A cowardly move from the new Gov. Ultrasound

By Steve Benen/The Maddow Blog

Every conceivable element of this story is offensive.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law on Friday new abortion restrictions that opponents said could lead to the closing of two of the state's four abortion clinics. [...]

The law requires women to undergo an ultrasound before they get an abortion and doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinics.

So, in addition to forcing two of the state's four abortion providers to shut down, Walker will now require women undergo a medically unnecessary procedure before exercising their constitutional rights. What if a woman doesn't want the ultrasound? Too bad; her governor is imposing one on her anyway. What if her physician says there's no need for an ultrasound? It doesn't matter; Republican politicians in Wisconsin have decided to put themselves between patients and their doctors.

This, we're told, is the result of sensible policymaking from advocates of limited government.

But the way in which the Wisconsin governor signed this legislation into law adds insult to injury (in this case, almost literally). Scott Walker could have approved the measure in any number of ways, but he chose to do so privately, over the course of a holiday weekend, when the governor apparently thought it'd generate less attention.

There is, in other words, a degree of cowardice here -- if Walker thought he was doing the right thing, signing a measure with broad support into law, he wouldn't have been reduced to hiding.

The new state law takes effect today. Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed suit in federal court. "The purpose and effect of the requirement, which is wholly unnecessary and unreasonable, is to impose a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking abortion prior to viability, in violation of their constitutional right to privacy," lawyers for the groups said in the complaint.

Union-Busting GOP Governor Scott Walker Demands Return Of Unionized NFL Referees

By Travis Waldron/Think Progress

The National Football League’s decision to lock out its unionized officials at the beginning of this season has had serious consequences, as the incompetence of the replacement referees has jeopardized player safety, led to obvious mistakes, and drawn criticism from fans, the media, coaches, and players. And now, elected officials are getting their jabs in too.

After the Green Bay Packers were robbed of a win by an blown call during Monday Night Football, union-busting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) — a Packers fan — took to Twitter this morning to demanded the return of the league’s unionized officials:

Walker’s sudden support of union labor is surprising, given his push for a radical union-busting law that effectively ended collective bargaining for many of Wisconsin’s public employees. The law, which Walker and his fellow Republicans pitched as necessary to fix Wisconsin’s budgetbefore admitting that it was the “first step” in an anti-union strategy, was so unpopular that it led to massive protests outside the state capitol in Madison and recall elections against Walker and six Republicans in the state senate.

Multiple Packers players, incidentally, urged Wisconsinites to vote against Walker in the recall. And while Walker decries the scab officials who replaced union labor on the football field, he doesn’t hold himself to the same standard: after his union-busting law went into effect, union workers were replaced with prison labor.

Schultz and Maddow pound Scott Walker on Paul Ryan’s auto-plant lie

By David Ferguson/Raw Story

In this slow-burner of a clip from Wednesday night’s MSNBC coverage of the Republican National Convention, Wisconsin’s Gov. Scott Walker (R) found himself caught in the crossfire between two of the sharpest political commentators on television, “Ed Show” host Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show.” The interview begins cordially enough, but things start to get heated at about the 3-minute mark, when Maddow and Schultz pin Walker down on the question of something vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) said in his speech about President Barack Obama’s alleged failure to save a Wisconsin auto plant.

Perhaps hoping that he would get to talk to Joe Scarborough or former network stalwart Pat Buchanan, Walker had wandered up to the MSNBC cameras and reporter Ron Mott to discuss the emotional impact Paul Ryan’s speech had on him.

“A lot of folks in my small town of Sullivan went to work in that plant in Janesville and talked about that promise that President Obama made years ago, about that plant not closing down,” he said. “That’s the real deal. That showed that this isn’t some disconnected concept. This is the real deal in places like Janesville.”

A moment later, Maddow chimed in. “Gov. Walker, it’s Rachel Maddow in New York,” she said, “I appreciate the chance to talk to you about this. I don’t mean to be a fact checker, but on that Janesville GM plant, isn’t it true that that GM plant closed during the Bush administration? Your criticism that the auto bailout wasn’t big enough to come back and reopen it? That was not Barack Obama shutting down that plant.”

“No, actually,” the governor replied, “it had two rounds of layoffs and ultimately closed down just a few years ago.” He went on to allege that if the companies had engaged in “managed bankruptcies” early on, then some hardships may have been avoided.

