LETTER: Vote for more common sense

To the Editor:

Gov. Scott Walker has a legal defense fund. According to the Government Accountability Board, only state officials or their agents who have been charged with or who are being investigated for a crime may have such a fund.

In May 2010, while he was a Milwaukee County executive, a secret “John Doe” investigation of a number of Walker’s staffers was begun. Information gathered to date has led to at least six former Walker staffers being charged for such crimes as election fraud violation, embezzlement and misconduct. It was found during this ongoing investigation that there was a secret email system in the county executive office where illegal campaign work was being done by Walker staffers to benefit his campaign to become governor. This was done right under his nose to benefit his campaign while taxpayers paid for it.

This is illegal. He claims to not have known. How could he not know? Scott Walker and many of the people he has selected to work for him have not demonstrated the integrity and honesty we have a right to expect from those holding public office and people who work for them.

Gov. Walker has shown poor judgment as evidenced by many of the choices he has made for people to work for him as well as on policy choices he has made. He has led Wisconsin to being the state ranked worst in the country regarding job creation. Wisconsin lost almost 24,000 jobs from March 2011 to March 2012 despite being told by him that Wisconsin is open for business. Why are we losing jobs? His extreme austerity policies are not creating jobs.

He has deeply divided our state. Many of us have seen the video of him telling billionaire donor Diane Hendricks of ABC Supply that his plan was to use a “divide and conquer” strategy to split the workers of our state. This statement was made by him to her just a couple of weeks before he “dropped the bomb” (his words) of his budget repair bill that began the protests in Madison and across the state.

On June 5 we will have the opportunity to vote for a better Wisconsin. Please join me in voting for Tom Barrett for Governor and Mahlon Mitchell for Lt. Governor. They will bring a common sense approach to solving the problems of Wisconsin and begin the healing our deeply divided state so desperately needs.

Barb Arnst

New Richmond

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion