What Does Walker’s Money Say to Wisconsin?
The recall petitions for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker have been turned in. Recall organizers say they collected over one million signatures, well beyond the 540,000 needed to trigger a recall election. This outcome, should it occur, has been widely expected by people supporting and opposing Mr. Walker, especially after recall organizers reported collecting over half a million signatures in the first month. Mr. Walker himself has never been so arrogant as to suggest that the recall efforts would fail, perhaps because such a statement would have galvanized his opponents.
With a recall on the horizon, Mr. Walker has essentially entered full-time campaign mode, speaking regularly at conservative events and attending multiple fundraisers. There seems little doubt that Mr. Walker will raise more money than whoever his Democratic challenger is. Mr. Walker likely intends to use his money to blanket the airwaves with political advertising, touting his record of balancing Wisconsin’s budget without raising taxes (and instead doing things like gutting public education support while restricting local municipalities’ abilities to raise additional money to offset the cuts). But Mr. Walker’s money for messages actually sends its own message; that is, his money is the message to the Wisconsin people, and that message is that Mr. Walker doesn’t care about Wisconsin.
A recent fundraiser that Mr. Walker attended is particularly egregious and thus illustrative. Mr. Walker attended a fundraiser in New York City hosted by Maurice Greenberg, former head of AIG. Mr. Greenberg resigned from AIG in 2005 after an audit found over $1.7 billion in improper accounting. Civil litigation against Mr. Greenberg stemming from his time at AIG is still pending. A seat at the fundraiser cost $2500 and no doubt Mr. Walker raised a healthy amount for his reelection.
Does Mr. Walker really think that this kind of fundraising will go unnoticed by the citizens of Wisconsin? Considering that about as many people signed petitions to recall Mr. Walker as voted for him in 2010, the citizens from Wisconsin are angry. Anecdotally, I recently heard from a high school teacher of mine that he no longer considers himself a Republican because of Scott Walker.
Mr. Walker may think that the money can purchase ads to drown out the negative publicity, but ultimately he needs to consider just what will get people to the polls. His opposition already has that question partially answered: people will vote just to remove Mr. Walker from office. (The rest of the question requires selecting a formidable opponent to Mr. Walker.) But if Mr. Walker’s ads are forced to defend him against constant attacks and can’t put a positive face on his time in office, then he gives no reason for people to return to the polls and support him again. Certainly, Mr. Walker has some fervent supporters who will show up to vote, but he cannot win, especially with a strangely timed election, when one side is really, really excited to kick him out of the governor’s mansion.
It is in this way that Mr. Walker’s fundraising does him no favors. He will have the money to run ads, but not the credibility to campaign. He will have the public’s ear, but he will never have their heart. He can mount a spirited defense, but never an equally spirited offense. That’s not to say that Mr. Walker is guaranteed to lose, but every dollar raised at scandal-plagued fundraisers means one vote lost for Mr. Walker.
Related posts (automatically generated):