It wasn’t long before Schultz joined the fray.

Cutting through Walker’s cloud of mealy-mouthed equivocations, he said, “It was not Barack Obama’s economic policies that shut down that GM plant. That plant was closed in December of 2008. It’s in the Washington Post right now, Gov. Walker. It had nothing to do with Barack Obama’s economic policies whatsoever, you can’t get away from that fact.”

Walker suddenly looked as if he wished to be anywhere but in front of that camera. He tried to assert that if people at the plant had taken Mitt Romney’s advice and pursued a “managed bankruptcy” sooner, the plant might or might now still be open, but that taxpayers would have been saved millions of dollars.

“So are you making the case that that plant in Janesville would have better employment today if they had followed Mitt Romney’s theory of a ‘managed bankruptcy?’” asked Schultz, “That you could guarantee in your economic model that that plant would still be employing and making things today?”

At that point, MSNBC host Al Sharpton erupted and the crosstalk became unintelligible with Walker insisting over and over that Barack Obama promised to keep that plant open, a promise that the president never made.

Watch the video, embedded via MSNBC, below:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Visits Michigan as Special Interests Pressure Michigan Courts to Prevent Collective Bargaining Vote

From Michigan Democratic Party:

“Corporate Special Interest Badger Man” Character Trails Walker Through Michigan

LANSING – As corporate special interests are “badgering” Michigan’s courts to keep collective bargaining off the ballot, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker campaigned in Michigan today — with “Corporate Special Interest Badger Man” hot on his heels.

“It’s hard to believe that Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s governor who fought against working families and collective bargaining in his own state, is now stumping here in Michigan,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer. “His timing and status as the poster child for corporate special interests couldn’t be worse, as Governor Snyder and Attorney General Schuette are attempting to silence voters on the question of collective bargaining. Voters should stand up to the corporate special interests that are trying to pressure the courts against a vote.”

Walker campaigned for the Romney/Ryan campaign at the Cityscape Events Center in Kalamazoo and the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids today. The Michigan Democratic Party’s “Corporate Special Interests Badger Man” followed Walker and shared information with voters about how corporate special interests are pressuring Lansing politicians and the courts to keep the issue of collective bargaining off November’s ballot.

Walker won a heated recall election in June, after igniting public outcry over his controversial plans to eliminate collective bargaining rights for working people in Wisconsin. Amway heir and CEO Dick DeVos helped secure Walker’s victory in the recall election by contributing a whopping $250,000 to Walker’s massive $30.5 million campaign, which was heavily influenced by out-of-state corporate special interests.

DeVos has also donated substantial funds to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which opposes Protect Our Jobs, a campaign to win collective bargaining rights for Michigan’s working families.

Now Attorney General Bill Schuette and Governor Snyder are engaging in unprecedented actions to prevent this measure from being placed on the ballot and deny citizens their right to vote. Schuette submitted a faulty and politically motivated opinion to the Board of Canvassers opposing the measure, directly contradicting a 2004 decision he supported as a member of the Court of Appeals.

Last week, the Board of Canvassers deadlocked along party lines when considering the initiative and yesterday, the Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on the initiative’s future.

The Protect Our Jobs initiative is no different than any of the constitutional amendments considered in recent years, such as stem cell research and affirmative action. The proposal adds one new section to the constitution and amends another.

On Tuesday, the Michigan Democratic Party released a new television commercial, “Law,” which encourages Michigan citizens to stand up to the corporate special interests. Voters can visit www.LetMIvote.com to sign a petition to protect their voice, as well as learn more about collective bargaining.

Collective bargaining benefits us all by bringing workers and management together to negotiate fair wages and benefits, safer working conditions and protection from arbitrary decisions by employers.

New Video: Scott Walker Called Budget Bill ‘First Step’ Of Anti-Union Strategy

By Alex Seitz-Wald/Think Progress

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) didn’t campaign on union busting, and claimed that his now-infamous bill stripping collective bargaining rights from public sector unions was about fixing the state’s finances, not attacking organized labor. Indeed, it was called the Budget Repair Bill and Walker and his allies said it was a purely fiscal issue.

“You see,” Walker said in a February 11, 2011 speech. “Despite a lot of the rhetoric we’ve heard over the past 11 days, the bill I put forward isn’t aimed at state workers, and it certainly isn’t a battle with unions.”

