Walker Bets $38 Million; Wisconsin Loses

Started by Valerian, November 08, 2012, 02:12:36 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Valerian

Title inspired by this Politiscoop article.

When the Affordable Health Care Act was getting underway, the federal government offered the state of Wisconsin $38 million in federal funding.  Ten states were offered this funding so that they could be the innovators in designing programs for insurance exchanges that would best fulfill the needs of those states.

Scott Walker took $3 million to set up a Medicaid eligibility program, but refused the rest.  The only rule about taking the money was that the state would have to meet certain deadlines and have the exchange ready by January 2014.  In June, he announced that he would ignore any such deadlines or requirements, since he confidently expected the program to be declared unconstitutional.

When the Supreme Court upheld it, Walker told everyone to come talk to him about it in November, now equally confident that Romney would win.  (Romney, for once, apparently was going to stick to what he'd said -- a mockup of his victory website was briefly visible for a while, the day after the election, and there he outlined his plan to overturn Obamacare.  Finally, he gave details about something!)

Walker now has until November 16th -- that's eight days -- to put Wisconsin in compliance with the law by doing all the work that he should have been doing for almost the past year.  All this will have to be done without input from consumers, insurance companies, health care providers, or anyone else who might actually know what's going on, because Walker was so sure of himself that he didn't feel the need to get any advice.  It will also have to be done without any federal funding, which means Wisconsin taxpayers will have to shoulder the cost.  And of course it will also be done poorly, since eight days won't even be enough time for Walker to figure out who he can blame for this mess, let alone get anything useful accomplished.

Then there's the fact that his habit of rewarding his cronies with government jobs means that none of his advisers are any good at doing anything besides agreeing with him.

If only that recall election was happening again next week...
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Callie Del Noire

Soooooo.. basically he didn't do any contingent planning AT ALL? And now the best that the state can hope for is an extension.. but in this late point in the year you guys are essentially hosed and the state pays for hubris..

Damn.. that has to suck

Stattick

Quote from: Callie Del Noire on November 08, 2012, 03:02:19 PM
Soooooo.. basically he didn't do any contingent planning AT ALL? And now the best that the state can hope for is an extension.. but in this late point in the year you guys are essentially hosed and the state pays for hubris..

Damn.. that has to suck

This is pretty typical of Governor Walker. He's a Tea Party shill, owned by the Koch Brothers, stupider than my cat, and just an all around failure in every way. This guy makes Romney look good in comparison.
O/O   A/A

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Stattick on November 08, 2012, 04:01:06 PM
This is pretty typical of Governor Walker. He's a Tea Party shill, owned by the Koch Brothers, stupider than my cat, and just an all around failure in every way. This guy makes Romney look good in comparison.

How is the John Doe investigation going?

Serephino

I can't wrap my head around how this guy won the re-election.  I bet the people dumb enough to vote for him are wishing they hadn't now.

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Serephino on November 08, 2012, 04:08:02 PM
I can't wrap my head around how this guy won the re-election.  I bet the people dumb enough to vote for him are wishing they hadn't now.


Let me spell it out.. M. O. N. E. Y.

I think someone told me that he outspent his opponents 2:1 or more. LOTS of SuperPAC money..and perhaps some creative vote counting.

ShadowFox89

Quote from: Serephino on November 08, 2012, 04:08:02 PM
I can't wrap my head around how this guy won the re-election.  I bet the people dumb enough to vote for him are wishing they hadn't now.


People felt that the guy should finish his term instead of kicking him out.
Call me Shadow
My A/A

Trieste

Quote from: Stattick on November 08, 2012, 04:01:06 PM
This is pretty typical of Governor Walker. He's a Tea Party shill, owned by the Koch Brothers, stupider than my cat, and just an all around failure in every way. This guy makes Romney look good in comparison.

That's not very fair to the cat.  :'(

Quote from: Callie Del Noire on November 08, 2012, 04:13:10 PM
Let me spell it out.. M. O. N. E. Y.

I think someone told me that he outspent his opponents 2:1 or more. LOTS of SuperPAC money..and perhaps some creative vote counting.


I think that the election earlier this week is a good reminder that you can't buy an election. If you could, that victory website would be more than a mock-up.

Valerian

Quote from: ShadowFox89 on November 08, 2012, 04:36:31 PM
People felt that the guy should finish his term instead of kicking him out.
Yes, because he was doing such a good job up to that point.  :P  However, in a way that's not far off, since there were some who voted for him simply because they didn't think recall elections were a good idea... even though they also didn't like Walker.  I have to say that I think recalls are necessary, especially these days.  It's too easy for people to lie (or simply hide their full agendas) and then unveil their nefarious schemes once in office.

The John Doe investigation should have some new developments next month, if not sooner, as Walker's former deputy chief of staff and good buddy Tim Russell will be standing trial for embezzlement starting December 3rd.  He's turned down his last chance at a plea deal, and after having delayed the trial over and over (mainly because the guy can't seem to hang on to an attorney), the judge won't let him delay it again.  Walker will very likely be called to testify at this trial, which should be interesting.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Valerian on November 08, 2012, 05:02:57 PM
Yes, because he was doing such a good job up to that point.  :P  However, in a way that's not far off, since there were some who voted for him simply because they didn't think recall elections were a good idea... even though they also didn't like Walker.  I have to say that I think recalls are necessary, especially these days.  It's too easy for people to lie (or simply hide their full agendas) and then unveil their nefarious schemes once in office.

The John Doe investigation should have some new developments next month, if not sooner, as Walker's former deputy chief of staff and good buddy Tim Russell will be standing trial for embezzlement starting December 3rd.  He's turned down his last chance at a plea deal, and after having delayed the trial over and over (mainly because the guy can't seem to hang on to an attorney), the judge won't let him delay it again.  Walker will very likely be called to testify at this trial, which should be interesting.

He's a double high authoritarian.. he'll lie like a rug if he thinks he can reasonably get away with it. Or even duck the summons if he can find a way.

Valerian

Quote from: Callie Del Noire on November 08, 2012, 05:19:45 PM
He's a double high authoritarian.. he'll lie like a rug if he thinks he can reasonably get away with it. Or even duck the summons if he can find a way.
He might try to duck out, true; but he was on the witness list for the Kelly Rindfliesch trial, too, and he was making a big deal about wanting to cooperate fully, yadda yadda.  So he'd have to go back on that, not that that would stop him.  She made a plea deal at the last minute, on charges of felony misconduct for campaigning for Walker on taxpayer time, and it's possible he knew that would happen and therefore wasn't worried about making a show of helpfulness.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE