AP: Walker’s Wisconsin still lags nation in job growth
Key Point: “The state lags in job growth and its budget faces a shortfall. It's a record that complicates Walker's path in early primary states as he sells himself as a reformer. “Wisconsin has added private-sector jobs at a lower rate than the national average since July 2011 - six months after Walker took office. Walker promised in the 2010 campaign that if elected his policies would create 250,000 private sector jobs. But only about 145,000 such jobs were created over his first four years."
MEMO: Chris Christie’s Terrible Economic Record
Tonight, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will deliver his State of the State address. We hope he uses this chance to come clean about his serious money problems: his credit has been downgraded eight times. He hasn’t saved enough for retirement. And his security detail is costing him 18 times what it did 5 years ago. Why should he talk about his money problems during the State of the State? Because they have nothing to do with his bank account – we’re talking about New Jersey taxpayers’ money here. Since Chris Christie took office in 2010, he’s been playing fast and loose with taxpayer money. He has mismanaged the budget, resulting in New Jersey’s credit has been downgraded eight times – no New Jersey governor had ever presided over that many downgrades. He’s spending 18 times more on his personal security today than when he took office, for a total of almost $1 million, or nearly $33,000 per month. He’s cut $2.4 billion in pension payments he promised to make because his budget projections were wrong. And the list goes on...
MEMO: Scott Walker's Mess
Scott Walker is set to give his State of the State address tonight, and the truth is, he doesn't have much good news to report. Walker rode into Madison in 2010 dead-set on giving the state a massive Tea Party makeover. And he did. Walker's vision for economic growth in Wisconsin consisted largely of massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the privatization of state's economic development program. To pull off his tax overhaul, Walker, implemented the largest education cuts in state history. But even that wasn't enough -- now the state faces an astonishing $2.2 billion budget shortfall. And just in case you questioned his ideological rigidity, Walker insists that slashing property taxes remains his number one priority this year. So what programs will he cut next to try to solve his colossal budget problem? That remains a mystery. As for his privatized economic development agency, well that hasn't gone much better. WEDC has been wrought with controversy, giving Wisconsin taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas, and tearing through executives. Moreover, Walker didn't even come close to delivering on his promise to create 250,000 jobs in his first term, and Wisconsin continues to lag behind other states in the midwest and across the country when it comes to employment growth.
BREAKING AUDIO: Perdue's Closing Argument
Asked today about whether his company was closing down American plants as they opened others overseas, Perdue quickly responded, "Sure, we closed down plants all the time..." Listen to the breaking audio above. It's an interesting closing argument -- no pun intended -- to cap off what's been a disastrous last month for David Perdue's campaign, as a series of events shed light on both his business career and his worldview. His downward spiral began when an old deposition surfaced, revealing that Perdue himself had admitted, "I spent most of my career" outsourcing. Asked the next day how he would defend that record, Perdue looked shocked -- "Well defend it? I'm proud of it!" he replied.
The Greedy Outsourcing Party
It's no secret that Mitt Romney's checkered business career was part of what doomed his election hopes in 2012. When people looked at Mitt Romney, they saw a vulture capitalist who was willing to close down American plants, lay off workers, and ship jobs overseas, so long as it helped their bottom dollar. Having run for president, Romney's business practices are likely the most infamous among Republican politicians, but he's hardly alone. This year, key GOP candidates in close senate and gubernatorial races espouse the same self-interested philosophy -- reaping profits while hurting American workers. In Georgia, David Perdue's campaign was rocked as POLITICO reported that Perdue had stated plainly in a 2005 deposition that he had "spent most of his career" outsourcing. This statement itself would have been severely damaging to Perdue's candidacy, but what was even more detrimental, perhaps because it was so revealing, was Perdue's dumbfounded response to the story. Asked how he would defend his outsourcing career, Perdue looked surprised -- "Well defend it? I'm proud of it!" In Illinois, billionaire gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, who took a page out of Romney's playbook and funneled millions in profits to Cayman Island tax shelters to avoid paying American taxes, has demonstrated similar priorities. Rauner's vast portfolio while at GTCR, the private equity firm he co-founded, included directing H-Cube, a “premier global business outsourcing firm.” And just this month, we learned that a lawsuit has been launched by the former CEO of LeapSource, another outsourcing company where Rauner sat on the board, alleging personal threats from Rauner over her lack of success as their CEO.
The Massachusetts Outsourcers Vs. The New Hampshire Voters
Scott Brown's lackluster campaign is always in need of a lift. Maybe they're hoping for a car elevator kind of lift. That's right, Might Romney's coming back to town! Brown has truly bear-hugged Mitt Romney in this campaign, and it makes sense if you think about it. Sure, Romney lost New Hampshire decisively in 2012, but him and Scott Brown have striking similarities: Two proud Bay Staters who have yielded huge profits from their roles at outsourcing companies. Scott Brown says he won't create one job in New Hampshire. But if you want to create jobs overseas, you can't beat the Brown/Romney tag team!
New Video — David Perdue: Proud Of Outsourcing
Pro-tip: If you're running for the United States Senate, and it comes to light that you have personally admitted that you've spent most of your career shipping American jobs overseas, you should at least pretend to feel bad about it. David Perdue apparently didn't get that memo.
Education Bullies Chris Christie And Doug Ducey Hit The Trail Together
Doug Ducey needs some support from his friends in his hotly contested Arizona gubernatorial race. So today Ducey is bringing in Chris Christie, a man who would certainly rather enjoy the sunny skies of Scottsville than address the fiscal fiasco he's built in New Jersey. Well Chris Christie and Doug Ducey have a good deal in common. Christie has presided over an impressive eight credit downgrades in New Jersey, while Doug Ducey's Cold Stone had one of the highest franchise default rates of any company in the country. Both support massive tax cuts for the wealthy, shifting the burden toward the middle class. But the biggest and most damning similarity between Ducey and Christie is their shared insistence on slashing education funding. Christie has cut $1 billion from education in New Jersey, and Arizona can expect much the same if Ducey gets his way. Ducey opposed a court order requiring Arizona to increase education funding. He promises huge tax cuts that would predominately help the richest Arizonans, but claims he will somehow implement them without touching the education budget -- a plan that's been written off as unrealistic. And that's just the tip of the ice cream cone.
Shot/Chaser: Chris Christie Puts Politics Before Governing
Chris Christie may be governor of New Jersey, but governing New Jersey doesn't always seem to be his priority. No,…
New Web Ad: Scott Walker's Ditch
American Bridge is releasing a new web ad today highlighting Scott Walker's failed economic record. The governor was once considered…