Labor activists and Democrats, of course, claimed that the legislation’s true purpose was to break unions in the state, in order to help ensure more Republicans would get elected in the future. Now, a video released today by a Wisconsin documentary filmmaker should put any doubt to rest and show that Walker was lying through his teeth the entire time that he claimed his bill had nothing to do with undermining unions.

In the video, shot on January 18, 2011 — just before Walker introduced the Budget Repair Bill and a month before his speech — Walker tells a billionaire campaign contributor that the forthcoming budget bill is the first step in an elaborate strategy to “divide and conquer” unions in the state.

Speaking with Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks, who has since become Walker’s single-largest campaign contributor and the biggest donor in Wisconsin history, Walker says the bill will help make Wisconsin a right-to-work and “completely red” state. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which first reported the exchange, transcribed the conversation:

“Any chance we’ll ever get to be a completely red state and work on these unions -” [Hendricks asked]

“Oh, yeah,” Walker broke in.

“- and become a right-to-work?” Hendricks continued. “What can we do to help you?”

“Well, we’re going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill,” Walker said. “The first step is we’re going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer.”

Watch the exchange, which is part of a documentary to be released soon:

While it’s by now almost universally understood that Walker’s intentions all along were to deliver a body blow to labor, the video confirms definitively that Walker pushed the legislation under false pretenses and in bad faith. This is, unfortunately, hardly shocking, as even Walker tacitly acknowledges it now, but shows that Walker intentionally deceived the legislature and the public.

Walker also claimed publicly all along that he’s not interested in making Wisconsin a “right-to-work” state, telling the Journal-Sentinel just last month, “Private sector unions are my partnerin economic development.”

Thanks to this bill, Walker is now facing a recall election against former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D), who said of the video, “This is another colossal bait and switch that goes directly to his honesty.” “What he claims he is not in favor of publicly, to the person who has made the largest contribution in state history, he says exactly the opposite. You can’t trust him,” Barrett added.

Gov. Scott Walker repeals Wisconsin Equal Pay law

By David Ferguson/Raw Story

With little fanfare, union-busting Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) yesterday signed a repeal of Wisconsin’s equal pay act, which gave people who discover they’ve been discriminated against more time to file suit and the right to do so outside of federal courts.

The Equal Pay Enforcement Act was passed in 2009 and gave workers avenues to pursue complaints about pay discrimination in the workplace and press charges where necessary.  The law conferred upon workers the ability to pursue their cases in circuit court rather than the federal court system, which is costlier and less accessible to average citizens. It also expanded the window in which complainants are allowed to file their complaints relative to the time when they worked under discriminatory conditions.

Much like the federal law, known as the Ledbetter Act (which President Obama signed as one of his first acts of office), the Wisconsin law was spurred by the case of Lilly Ledbetter, who suffered decades of pay discrimination without her knowledge. After she sued her employer, Goodyear, and won, the Supreme Court threw out the case because she didn’t file shortly after the discrimination began — when she didn’t know it was happening.

The Republican dominated state Senate passedSB 202 in November of 2011, which repealed the Equal Pay Enforcement Act, followed by the State Assembly in February.  Both votes passed along party lines in the currently Republican-led state bodies.

The governor quietly signed the bill into law ahead of its 5 p.m. Thursday deadline.  The law is known as Act 219.

Democrats and women’s groups have protested, saying that the measure is an attack on women’s rights.  The Equal Pay Enforcement Act’s authors, Democratic State Senators Dave Hansen (Green Bay) and Christine Sinicki (Milwaukee) criticized Walker on Thursday.

Hansen told Huffington Post, ““We are finally starting to see progress here in Wisconsin, yet like their counterparts across the country, Legislative Republicans want to turn back the clock on women’s rights in the workplace.”

Business associations lobbied heavily to overturn the 2009 Act, including Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.  It is estimated that for every dollar earned by men in the state of Wisconsin, women earn 75 cents, two cents less than the national average, according to the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health.

WAWH Sara Finger called the repeal a “demoralizing attack on women’s rights, health and well-being.”

Economic security is a women’s health issue,” said Finger. “The salary women are paid directly affects the type and frequency of health care services they are able to access. At a time when women’s health services are becoming more expensive and harder to obtain, financial stability is essential to maintain steady access.”

