John Doe Corruption Probe, Ryan Budget and More From the Democratic Party of Wisconsin

Hello and welcome to the first Patch blog post from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW). I’m Mike Tate, Chair of the DPW. 

With this blog, my colleagues and I will bring you the latest news and opinions from the Democratic Party on issues facing Wisconsinites.

Our goal with this blog will be to inform all Wisconsin residents about the topics of the day, how they can make an impact and what our elected officials and the Party are doing to return Wisconsin to our strong values and traditions.

That said, let’s get into a couple of timely topics.

The John Doe criminal corruption probe surrounding Scott Walker continues. Never in our state’s long history has a sitting governor created a criminal defense fund. That is, before Scott Walker did so recently. Under the letter of the law, an elected official may only create such a fund if they are being investigated, have been charged or believe they will soon be convicted of a crime. Still, Walker has somehow denied he is being targeted in the probe, regardless of his actions in creating the defense fund.

But this is the just the latest development in the ongoing investigation. Over the past several months, the John Doe investigation has led to convictions and charges of six of Walker’s close aides and employees. The more than a dozen felonies include embezzlement, illegal campaign donations, sex crimes against children and campaigning on taxpayer time.

Catch up on the John Doe criminal corruption probe here.

Paul Ryan budget offers tax breaks to the wealthy. Released yesterday, Rep Paul Ryan’s budget is just more of the same. This “new” budget is a re-hash of his failed attempt last year -- it's the same bad ideas, re-packaged and re-worded. Two of the key points of the budget include an average tax break of $150,000 for millionaires and billionaires (paid for by cutting programs for veterans, seniors and children) and the destruction of Medicare as we know it, putting insurance companies in charge of people’s health care choices.

Read more about this destructive budget here.

State senator resigns, eliminating Republican majority. Sen. Pam Galloway last week announced her resignation from the 29th Senate District, citing family medical issues. First, we wish the senator and her family our best and a speedy recovery. Her move eliminates the majority previously held by Scott Walker Republicans that has brought nothing but harm to the working families of our state. Off-setting the majority offers us some short-term hope that Walker’s agenda has been stalled.

Sen. Galloway was facing a recall election, triggered after more than 20,000 constituents in her district signed a recall petition this winter. Despite her resignation, the recall election will move forward and voters in her district will have an opportunity to select new leadership.

Read more of our statement about the meaning of the Galloway resignation here and a statement from the State Senate on Galloway's proposed Republican replacement here.

Wisconsin leads nation in jobs loss. Also late last week we learned the unfortunate — but not surprising — news that our state led the nation in jobs loss under Scott Walker’s failed leadership and disastrous, anti-family agenda.

Even as the United States as a whole added jobs for the past 17 months, Wisconsin was left out of this upward trend and instead, we lost 12,500 jobs over the past year due to Walker’s divisive, damaging actions.

Read Assembly Minority Leader Rep. Peter Barca’s take on the bad news here.

Thank you for taking the time to read our first Patch blog; expect to see many more as the recall and other elections get closer. In between our posts, please visit our website (www.wisdems.org) for the latest statements and other information from the Party.