Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Journal-Sentinel is covering up for their boy Scotty

Here is a longer version of a letter I sent on Saturday to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Unfortunately, they limit the letters to 200 words, and there's a whole lot more I had to reveal on this subject.

In watching Gov Walker's recent book tour, it was remarkable how he consistently would deceive and omit important information about the events of the last 3 years. Walker said that he didn't consider planting disruptors into the protesting crowds, claimed the protests of 2011 turned violent, and never mentioned the six convictions of Walker staffers in Milwaukee County, or the possibility of further indictments due to dealings in Madison.

You know who could have stepped up and refuted those claims? The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. You have the tapes, you witnessed the events, you know about the John Doe convictions. But instead you chose to be a bystander, allowing Walker's lies to go unchallenged. (and Walker's Sunday morning talk show appearance today will probably feature more of these lies, and yet again, the Journal-Sentinel will sit silent when they know the truth).

We have seen reports in other Milwaukee media that illustrate the money-laundering that has been done among right-wing organizations in Wisconsin over the last 2 years, but you have ignored this big story in order to check which officials signed recall petitions. I would ask why you are being so derelict in your duties as a member of the media, but then I remember this factoid.

Journal Communications CEO Steven Smith sits on the Board of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce, which has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Walker campaign in the last 3 years. Journal Communications also made huge profits in Summer 2012 due to recall-related political ads, which means the Scott Walker campaign and right-wing front groups currently under investigation gave your company big bucks.

You have chosen not to harm the golden goose, and therefore, many of us have chosen not to purchase your biased newspaper. We know whose side you are on, and it isn't the 99%ers that make this state run day after day.

Now let me expound on that letter.

1. Why is the Journal-Sentinel using GOP framing on the John Doe case, choosing to smear a judge who performed his right as a citizen to sign a recall petition (and not mentioning that 4 of the 5 DID NOT), instead of discussing the particulars of the case itself? And in today's paper, they run a story trying to imply that John Doe Deux may be a First Amendment "free speech" case. Actually, this case is about money-laundering, as shown in recent articles from the Shepherd Express as well as PR Watch, and it's about right-wing groups trying to get around established tax laws and campaign rules.

2. As mentioned on Friday, the J-S continues to fail in its reporting on the Medicaid and Obamacare issues. This includes not bringing up the fact that taking the expanded Medicaid in Obamacare saves the most state dollars by far, and covers the most Wisconsinites, and that the State Legislature could choose to do so in this week's special session. It also includes the J-S's willful negligence in not mentioning that Gov Walker and other GOP elected officials have tried to sabotage Obamacare's implementation by overloading the insurance exchanges with customers, and refusing to set up state-based exchanges that have proven far more successful in getting people coverage.

3.The J-S has chosen not to cover stories that could be damaging to the Walker Administration, including the accusation from Wisconsin senior groups that Walker's Department of Human Services rigged grants and directed funds to cronies who stood to get big bucks from the awards, and not mentioning Walker's recent fund-raising emails where his campaign told his marks supporters that sending Walker a donation was better than buying kids presents over the Holidays.

We trust media to be the watchers of those in power, but what happens when the watchers need to be watched themselves, because they also benefit from a corrupt system of government, and cannot be trusted to give you the real story? I'm not the only guy angered and troubled by this. Look at how two of our country's most respected news people reacted when 60 Minutes ran their false story on Benghazi a few weeks ago.



Now that's a funny skit, but the underlying point about our failing media is far from funny. This is true in both the DC-New York-based national media, and the Walker stenographers back here in Wisconsin.

2 comments:

  1. Notably about the recall-signing John Doe judge, his jurisdiction lies in the counties next to and near the Mississippi, but the Friends of Scott Walker (which Walker has a direct and very legal interest in the activities of) is based in Waukesha.

    If Walker has anything directly to do with an organization in his jurisdiction and we understand the gist of these John Does correctly, then Walker is ipso facto guilty of illegal co-ordination. If Walker does not have anything directly to do with organizations under his jurisdiction, his signing of the recall petition is irrelevant.

    If it's not a smear, Walker is guilty as sin. QED.

    On your second point, I have little doubt that Democratic legislators will submit an amendment to accept Wisconsin taxpayers' money back into the state. I also have little doubt that GOP leadership of that chamber will rule it out of order as not germane to the special session call in exactly the same way that a similar amendment was ruled not germane to the October special session call.

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  2. "If it's not a smear, Walker is guilty as sin. QED."

    Correct, but I think we have a good idea that the Walker folks are illegally coordinating, since Scotty himself asked the fake David Koch for "help" during the infamous phone call, and he didn't mean in the form of campaign donations.

    I'd have a hard time buying that asking for Obamacare's expanded Medicaid coverage would be non-germane to a bill...asking for changes in Medicaid coverage. But I'm sure that won't keep the WisGOPs from trying to bury it.

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