Walker and other state Republicans are up for recall in June.

David Koch Admits Plans To Buy Public Support And, Possibly, An Election

By Adam Peck/Think Progress

Nowadays it’s hard to find anyone who is comfortable with the absurd amount of money being poured into political campaigns. Progressives,conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party have all lamented the disproportionate influence that exorbitant amounts of money is having on politics in the age after Citizens United. Even Sheldon Adelson, one of the highest of the high rollers in the Republican presidential primary season and who has donated millions of his personal fortune to a Super PAC backing Newt Gingrich, thinks the system’s broken.

But not the Koch brothers. Charles and David Koch, two of the world’s richest men, have bankrolled conservative causes and candidates for years, but only recently have they begun to openly flaunt their willingness and ability to purchase public opinion and—possibly—an election.

David Koch sat down for an interview with the Palm Beach Post:

Asked about his efforts to sway public opinion, Koch acknowledges his group is hard at work in places such as Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker is facing off with public unions and grappling with a likely recall vote.

“We’re helping him, as we should. We’ve gotten pretty good at this over the years,” he says. “We’ve spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We’re going to spend more.”

The Nation reported yesterday that David Koch’s willingness to discuss their family’s efforts to support Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) during the recall being waged by progressives in the state may potentially have crossed the fine line separating the perfectly legal practice of contributing money to a candidate and the illegal practice of directly coordinating with a political campaign.

Legality aside, the Koch Brothers’ candor on their plans to interfere with democracy using loads of money is enough evidence that the system isn’t working.

Wisconsin Democrats tell David Koch: Get out and take Gov. Walker too

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin blasted oil billionaire David Koch on Monday for supporting Republican Gov. Scott Walker in his fight against public unions.

“I think I speak for most Wisconsinites when I say to David Koch, ‘Get out of Wisconsin and take Scott Walker’s dangerous agenda with you,’” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said.

In a rare interview with the Palm Beach Post, Koch described Walker as “impressive” and “courageous.” He said his conservative group Americans for Prosperity was hard at work in Wisconsin.

“We’ve spent a lot of money in Wisconsin,” Koch said. “We’re going to spend more.”

Walker and Republican lawmakers pushed to curb the collective-bargaining rights of public employees earlier this year, eventually passing the highly controversial legislation using a parliamentary maneuver.

The attack on collective-bargaining rights set off unprecedented recall campaigns against Republican and Democratic Wisconsin state senators. Democrats ended up gaining two seats in the Senate after defeating incumbent Republicans. Walker now faces a recall election himself.

Koch said restricting collective-bargaining rights was “critically important” and warned there would be “no stopping union power” if Walker is ousted from office.

“This disturbing interview shows a man in David Koch who believes that because of his wealth, he should be able to dictate what happens in a place he hopes to convert into a plantation state for his low-wage, low-benefits, no-rights companies. Wisconsin cannot let David Koch or Scott Walker buy Wisconsin and break our middle class,” Tate said.

Gov. Scott Walker To Use Foreclosure Settlement Money To Balance His Budget, Not Help Homeowners

By Pat Garofalo/Think Progress

Yesterday, 49 states joined the federal government inannouncing a $26 billion settlement with five of the nation’s biggest banks over the banks’ foreclosure fraud abuses. The money from the settlement is meant to aid homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure or who find themselves underwater, meaning they owe more on their mortgage than their home is currently worth.

However, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) — whose high profile assault on workers’ rights has prompted a recall effort against him — isn’t planning to use the money to help homeowners. Under the terms of the settlement, Wisconsin is set to receive $140 million, $31.6 million of which comes directly to the state government. And Walker is planning to use $25.6 million of that money to help balance his state’s budget:

Of a $31.6 million payment coming directly to the state government, most of that money – $25.6 million – will go to help close a budget shortfall revealed in newly released state projections. [Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen], whose office said he has the legal authority over the money, made the decision in consultation with Walker.

“Just like communities and individuals have been affected, the foreclosure crisis has had an effect on the state of Wisconsin, in terms of unemployment. … This will offset that damage done to the state of Wisconsin,” Walker said.

