Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Flood: Journal Sentinel Spins for Barrett, Slams Walker

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel once again is campaigning for Tom Barrett and slamming Scott Walker. The bias really is laughable.

The Journal Sentinel has a problem with the way Walker spent his Saturday following the torrential rains earlier in the week that caused so much damage in Milwaukee and throughout the county.

Under the headline "Walker chided for campaign swing amid storm aftermath," Lee Bergquist writes:

Scott Walker and Tom Barrett spent their weekends in markedly different ways as the Milwaukee area recovered from torrential rains and flood damage.

Over the weekend, Milwaukee County Executive Walker, a Republican, made campaign stops in Eau Claire, Wausau, Green Bay and Pulaski.

Milwaukee Mayor Barrett, a Democrat, canceled campaign appearances on Saturday and instead spent several hours touring five areas that were damaged by the flood, according to Jodie Tabak, the mayor's spokeswoman.

Barrett didn't campaign on Sunday but got updates from city officials during the day, a spokesman for his campaign said.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is making election fodder of Walker's weekend electioneering in the wake of Thursday's rain, which caused an estimated $28.5 million in damage.

Mike Tate, Democratic Party chairman, criticized Walker, saying that the county executive should have been back home instead of politicking, noting Walker had significant responsibilities overseeing the airport and county parks system, among other duties.

"It's irresponsible," Tate said.

"One man stood up and led, Tom Barrett," while Walker spent the weekend on the campaign trail, Tate said.

Walker called Tate's assertions "absolutely ridiculous."

Walker said he monitored conditions Thursday night and stayed in contact with his administrators. That same night, Barrett met with administrators and held a press conference with other city officials as streets were awash with flooding.

On Friday, Walker toured flood-damaged areas and held a briefing at noon at Bradford Beach. He signed documents declaring Milwaukee County a disaster area and forwarded the request to Gov. Jim Doyle. He also met with officials from Milwaukee County Parks and Mitchell International Airport, two major county-run operations, and other departments during the day.

Who is chiding Walker?

The Democrats and Barrett hacks are, not citizens.

Miwaukee County residents know that Walker was and is on top of the situation.

Clearly, the Journal Sentinel is staying true to form and unfairly jumping all over Walker, creating a story to do Barrett's bidding.

The online version of the JS even links to a Democratic Party of Wisconsin video declaring Barrett to be concerned about his constituents and accusing Walker of only caring about advancing his political career.



This is so lame.

Did the Dems pay the JS for running their ad?

I assume that the JS considers the Dems' angle to be news, which is, of course, ridiculous. It's spin.

Barrett was campaigning on Saturday. Meeting with flood victims while the cameras followed him around was exploitation, pure and simple. Barrett used the people as props for that lame video. It was an "I feel your pain" photo-op.

Remember when the floods of 2008 hit Wisconsin, when Lake Delton literally disappeared?

Jim Doyle was at a Democrat political event playing golf less than 24 hours after that disaster.

In the midst of the crisis, the governor of the state, Wisconsin's chief executive, was at a fundraiser.



Did the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have a problem with that?

Are you kidding?

To the contrary, the JS did damage control for Doyle.

Gov. Jim Doyle spent part of Tuesday at his annual campaign golf outing, while also coordinating state government efforts to fight flooding and get federal aid to help pay for damage.

Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said Wednesday that the governor attended part of his campaign's sixth annual golf outing at University Ridge Golf Course in Verona, which had a suggested contribution of $1,250 per golfer.

Sensenbrenner said no response to the flooding was hampered by Doyle's stop to visit his campaign supporters, because the governor talked frequently with National Guard officers, representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and cabinet secretaries, including Natural Resources Secretary Matt Frank.

Doyle was given a pass.

He spent a mere "part of Tuesday" raking in money to fill his campaign coffers.

And although he was at the golf course, Doyle was multi-tasking. As he collected cash, he was simultaneously "coordinating state government efforts to fight flooding and get federal aid to help pay for damage."

The Journal Sentinel didn't do a story about anyone chiding Doyle for fundraising as floods were ravaging the state.

Double standard?

Absolutely.

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