest, even if it is only $1 less than a billion which, would, of course, be a "ten digit" war chest.

Now, back to Wisconsin.  Among the aforementioned "any damned thing they want," will, of course, be the brand new, shiny Governor of Wisconsin, Mr. Scott Walker.  Although Mr. Walker seems, upon closer scrutiny, to be an unlikely sort of fellow to ever become even a nominee, much less a victor, in a Gubernatorial election, here he is.

(image source)

Jean Nicolet, landing at the Bay of Green Bay (Wisconsin area). 

Painted by Franz Rohrbeck (1852-1919) in 1910.

When the man emerged from the neo-con "Tea Bag and Cracker Factory" armed with all the latest -- and, of course, cheapest -- incendiary talking points, his campaign carefully took aim on the information challenged voters of Wisconsin.  The prospect of persuading voters interested enough in the State's future to actually stay informed was nothing more than whimsy, a subtle flatulence drifting in from Green Bay.

 

Mr. Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin (image source)

After resting for a month in the Governor's Mansion, Mr. Walker, has blossomed into a carefully groomed, well oiled, union hating, budget and services slashing wing nut undoubtedly filling the hearts of his Citizen United funded creators with the timeless pride of unexpected fecundity and parenthood.

Since no one was particularly paying attention to the election, Mr. Walker's evil mentors made the bold decision of a brave -- as it turns out, perhaps overly brave -- plunge into the shallow swamp of meaningless right wing economics and ideology.  In their view, Wisconsin had languished far too long under the comparatively progressive leadership of the long string of sane people who had run the government previously.

Governor Walker's preliminary strategy for the redistribution of the local wealth and prosperity was to breach an interim agreement with the teachers which was agreed upon in lieu of contract negotiations in an effort to manage the state's budget.  Now, the GOPCon Walker has proposed a complete elimination of all negotiating with state employee organized labor.

The attack, although beginning with teachers (Hummmm, Republicans generally don't like education much in general.  It makes their campaigning more difficult.) is already scheduled to expand to all state employees' unions as quickly as possible.  Walker has been dutifully mouthing the "up is down" state budget message assigned to him by his billionaire masters.

For the information challenged Wisconsin voter, Walker has been relentlessly trotting out the "We're broke because of all these greedy working people." line while signing off literally millions to the plutocrats who financed his campaign.

The facts, which apparently mean, as usual, nothing,  amount to a mere "blip" in the drivel oozing forth from big talking point pumps.  The Wisconsin State budget, thanks largely to the work of Walker's predecessor, two term Democrat Jim Doyle, is in the black.

The story is a repeat of what happened to the federal budget after President Clinton ramped the deficit down in 2000, providing a temporary buffer of around $200 Bn or so surplus as an inauguration gift to the little autocrat who was appointed to follow him.  The Republicans, after pausing only a moment to start a war or two, immediately plunged the federal budget to new depths in the red.

It's no secret.  They clearly can't govern the country, and they, just as clearly, can't govern  Wisconsin.

MeanMesa is predicting that Governor Walker will be recalled, but only after one hell of a huge pile of Citizens United money has been invested in protecting him.  During this process, we can watch the level of looting sky rocket just before the Governor's end, making the oligarchs' anti-democracy investment pay back handsomely.

Information challenged Wisconsin voters were deceived into thinking that they were electing some sort of rational conservative who might be able to "manage" their already pretty well managed budget a little better.  With the facts of the matter conveniently set aside for the campaign's punditry festival, they elected a stark ass crazy, medieval wing nut.