Tuesday, September 29, 2009

"I would hate to be the one to say 'I was against more jobs'" Walker said

The title of this piece is a quote from an article in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel regarding Scott Walker's plan to reinstated the economic development office. According to the article, this might be a plan that the County Board can warm up to, since many were opposed to Walker's insistence of abolishing it in the first place.

Of course, the article does not touch on the hypocrisy which Walker is known for with his ever changing stance towards the stimulus. Cory Liebmann takes this into much more depth. (Although I still think that Cory should have called his post "Scott, Scott Walker is on the line.")

Another point of interest is a memo that Walker issued today. Apparently, County Board Supervisors were wanting to know more details on how Walker's plan would work before committing to it. Walker responded this way:
Milwaukee County Works - the accelerated building program in my 2010 county budget - will provide $395 million to the capital improvements program. This will fund more than 100 projects that will provide more than 1,000 jobs – all at a time when we need jobs the most in this community.

Just so it is clear: our accelerated building program - through the use of Build America bonds - saves the county up to $3 million. And the county's outstanding debt will be 28% lower in 2012 than in 2002.

Finally, while I appreciate the fact that many of the Supervisors are interested in our
Milwaukee County Works plan, the best thing that can be done to protect and create jobs is to join me in supporting a budget with no levy increase.
In other words, just shut up, stop asking questions, and do what I tell you.

What makes it dreadfully ironic is that I recently heard that Walker is planning on laying off nearly 400 workers at the end of the year. To avoid having to pay anyone vacation time in 2010, they would have to be laid off no later than the last complete pay period of the year. This year, the last full pay period ends on December 26th. That means lay off notices, if they do happen, will be issued on December 11, giving a two week notice. This means that hundreds of people will be literally laid off on Christmas Day.

Shades of Christmases past.

No comments:

Post a Comment