A memo from Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau released yesterday notes “it is anticipated that Wisconsin will receive $31.6 million. Based on discussions between the Attorney General and the administration, of the amounts received by the state, $25.6 million will be deposited to the general fund as GPR-Earned in 2011-12, and the remaining $6 million will be retained by the Department of Justice to be allocated at a later date.”

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) criticized Walker’s move, saying “not one dime [of the settlement] should be used to fund the unbalanced state budget.” Adding insult to injury, Walker has previously criticized using one-time settlement money to fill budget holes.

The settlement money already doesn’t come close to addressing the depths of the nation’s housing problem, though it will provide real relief to the people whom it does reach. But the money was certainly not intended to paper over state budget problems, particularly in a state whose governor assured everybody up and down that busting his state’s public unions was the key to fiscal solvency.

Fox & Friends: Scott Walker's #1 Fan

From Media Matters

After Wisconsin officials reported that opponents of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) turned in more than 1 million signatures calling for a recall election, Fox & Friends hosted Walker for a softball interview in which the co-hosts reassured him that the recall is "not really about" him and said they "wish[ed]" they were interviewing Walker under "better circumstances." This follows the show's long history of promoting Walker and his policies and attacking his critics.

"It's Not Really About Gov. Scott Walker": Fox & Friends Hosts Walker To Sympathize As Recall Petitions Turned In

NYT: "Organizers Say 1 Million Signed Petition To Recall Wisconsin Governor." On January 17, opponents of Walker announced they collected more than 1 million petition signatures calling for a recall election. From The New York Times:

Critics of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin submitted to the state on Tuesday more than a million signatures, nearly twice as many as required, on recall petitions against him to force a new election.

State election officials now begin the arduous, expensive process of studying the petitions for flaws and duplicated names. But leaders of the recall effort said the number of signatures was so large as to put any serious legal challenge out of reach. The anti-Walker forces needed 540,208 names and had estimated that they would produce at least 720,000, so the still larger number came as a surprise to many.

Barring a legal fight, Mr. Walker, a Republican who took office a year ago and set off a firestorm by curtailing collective bargaining rights for public workers, will face a new election in the late spring or early summer. Around the country, only two governors have ever been removed through recall. [The New York Times, 1/17/12]

Carlson: "It's So Great To See You In Person. I Wish For You Personally It Was For Better Circumstances." On the January 18 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, the co-hosts interviewed Walker. Co-host Gretchen Carlson began the interview by saying to Walker, "I believe this is your debut on the curvy couch [in the studio] ... Well, it's so great to see you in person. I wish for you personally it was for better circumstances." Later, after Walker said that his administration had "kept all of our promises," Carlson said, "And, by the way, Wisconsin has added jobs in the meantime and cut costs at the same time." Co-host Brian Kilmeade later said, "And what I'm getting from you, and from all the plethora of material, it's not really about Governor Scott Walker. This is about the next election and the direction of our country." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 1/18/11]

Fox & Friends Has A Long History Of Promoting Walker And His Policies ...

"No One Can Question Your Leadership": Kilmeade Tossed Softballs To Gov. Walker In Fawning Interview. On the November 22, 2011, edition of Fox & Friends, the co-hosts discussed the efforts to recall Walker and then interviewed him. Before the interview, Carlson said to Kilmeade, "One thing I hope you ask him is how many jobs have been created in that state." Kilmeade began the interview by saying, "You're already in motion to protect your position. How disappointing is it that you've got to worry about a recall and not just worry about the state's business?" Kilmeade later said to Walker, "No one can question your leadership." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/22/11]

Fox & Friends Hyped Flawed Jobs Claim To Tout Walker's Policies. On the August 3, 2011, edition of Fox & Friends, Carlson introduced a segment featuring Walker by claiming: "In June, the state gained 8,500 jobs. That's more than half of what the entire nation gained overall." Co-host Steve Doocy added: "One of those reasons for success, the governor, just seven months on the job, Scott Walker has helped the state get back more than a quarter of the jobs lost during the big recession. How did he do it?"

