GM Delayed Recall For Years Despite Thousands Of Complaints, Documents Show

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors waited years to recall nearly 335,000 Saturn Ions for power steering failures despite getting thousands of consumer complaints and more than 30,000 warranty repair claims, according to government documents released Saturday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the government's auto safety watchdog, also didn't seek a recall of the compact car from the 2004 through 2007 model years even though it opened an investigation more than two years ago and found 12 crashes and two injuries caused by the problem.

Wisconsin Lawmakers Moving To Make Recalls Tougher

MILWAUKEE, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Wisconsin lawmakers are expected to take a step on Thursday to limit recalls of elected state officials to cases of serious crimes or ethics violations, following challenges that targeted the governor and several senators in recent years.

Opponents of Governor Scott Walker launched massive protests at the Capitol in Madison in 2011 and later sought to recall the first-term Republican after he pressed legislation to limit the powers of some public sector unions.

Rob Ford’s ouster must stand, Clayton Ruby argues in new filing

Mayor Rob Ford must be kicked out of office even if council never had the right to make him reimburse lobbyists, the opposing lawyer says in a new court filing.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland evicted Ford in November over a violation of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. Ford won a freeze of the ruling until his appeal is decided upon, likely in January or February.

Re-running Reagan in Wisconsin

The re-election of Governor Walker June 5 in Wisconsin represents the worst defeat for American labour since former U.S. president Ronald Reagan busted the air traffic controllers union in 1981. Walker won re-election June 5, after being "re-called" from office by citizens angry about his anti-labour legislation.

On February 11, 2011, Walker introduced a bill that ended automatic dues collection, and restricted collective bargaining to wages which were capped at no more than the standard of living. Rights to negotiate work standards, pensions, health and other benefits were withdrawn by what was called the "budget repair bill."

How the Wisconsin Uprising Got Hijacked

The revelers watched in stunned disbelief, cocktails in hand, dressed for a night to remember. On the big-screen TV a headline screamed in crimson red: "Projected Winner: Scott Walker." It was 8:49 p.m. In parts of Milwaukee, people learned that news networks had declared Wisconsin's governor the winner while still in line to cast their votes. At the election night party for Walker's opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, supporters talked and cried and ordered more drinks. Barrett soon took the stage to concede, then waded into the crowd, where a distraught woman slapped him in the face.

After the Heartbreak in Wisconsin

The triumph of Scott Walker and the Tea Party Republicans in Wisconsin is heartbreaking for the many thousands who devoted over a year of their lives to one of the most inspired social movements of the current century.

Electoral campaigns are governed by deadlines and voting results, unlike social movements, which can ebb and flow for decades. The pain of a stunning defeat inevitably takes a psychic toll on its participants, similar in ways to a seven-game World Series. It takes time to recover, and some never will.

Walker’s Win

For a little while on Tuesday night, thanks to the network exit polls, it looked like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker might actually be in a fight for his political life, that the outcome of the vote about recalling him, which had seemed assured for some time, could be in doubt. It didn’t last. By the time Tuesday night slipped into Wednesday morning, Walker—a Republican in a fairly blue state—had become the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall. He’d given his victory speech. And he’d racked up more votes than he did when he won his job in the first place, back in 2010.

“We’ll renew our commitment to help grow the quality of life for all of our citizens—both those who voted for me and those who voted for someone else,” Walker told the crowd that had gathered at his Election Night party. “Because tomorrow is the day after the election and tomorrow, we are no longer opponents. We are one as Wisconsinites.”

If only it were so easy. The battle over the Governor and his policies (and over those who supported them—Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, too, faced recall and won, and several seats in the state senate were contested as well) has opened wounds that will not be so easily healed. And for at least the next few days, the non-Cheeseheads among us will have to debate the question of What It All Means.

There are some implications for the Presidential election to consider, though perhaps not so many as Republicans would like you to believe, or as few as Democrats might suggest. If nothing else, the thing to remember is this: this vote was, ultimately, about Scott Walker, not about Barack Obama. But the amount of money that Walker and his supporters raised, the amount of enthusiasm they inspired, and the successful campaign they ran will all have Obama’s advisers sleeping a little less comfortably in the weeks to come.

Original Article
Source: new yorker
Author: Alex Koppelman

Recall Campaign Against Scott Walker Fails

Robert M. La Follette, the architect of the progressive movement that a century ago made Wisconsin the nation’s “laboratory of democracy,” recognized that the experiments would at times go awry. “We have long rested comfortably in this country upon the assumption that because our form of government was democratic, it was therefore automatically producing democratic results. Now, there is nothing mysteriously potent about the forms and names of democratic institutions that should make them self-operative,” he observed after suffering more than his share of defeats. “Tyranny and oppression are just as possible under democratic forms as under any other.”

