Pence comes to Wisconsin, proves every bit as dishonest and crooked as Walker

I usually roll my eyes and ignore what comes out of the tax-funded photo ops at campaign contributors that are part and parcel of today’s GOP. But I couldn’t pass up this whopper from the US’s Number 2 yesterday.

Vice President Mike Pence Thursday praised Gov. Scott Walker’s record on taxes as he touted the GOP’s efforts to overhaul the nation’s tax code, saying the model the guv created could be used at the national level.

“You’ve got a governor here who has cut taxes a bunch in Wisconsin and lots of economic growth has followed,” Pence told local business leaders, community officials and Wisconsin families at a stop in Waukesha this afternoon.

Pence, who was joined by Walker for a visit to welding and fabrication company Weldall Manufacturing Inc., was in Wisconsin to push the administration’s effort to overhaul the national tax code. He called the framework of the GOP package a “testament to the kind of policies that Gov. Walker and Wisconsin have been advocating.”

You sure you want the Wisconsin model, Mike? Let me introduce you to the Walker jobs gap, now at 127,000 jobs below the US rate.



For crying out loud Veep, look at how your own low-wage, lesser-educated state of Indiana has outpaced us (albeit with flattening after 2015), and the Hoosiers would have ran your ass out on a rail in 2016 if Trump didn’t get ordered to select you for VP. In fact, Walker's Wisconsin was 6th out of 7 Midwestern states for jobs in his first 6 years in office (Wisconsin is in red in this chart).



And it hasn't gotten any better for 2017. Wisconsin has fewer jobs now than it did in February, just lost 8,800 jobs last month, and has remained near the bottom for our region for jobs over the last 12 months.

Private sector job growth, Aug 2016-Aug 2017
U.S. +1.71%
Minn +1.62%
Iowa +1.46%
Ohio +1.30%
Mich +1.26%
Ind. +0.96%
Wis. +0.80%
Ill. +0.51%

Total job growth
Minn +1.52%
U.S. +1.45%
Mich +1.40%
Iowa +1.09%
Ohio +1.04%
Ind. +1.02%
Wis. +0.65%
Ill. +0.40%

So Mr. Vice-President, if you want a Midwestern state that the US should model, looks like Minnesota might be the one you want. Gotta warn you though, they raised taxes on the rich, raised the minimum wage, invest in public schools and took the Medicaid expansion. In other words, they did the opposite of Scott Walker's Wisconsin.

Oh, and if you're talking about "lots of economic growth" in recent years, I think the words you are looking for are “THANKS OBAMA!”. Not that we’d ever hear that fact from lying fake fundies like Walker and Pence, but that’s the reality.

Know what else is a reality? That manufacturer where you and Walker held your photo op just happens to include employees that have given over $110,000 to Republicans over the years, including more than $55,000 to Walker (most of which came from the Bahl family that runs Weldall). And I’m sure more has been given to GOP Congressmen and national groups by these guys, and even more has been promised to be given out in the future in exchange for more GOP "help".

But I’m those details are just a coincidence, and you guys totally chose Weldall on their merits.

I am so sick of the GOP’s crooked, shameless, fact-free cynicism. Why the media still puts up with this bullcrap is beyond me.