Changing the subject to revert away from the overwhelming success his leadership has generated as a Governor.

Blame your leftie buddies on the county board and mayoral leadership if you don't like deficits. And if you blame the leadership from the state, at the time you grandfather Doyle was at the controls. See how this works? The blame Bush factor no longer works, it's not 2008 any more

When Walker wins this squalid recall and is finally exonerated from the contrived John Doe investigation what will you do in your spare time Bren?

Steve, what "overwhelming success" could you be talking about? You claim to be a business owner, right? You know how infighting distracts from the job of making money. Deliberately creating polarization (divide and conquer) is not the action of a leader. But we know he isn't a leader, he's not an original thinker. He's following, point by point, the ALEC agenda. Union stripping? Check. Corporate tax cuts? Check. Castle doctrine/Stand Your Ground? Check. Voter ID? Working on that. There's no originality, no leadership there. Those are essential qualities for a leader. Big picture thinking, not crossing off a grocery list of ideological mayhem. The ability to excite others about one's unique vision and build consensus. That's how momentum builds. That's leadership.

Again, I've had the dubious privilege of sitting in when county leaderships were trying to make sense of a Walker budget. We are fortunate to have had the buffer of the County Board to control the wackiest of his ideas (except when he went over their heads, as in the case of illegally firing county security guards under the guise of a manufactured crisis). If we had political balance at the state level, we likely wouldn't have a recall issue now (or the distraction of an out-of-state special interest agenda calling the shots in our state). Let's work on restoring balance through the recall election. Then let's all make sure to research future candidates.

Adam, I don't believe that installing a private router in the County Executive's office is precisely on the "up and up." There's also the issue of the illegal Gardner donations. Somehow, somewhere, investigators must perceive that the Operation Freedom funds and the Gardner donations must intersect at some point. Walker's hiring a criminal defense team raises an interesting question, especially when state counsel is available to him. But specifically looking at the private email system, Walker either wasn't smart enough to see what was going on right outside his office, or he knew about it. I find either option unpalatable, and neither acceptable for the individual who holds the highest office in the state (apart from everything else going on).

Bren:

If someone in your office had a 'private router' in their office, are you telling me that you would know that it wasn't put there by the IT department and was for a purpose other than the typical office LAN? Do you really expect our elected leaders to be networking experts and be able to identify the purpose of every piece of network hardware they see?

@Bren -

How on earth do you qualify Abele as a "competent County Executive" when even Politifact indicates that he has fallen short on a majority of his original campaign promises?!?

And yet, you're constantly holding Walker accountable to his original campaign promises. Yet another instance of Bren's hypocrisy and double standards at play all in the name of partisanship. Way to go Bren!

@Bren -

If Walker is guilty of the wrong doing that you already have him tried and convicted of doing without even hearing a single piece of unbiased evidence or a legal defense to such, then why is it taking so long for the investigation to uncover this? Nixon's involvement in the Watergate incident was exposed in less than two years by amateur investigative journalists. And yet, here we are two plus years later into the course of a professional investigation, and there's been nothing that connects Walker to any wrong doing. And yet, you still have him tried and convicted of having done something wrong. AMAZING! So much for Bren's belief in our system of justice's innocent until proven guilty cornerstone. I guess that standard only applies to Democrats like John Edwards, right?

If Walker's opponent was as morally and ethically sound as he, then why hasn't Barrett called for an official investigation into his wife using her public school email account to engage in illegal political/campaign activity?!? After all, how is this any different than Walker CE staffers blogging on the taxpayer's time and dime? And yet, I've seen no post from you deriding Barrett for not asking for such an investigation and commending Walker for having done so. What gives here Bren? Hypocrisy and double standards apply in the name of partisanship I guess, don't they?

@James R. Hoffa -- Good to see you posting!

One tiny correction about Nixon's involvement in Watergate being exposed in two years by amateur journalists -- they had inside information help from a whistle-blower. That makes some difference.

So far, I don't think there has been a Milwaukee version of Deep Throat setting up clandestine meetings in the O'Donnell parking structure late at night.

@Randy1949 -

Thanks for the welcome back! I've been very busy and frequently out-of-state over this last month, hence the reason for my absence. Things are starting to get back to normal now though.

From my understanding, those 'clandestine meetings' are taking place at the MacArthur Square parking structure, which is probably why you weren't aware of them ;-)

Cow, absolutely I would know if there is extra equipment in the office. I know how each unit is connected and where. I know how many units there are, where the server room is and what's in it. One doesn't have to be an IT person to know the landscape, just observant.

Mr. Hoffa, welcome back! I appreciate Chris Abele's fiscally conservative approach to the county budget, especially after the foolishness of his predecessor. Abele didn't make any grandiose campaign promises like Walker, so people's expectations are accordingly more reasonable.

I am a little skeptical about the router, yes. I'd like to know where in the suite it was located, I'm also curious as to why Walker's CE and campaign offices were searched in November 2010. To use the Watergate term, "What did he know and when did he know it?"