Those words echoed across the decades on the night of June 5, as the most powerful of the accountability tools developed in La Follette’s laboratory—the right to recall errant officials—proved insufficient for the removal of Governor Scott Walker.

In Wisconsin, the Left Picked a Fight—and Lost

It's important to remember, as Democrats cope with their failure to topple Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in Tuesday's recall, that this was a fight they chose.

Unlike the vast majority of elections, which occur on a regular schedule, the recall was a fight the left picked on purpose. They picked it because they thought they could win. And they were wrong.

It wasn't even close. In the final tally, Walker led his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, by 53 percent to 46 percent.

PPP's Final Wisconsin Poll Shows Scott Walker Edging Tom Barrett

WASHINGTON -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) holds a narrow lead over his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in the run up to Tuesday's recall election, according to the final poll on the race conducted by Public Policy Polling, a firm affiliated with the Democratic Party.

PPP's automated, recorded-voice survey, conducted among 1,226 likely voters over the weekend, puts Walker at 50 percent support, 3 percentage points ahead of Barrett's 47 percent.

Fifteen surveys on the recall election have been released over the past month, and while most have produced close results, all but one have given Walker the advantage. Independent polls have generally given Walker a bigger lead than the handful of publicly released internal polls sponsored by the Barrett campaign or its Democratic allies.

In the past week, a Marquette University Law School poll gave Walker a seven-point lead, 52 percent to 45 percent, while an internal poll conducted for the Barrett campaign by the Democratic firm Garin-Hart-Yang showed Walker leading by just two points, 50 percent to 48 percent. The latest effort from PPP, which also polls for Democratic clients but did not have a campaign or party sponsor for this survey, is closer to the Barrett campaign poll.

With all polls included, including the internal surveys by the Democrats, the HuffPost Pollster chart of all available Wisconsin surveys gives Walker a lead of 2.8 points (50.3 percent to 47.5 percent). With the Democratic campaign polls excluded, however, Walker's lead grows to 3.9 points (50.6 percent to 46.7 percent).

Original Article
Source: huffington post
Author: Mark Blumenthal 

The Most Important Wisconsin Recall Candidate You've Never Heard Ofusa

On the evening of November 5, 2011, Lori Compas, a wedding photographer and mother of two, logged into Facebook and wrote something crazy. The kickoff of the statewide campaign to recall Gov. Scott Walker was days away. Wisconsinites were whipped into a frenzy. Discussions about what other Republicans to target for recall grew to Homerian lengths in online forums, comment sections, and Facebook threads. Compas decided to weigh in. "Is anyone planning to file papers to recall scott fitzgerald?" she wrote. "If not i'm gonna do it."

Later that month, she did. Then a few months after that, Compas launched her own campaign to defeat Fitzgerald in the recall battle she'd started.

Criminologist In Scott Walker Ad Says Governor 'Misrepresented' His Views

MILWAUKEE -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) most memorable -- and controversial -- recall ad is one that goes after Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) for a scandal where violent crimes in the city were underreported. But a criminologist quoted in that ad says the governor misrepresented his views and is "absolutely wrong" to blame the mayor for the problem.

"This 2-year-old spent six days in intensive care after being severely beaten," says the Walker ad's narrator. "But Tom Barrett’s police department didn’t consider it a violent crime." The ad then shows crime statistics and asserts "violent crime is up" in Milwaukee.

Scott Walker Denies He Is Target Of John Doe Criminal Investigation

MILWAUKEE -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) vehemently denied a new report stating he is the target of a criminal corruption probe on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters after a meet-and-greet with volunteers at his campaign's Wauwatosa headquarters, Walker said neither he nor his lawyers have received a letter stating that he is being sought out in the investigation, which is focused on Walker's time as Milwaukee County executive. The allegations range from embezzlement to doing campaign work with taxpayer money.

The latest questions arose in after a Friday Facebook post by David Shuster of Take Action News. "According to government lawyers familiar with a Milwaukee criminal corruption probe, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is now a 'target' of the investigation," wrote Shuster.

Scott Walker's Divide-and-Conquer Strategy Is "The New Model For The Country"

Coming soon to your state: The anti-union, education-cutting, free-market-leaning, divide-and-conquer playbook of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

According to a leading conservative activist, the Walker agenda in Wisconsin is the new conservative game plan for all states in the union. That was the key message delivered at a rally Friday evening in Madison by Tim Phillips, national president of Americans for Prosperity, the conservative nonprofit started with money from the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. "The Wisconsin approach to changing and making state government better is the new model for the country," he said. "You are the model for the country."

