H A R L A N R I C H A R D S

February 1, 2012

Swift-Boat Wisconsin!

Who Is Funding Gov. Scott Walker?

Gov. Walker likes to allege that he is the victim of out-of-state agitators who are interfering in Wisconsin politics. He has provided no evidence to support this allegation. However, there is ample evidence that the majority of Gov. Walker's monetary support is coming from wealthy out-of-state supporters.

The news media has reported that in the last 5 weeks Gov. Walker has received $4.5 million, $2.5 million of which came from out-of-state donors. Three Missouri donors each contributed $250,000 and one Texas billionaire, Bob Perry, donated $250,000 twice. Perry is the largest donor, contributing a total of half a million dollars since the recall effort started.

Why would a Texas billionaire give away so much money to keep a governor of a northern state in office? There is no indication that he owns anything in, or does any business in, Wisconsin. He has no known connection to Wisconsin. But he does share one trait with Gov. Walker: they are both right-wing ideologues, true believers who will pay any price to further their agenda. Bob Perry is noteworthy for being one of the people who funded the Swift-Boat election smear campaign of 2004 which cost John Kerry the election.

It is well-documented that the Swift-Boat ads were false and misrepresented John Kerry's war record. Those ads cost him the election. Kerry wrongly believed that the American public knew better than to believe the lies told about him. In reality, Kerry was a true war hero. Sadly, he misjudged the public's gullibility and his failure to respond to the ads cost him the election. He was the first to be "Swift-Boated". Now, the man behind the Swift-Boat ads has given Gov. Walker half a million dollars to help him win re-election. That alone is sufficient reason to oppose Gov. Scott Walker.

Do we want a Wisconsin government by and for Wisconsinites? Or do we want billionaires in Texas and Missouri telling us who our governor should be?

The choice is yours. You can make the recall elections stand for justice, fairness and democracy. Or you can let Bob Perry and the other out-of-state billionaires buy the governor's office.