In your absence the comparison between the county employees campaigning on the clock and Mrs. Barrett's posting has been dissected several times. Mrs. Barrett wasn't under the same regulations as the county employees. A significant difference.

You were missed Mr. Hoffa. There was a case of mistaken identity, vigorous discourse--very exciting.

Hi Bren -

Thanks for the warm welcome back and summary of what I missed while away. Nice to hear that no one was quite able to fill my shoes ;-)

Going into June 5th should be a lot of fun and interesting for both of us!

@WalkerGate -

As an anti-conservative and anti-Walker commentator, I'm surprised to see you advocating that Wisconsin implement a law similar to Governor Snyder of Michigan's Emergency Manager Law, so that Walker would actually be legally able to "fix the city" of Milwaukee. But you're absolutely correct on this point - Walker and the state Republicans should enact such a law, as it's only right that state level leadership get to make the decisions if the state level funds are constantly expected to bail out and fix the bad decisions of local level (city in this case) leadership. Maybe there's some hope for you after all.

As to 'messes' created by politicians, how were Doyle's illegal fund raids and massive budget deficits, which were the largest year-over-year increases experienced nation-wide by any state, despite having received and spent record federal stimulus dollars, not considered to be a mess in your honest opinion? Walker manages to turn that around in his first biennial budget, generating a surplus for the first time in state government budgeting history, without increasing state level taxes, and yet you call this situation a "mess Walker has put our great state in." REALLY????

I see that logic isn't exactly your strong suit, is it?

Is it just me, or has the left become outrageously absurd during Hoffa's absence from Patch?

The "kick the can down the road theory" brought us the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, when the Bush administration decided it should get involved in a region that has experienced a millenium of strife and tension. It was pointed out, many times beforehand, that this wasn't the best approach or in America's best interest, unfortunately...so I'm not a fan of taking an axe to the future when strategy is needed.

Democrats have lost before and lived with Republican leadership if one looks at the record. Why is Walker different? Divide and conquer. Wisconsin is the test case for destabilizing one of the Democratic Party's largest funding streams, unions.

Our government is based on a two-party political system. Think about having one party win virtually every election, always. That's what we face if this seditious agenda isn't stopped. One party in permanent control.

We need balance for this country to succeed, not a slide so far to the right (or left, for that matter) that democracy becomes unrecognizable.

At first I supported the recall because I knew the last thing Wisconsin needed was to have Walker and his budget shenanigans operating at the state level (and without the County Board of Supervisors to rein him in). But the situation has grown far, far beyond that. Voters will have an opportunity to vote for Walker/ALEC and a one-party system or vote for Barrett, Wisconsin, and a return to balance.

@Bren -

Are you admitting that without public sector unions funneling money to them, the Democratic Party wouldn't receive the necessary funding to remain a solvent and major political force in our system of government? If that's honestly the case, then there's something seriously wrong with the Democratic Party's funding model to begin with, isn't there?

Remember when unions actually supported and endorsed conservative candidates. Need I remind you again of how the IBT supported and endorsed Nixon, Reagan (even after he broke the air traffic controllers union), etc? I honestly can't recall a single private sector union that openly endorsed the Kennedys, can you?!? The only reason private sector unions have switched party allegiance is because of the poor and failed policies of today's union leadership that would rather embrace the manufactured class warfare rhetoric of the Obama campaign, rather than take personal responsibility and face and resolve the issues that they created for themselves and their respective memberships!

The 2010 election wasn't about balance, nor will this recall election - they are about common sense solutions to real problems. The only answer that the Democratic candidates have given is to raise taxes on people during a recession, one that their leader, President Obama, has called the worst economic times since the Great Depression, and/or deficit spend our way out if it. Most of Europe (excluding Germany) tried that when it started to lose a majority of its industrial manufacturing base to Asian countries, and we all know how that worked out, don't we?

Keith Worst, we're you asleep during Walker's time as county exec? What happened then will happen now. If he's not out next Tuesday or if John Doe doesn't get him, he'll be yanked out in 2014, despite voter suppression.

Mr. Hoffa, campaign finance has been an issue for--well almost since the dawn of our democracy. Union support is little different than that of the corporate sector. Why not ban it all? Instead of tighter controls on campaign regulations, our activist Chief Supreme Court Justice Roberts decided to re-argue a case brought forward from the state of Michigan. And that was the birth of Citizens United, rolling back 50 years of campaign regulation.

I almost think Nixon and Reagan would be considered too moderate for the current crop of Tea/GOPrs.

johnny, if you want to be a farmer, play by the rules that all other farmers have to play by! it's not illegal to produce raw milk for your family or your own use, but you must have been trying to sell your raw milk , and probably doing so for cash ( no tax). you probably had a problem when you got too greedy and put a sign in front of your house advertising you were selling raw milk! you might as well put a sign in your yard advertising moonshine ! that's a natural product too! but the moonshiners don't advertize do they!

hey, you guys called obama a rockstar