• PolitiFact Wisconsin Rated WI Jobs Claim "False." PolitiFact Wisconsin rated the claim that "more than half the nation's job growth in June came from Wisconsin" false, writing that Walker and GOP state officials were making "a flawed comparison." The Associated Press also reported that the statement "could lead to a faulty inference" since five states had added more net jobs in June 2011 than Wisconsin had. [Media Matters, 8/3/11]

Fox & Friends Extensively Covered Threats To Walker And Republican Lawmakers, But Previously Mocked Threats To Democrats. On the March 14, 2011, edition of Fox & Friends, the co-hosts repeatedly discussed "death threats" reportedly received by Republican Wisconsin lawmakers and attacked Time magazine for referring to Walker as "Dead Man Walker." Yet during the debates over health care reform in March 2010, the co-hosts mocked threats to Democratic lawmakers; Kilmeade asked on the March 25, 2010, edition of the show if "Democrats [are] using" threats of violence "to their advantage to marginalize Republican opposition?" Carlson agreed that it was "disappointing" that Democrats were making the threats public and said that "they should just stop discussing it altogether." [Media Matters, 3/14/11]

Fox & Friends Reversed Poll Results To Falsely Claim Most Americans Favored Ending Collective Bargaining. On the February 23, 2011, edition of Fox & Friends, while discussing protests in Wisconsin over Walker's efforts to end public employees' collective bargaining rights, Kilmeade claimed, as did an on-screen graphic, that a USA Today/Gallup poll had found that  "61 percent" of Americans were in favor of taking away collective bargaining rights from public unions.

• In Fact, Fox Aired The Results Backward. In fact, the Gallup poll found that 61 percent of Americans were opposed to "a law similar to [the] proposal in Wisconsin." In the final minute of the broadcast, Kilmeade issued a correction, saying, "I had it reversed." [Media Matters, 2/23/11]

... And Attacking His Critics

Fox & Friends Hosted WI GOP Politician To Misinform About Walker's Anti-Union Legislation.On June 16, 2011, Fox & Friends hosted Glenn Grothman, a Republican state senator in Wisconsin, to promote Walker's anti-union bill and to misleadingly suggest that the legal challenges to the bill simply involved state employees' contributions to their pensions.

• In Fact, Controversy Surrounding Bill Sparked By Cutting Workers' Collective Bargaining Rights; Unions Agreed To Pension Cuts. In fact, protests over the bill and legal challenges to it centered around provisions that stripped most public workers' rights to collective bargaining; and union leaders had already agreed to pension and health care cuts before the bill was passed. [Media Matters, 6/16/11]

Fox & Friends Falsely Portrayed WI Protesters As "Violent." During the protests at the Wisconsin statehouse over Walker's proposal to end collective bargaining rights for public employees, Fox & Friends repeatedly attacked protesters opposing Walker's proposal. On the March 3, 2011, edition of the show, Kilmeade introduced a segment on Grothman being heckled by a chanting crowd of protesters by claiming the protesters were "getting restless and, dare I say, violent." Doocy said, "When you look at that and all the incivility there, you realize that to these people, elections have no consequence, mean nothing." The co-hosts later interviewed Grothman; Doocy asked him, "Were you scared?"

• There Was No Evidence Of Violence On The Video, And Photographer Who Shot It Slammed Fox's Coverage. The full 12-minute video on YouTube showed that no violence occurred and that at times protesters chanted "peace" and "peaceful." The photographer who shot the footage said he "condem[ned]" Fox's "use of my work to distort the truth.

Scott Walker accused of violating over 1,000 campaign finance laws

By Andrew Jones/Raw Story

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) may have to deal with another controversy, this time over failing to disclose who contributed to him financially.

According to a report from the progressive campaign group One Wisconsin Now, Walker violated the state’s campaign finance laws 1,115 times since 2009.

Wisconsin law requires that a candidate disclose contributions which exceed $100 — something that Scott Ross, director of One Wisconsin Now, says he repeatedly declined to do.

“Scott Walker has improperly reported well over $500,000 in contributions from inside and outside of Wisconsin,” Ross said. “Scott Walker has absolutely no interest in following the campaign finance rules of the state of Wisconsin and we again call for state regulators to address his serial violation of our laws.”

The allegations are just the latest in a string of recent scandals for Walker, who found himself making national headlines in 2011 for stripping collective bargaining rights from public sector unions. Just last week, one of his former aides was charged with enticing a child to sexual activity, and a broader investigation into embezzlement was still ongoing.

Walker is currently facing a possible recall election later this year, if his opponents can collect enough petition signatures by January 17th.

Aides to Gov. Walker did not respond to a request for comment at time of this story’s publication.