Here's the Brown Bagger has to say today:

“I don’t want bureaucrats in Washington or Madison picking my family’s doctor or healthcare plan. The best way to make healthcare more affordable is through patient centered solutions and not government mandates, and I encourage everyone to contact their Congressmen and Senators and say no to this bill. As governor, I’d continue to fight against the Washington takeover of our healthcare system.”

Try to follow along as Scott Walker, Fred Luber (MacIver Institute Chair, Super Steel Chair, and Scott Walker Campaign Finance Co-Chair), and right-wing leaders play politics with job creation. Let’s watch.

If Davis wanted Tommy!’s endorsement for his bid for Lieutenant Governor, he should have thought twice about introducing a bill to reverse a 13-year old statute that Tommy! created, along with Scott Walker and the Republican controlled legislature back in 1997.

And the RPW might have thought twice about throwing stones at a no-bid provision created by their most revered member to promote railroads in Wisconsin.

Yes, in fact it is Tommy!, Scott Walker and the rest of the GOP-controlled legislature who, in 1997, put into the state budget a loop-hole eliminating the need to collect bids for commuter train projects.

Contrary to RPW claims, it's Walker’s standing up for one of the RPW’s biggest campaign donors, that reeks of cronyism.

Tommy! has been a big Amtrak proponent after all, sitting on the national board and even getting a train named after him, and must have thought that loop-hole would give him the opportunity to expand commuter train in Wisconsin.

Tommy’s words in November 2001:

But America's railway system is not just a matter of history. America still needs a strong passenger rail system. Without it, we discourage economic growth in urban areas. Passenger rail - and specifically, high- speed rail - is important to the economic growth of our cities and our overall transportation system in a nation of nearly 300 million people.

In Wisconsin and in eight other states, work continues on the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. In Wisconsin, the goal is to have high-speed service from Madison to Milwaukee by the end of 2003.

How disappointed Tommy! must be in Walker and Davis who are so crassly spurning his past efforts to bring high-speed rail to Wisconsin. Rather it's Doyle and Barrett acting on Tommy!'s vision for high-speed train service connecting Madison and Milwaukee.

Time for Tommy! to call out Davis for pandering and Walker and Luber for their lies.

Walker's way-over-the-top news release, accusing Barrett and Doyle of everything short of racketeering, sounds like Walker may be hysterical, if not rabid.

It's also hysterical in the sense that it's laughable. The more you read, and the more you find out the facts, the funnier it gets.

Walker's beef is that a Spanish train company has decided to build its cars at the former A.O. Smith yard instead of at Super Steel, a Milwaukee firm owned by one of Walker's sugar daddies, Fred Luber, a major donor who was his finance co-chair when he ran for governor in 2006.

Walker fulminates about Doyle giving the Spanish company, Talgo, a no-bid contract, about Barrett using tax money to offer incentives for the company to come to Milwaukee, and on and on.

A couple of thoughts:

First, Barrett is the mayor of Milwaukee, and his job is to try to bring jobs and economic development to the city. Walker and Luber Walker complain about

Barrett’s use of taxpayer funds from the office of Milwaukee City Development to unfairly compete against Super Steel as well as proposed sites in Appleton, Janesville, and Racine in an apparent effort to boost his image in the race for Governor.

Walker says Super Steel got dissed in the process, but Barrett actually signed an appeal to Talgo asking the company to use the Super Steel facility.

Walker also blasts Doyle for using a no-bid contract with Talgo for the trains, but that has been the law since 1997, when it was changed to exempt passenger rail purchases from the state’s competitive bidding rules.

Let's see, was Jim Doyle the governor in 1997? No, it was a guy named Tommy Thompson. Fred Luber was a major Thompson fundraiser and donor.

There's more, but it seems like overkill.

How desperate is the Walker campaign -- and how inept?

UPDATE: Walker voted for the no-bid law he's attacking.

WPRI is the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, although some suggest it is We Push Republilcan Ideas, like school choice, which didn't look as good in the last poll as the numbers WPRI decided to emphasize made it appear.

WPRI says it's a non-partisan think tank, but its roster is filled with refugees from previous Republican administrations and campaigns, including a lot of Tommy Thompson sycophants -- Jim Klauser, Ave Bie, Gerald Whitburn, Rick Graber, etc. etc.

the new poll, of course, will include questions on the races for governor and US Senate. You might wonder why a non-partisan think tank even cares about politics. Or you might not. You might wonder what the spin will be, and that would be an appropriate question.

Anyway, here's your invitation. See you there?