"Our Elections Are Being Poisoned"

Wisconsin's June 5 recall election is a national battle on a statewide stage, a proxy war pitting Democrats against Republicans, liberals against conservatives, unions against big business. The man tracking the tens of millions of dollars being spent to win that war is Mike McCabe, Wisconsin's political money guru, who runs the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign out of nondescript office blocks away from the state capitol in Madison.

McCabe has watched the political money wars in Wisconsin for decades, but in recent years, he's seen state records fall like dominoes: $20 million spent on 2008 legislative races, $37 million on the 2010 gubernatorial race, and $44 million on last September's nine state Senate recall elections. That $44 million more than doubled the previous record of $20.25 million spent in 2008 on 109 separate legislative races.

Scott Walker Debate: Tom Barrett Accuses Governor Of Running 'Willie Horton' Ad

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) accused Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) during the gubernatorial debate on Thursday of running an inappropriate ad about crime in his city, comparing it to the much-criticized "Willie Horton" ad of the 1988 presidential campaign.

"This 2-year-old spent six days in intensive care after being severely beaten," says the Walker ad's narrator. "But Tom Barrett’s police department didn’t consider it a violent crime." The ad then shows crime statistics and asserts "violent crime is up" in Milwaukee.

"He's running a commercial right now that shows a dead baby," Barrett said during the debate. "It shows a picture of a dead baby. This is Willie Horton stuff. That baby died."

Scott Walker Recall: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Says Removal Of Governor Is Not Justified

Wisconsin's biggest newspaper released an editorial on Saturday recommending that voters choose to keep Governor Scott Walker in office. (Read the whole thing here.)

"No governor in recent memory has been so controversial," the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial begins. "No governor in America is so polarizing. Everyone has an opinion about Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Here's ours: We see no reason to remove Walker from office. We recommend him in the June 5 recall election."

Walker will face Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett at the polls.

The editorial opines that while Walker went too far in his drive to restrict unions' collective-bargaining rights — the issue that spurred intense Democratic backlash — "a disagreement over a single policy is simply not enough to justify a vote against the governor."

A series of recent polls show Walker building a lead over Barrett.

Original Article
Source: Huff
Author: 

Tea Partiers Backing Scott Walker May Run Afoul of IRS

The tea party movement is kicking into gear again, buoyed by the success of Richard Mourdock in defeating longtime Sen. Richard Lugar in Indiana's GOP primary. They're intent on proving that the movement is not dead, as so many commentators have declared. To that end, the Tea Party Patriots (TPP), which claims to be one of the movement's largest national umbrella groups, is recruiting volunteers for phone banks and promising a massive outpouring of support for embattled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The tea party has already been active in the recall fight, but is preparing to go all out in the last few weeks before the election.

Jenny Beth Martin, who heads Tea Party Patriots, told Breitbart News that the organization would be on the ground in the state by Wednesday and would be joining local tea party groups in setting up command centers for volunteers as well as "virtual call centers" so that people outside the state can help work the phones. "Wisconsin is pivotal, and it is ground zero for our political landscape," Martin said. According to Breitbart News, she added that her organization was responding to a call for help from local groups "because they are exhausted from two years of non-stop campaigning, which they have been forced to do because of the left's relentless tactics to thwart the will of the people."

Scott Walker Describes 'Divide And Conquer' Strategy Against Public Unions In New Documentary

MADISON, Wis. — Newly-released documentary film footage shows embattled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker shortly after his election describing a "divide and conquer" strategy for taking on unions by first going after public employees' collective bargaining rights.

Walker's opponents insist the remarks undermine the Republican governor's long-held claim that the polarizing law he and the GOP-led Legislature pushed through stripping most public workers of nearly all their collective bargaining rights was meant solely as a budget-balancing measure. They also say the comments signal Walker ultimately means to go after private sector unions by making Wisconsin a right-to-work state, which would allow workers to not pay dues even if they are covered by a union contract.

Scott Walker Promised $500K Donor He Would 'Divide and Conquer' Unions

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has long denied that he has a secret strategy to destroy public-sector unions as part of a long-term plan to make Wisconsin a “right-to-work” state where unions are dramatically weakened.

But, with the recall election that could replace Walker barely three weeks away, a remarkable videotape of the governor describing just such as a strategy has surfaced. In it, Walker is seen promising a billionaire campaign donor that the attack on collective-bargaining rights for public-sector unions—which sparked demonstrations and the movement that has forced the recall election—was only “the first step” in a grand plan.

The billionaire would eventually give Walker more than $500,000—the largest donation in Wisconsin history—to help him advance his agenda. That donation made her the largest single donor to the governor's effort to beat the June 5 recall vote.