Citing personal safety concerns, Gov. Scott Walker has sharply increased the amount the state is paying to protect him and his family, boosting the budget for his security detail by 239% in his term.
Records show taxpayers spent more than $2.23 million in 2013 for the 10 state troopers who protect Walker and his family, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and dignitaries from other states and countries who visit Wisconsin. That was up from $657,457 paid out by Gov. Jim Doyle on security during his last year in office in 2010.
A large part of the increase in spending on security came as a result of Walker's decision to add five members to the Dignitary Protection Unit, the official name of the security team, in the wake of the 2011 protests over Act 10.
The first-term governor sparked protests around the state with his sweeping plan to curtail collective bargaining for most public employees. Both Walker and Kleefisch were the target of death threats during the frenzied debate over the bill.
"Have you been asleep for the past three years?" Walker said during a stop in New Berlin on Tuesday when pressed about his rising security budget.
But that's not been the only factor driving up security costs. Records show that:
· Taxpayers have paid some $978,000 to provide security for Walker's home in Wauwatosa — a figure that continues to rise sharply even though his two sons are in college and the governor has said he's spending more nights at the Executive Residence in Maple Bluff.
· Spending on items designated "other expenses" has increased by 716% in the past five years, with annual $600 clothing allowances for the security team; $975 bulletproof vests and iPads and iPad accessories for all 10 bodyguards; and a safe and car tinting.
· The number of out-of-state trips for which security has accompanied Walker has increased as his national profile rises and he is increasingly seen as a possible 2016 presidential contender. In 2011, he had state-funded security for 29 trips outside Wisconsin, a number that had risen to 47 by 2013.
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Evidently our beloved governor is "running scared" but if you ask him, he would tell you that because he acted to save money for the tax payers of Wisconsin,(a complete ruse) some people hate him.
I am confounded to find that the governor's race is tied at 47% per candidate. Not only is Walker spending our money like a drunken sailor on shore leave, but the signs of corruption are becoming more evident with each passing day.
There are a lot of other reasons why Walker should not be elected for a second term; take for instance, the voter suppression attempts by his administration and his rubber stamp senate and assembly. Under the guise of discovering and preventing voter fraud, this attempt to keep the poor, the aged, and those who do not have a drivers licenses from the polls, legislation was presented.
And I guess for good reason! WISCONSIN REPUBLICANS HAVE FOUND VOTER FRAUD!!!.
Unfortunately for them, they are the guilty party . . . and parties.
Scott Walker supporter, Robert Monroe, a Shorewood, Wisconsin health insurance executive, was charged with 13 felonies relating to his voting a dozen times in five elections between 2011 and 2012, using his own name as well as that of his son and his girlfriend's son.
Even worse, Monroe voted multiple times in the April 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court race that required a recount.
Then it came to light in the March 6, 2014 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal that Marcie Malszycki, a Repulican legislative aide who worked for Warren Petryk, 93rd Assembly, the man who co-sponsored the voter ID bill, voted improperly for Scott Walker in 2010.
Malszycki pled guilty to election fraud on March 4, 2014, and under a plea agreement, yet another count of election fraud, involving a vote alledgedly cast in the wrong district in 2008 was dismissed.
I wonder how many Wisconsin pick up trucks that proudly display their I STAND WITH SCOTT WALKER bumper stickers do any reading at all and are in the least bit aware of these happenings.
I have even seen SCOTT WALKER FOR PRESIDENT bumper stickers! We live in frightening times,
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