There still remain a few open seats for this Friday's poll release preview from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. We are in the field this week (last Sunday through tomorrow) so the results will be very fresh. This statewide poll includes questions about the Governor's race (both Primary & General), the US Senate race (Primary & General) as well as several other policy related issues.

Dr. Ken Goldstein, professor from the UW Madison will give an overview along with the facts found from this poll. There will also be time for questions and answers relating to the process, and expectations of what he has found and how it pertains to the current political climate in the state.

The breakfast will take place on Friday, March 12 (THIS FRIDAY) from 7:30-8:45am at the Wisconsin Club downtown. Breakfast will be included. Please email Laura Gralton at Laura@Graltonconsulting.com or call Laura at 414-881-1005 if you are interested in attending.

The Wisconsin Institute of Policy Research is a non-profit 501c(3) organization and operates through general gifts and grants. If you enjoy and appreciate what you hear, we hope you will consider a gift to the organization. All types of contributions are acceptable; personal, corporate or foundation. For further information, please contact Laura Gralton.

A new study from the Citizens for Tax Justice shows just how far Ryan is willing to go to sell out the middle class for the sake of America’s richest one percent.

By “employers,” Scott, do you mean all Wisconsin businesses? (Scott? Sounds a little chummy, ain'a?)

Specifically, will you recommend cutting -- or even abolishing -- the
$700 million corporate income tax?

Scott, would you freeze property taxes only on homes, or also on other types
of property (manufacturing, commercial, farmland, utilities)?

Walker took aim at Wisconsin’s new “combined reporting” taxation law, which treats parent companies and subsidiaries as one corporation for income tax purposes.(What was known as the Las Vegas Loophole allowed companies to pretend to be headquartered elsewhere and avoid Wisconsin taxes. Walker wants to reopen the loophole.)

Walker said he would try to repeal the increase in the top income tax bracket... (the top one per cent, who make over $225,000 a year)

and new changes in capital gains deductions... (Guess who pays most capital gains taxes?

He also promises to eliminate Wisconsin’s tax on retirement income...

--Ending health care assistance to over 100,000 families (two adults, two children) per year enrolled in the state’s BadgerCare programs.

--;Firing 14,000 public school teachers

--Cutting nearly all funding to the University of Wisconsin System

When the University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Science department announced a new polling partnership with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, one of Wisconsin's most prominent right wing think tanks, we were immediately worried about the credibility of the poll -- and more importantly, the credibility of the UW.

And when through a public records request, we uncovered that the corporate interests at WPRI pressured UW professor Ken Goldstein to alter the presentation of the poll results to more closely reflect a narrow right-wing agenda, our worst fears were realized.

UW's partnership and promotion of this propaganda polling project must end. Today. Can you sign on to the petition demanding an end to the UW-WPRI scheme? We'll deliver the names to the UW Political Science department chair, John Coleman, and UW Chancellor Biddy Martin to make sure our united voices are heard loud and clear.

Sign the petition: http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/uwpolling

The latest talking point to trickle down from Fox News to the rest of the GOP is that an up or down vote, also known as reconciliation, on health insurance reform in the Senate is outside the Senate rules. GOPer talking heads have equated using reconciliation with the "nuclear" option -- which, gentle reader, you'll be surprised to learn, is a total lie.

The latest liar to join the fracas is Reince Preibus, chair of the Wisconsin GOP. '"Democrats like Senator Feingold and President Obama have clearly and publicly opposed the use of reconciliation, also know (sic) as the "nuclear option" without equivocation...Democrats' willingness to contradict themselves by changing the rules in the Senate...blah blah blah talking point talking point etc blah.”

Now, now, Reince. Just because Hannity or Rush says something certainly does not make it true.

Good news, Wisconsin taxpayers. There are more swimming pools in your future. Look for one in a backyard near you -- but not at the park. Campaign press release:

Scott Walker, Milwaukee County executive and Republican candidate for governor, told a crowd of over 125 at Sheraton Hotel this weekend that as governor he would keep his promise to “spend taxpayer money as if it were my own,”...

In Wauwatosa, weeds snake up through cracks in the empty pool at Hoyt Park. The landscape is a stark contrast to the days when thousands of swimmers made Hoyt the most popular pool in Milwaukee County.

Competition. The ubiquitous cry of rabid free-marketers, Ayn Randites and conservatives as the answer to all that ills us. Just undo regulation and UNLEASH THE POWAH of the free market and competition! I can hear the bellowing now. Despite the repeated failures of total deregulation (current recession, runaway credit card industry, stock market crashes, etc.), conservatives still beat the “increase competition at any price” drum.