Scott Walker's Hidden Agenda

[Irritable Liberal]

Hidden away in the Wisconsin budget is this little bit of crony capitalism.

16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).


Republicans want to privatize everything regardless of cost or efficacy. What this atrocious piece of duplicity does is allow the state to let private companies take over public utilities without any external control or input.

It doesn't take much effort to connect the dots and it all leads back to Koch Industries and the biggest financing force in politics, the notorious Koch Koch brothers. Koch Industries donated over $43,000 to Walker's campaign and another few million indirectly to the campaign through the Republican Governor's Association.

Guess who stand to benefit most from this part of the law and guess who stands to lose the most. If this passes it won't be long before the red carpet is rolled out for Koch to step in and take over the running of State owned utilities and screw the people of Wisconsin. who won't be able to do anything about it. His attack on Public Unions serves to misdirect the people of the state away from schemes like this. It's the GOP's overlord's wet dream and the citizen's nightmare.

Do those Tea Party idiots backing Walker even realize what is being done under their noses. Maybe they will wake up when their utility bills suddenly go up for no apparent reason. I'm a little surprised that this issue has gone under the radar but not surprised that Walker is trying something as flagrantly egregious as giving away control of state owned utilities with a blank check.

[Indydem]

1. Do you have EVIDENCE that the Koch brothers WANT a public utility?

I can't find any evidence that Koch is in any way involved in utilities.

Isn't it far more likely that Walker will sell/lease the power plants to companies like Alliant Energy which is a publicly traded company that has spent considerable money on renewable resources including wind and water power?

Walker wants to lease the utilities to get money for the coffers (ala Bitch Daniels in IN) but I think its a bit of a stretch to keep trying to tie this initiative to the current boogeymen.

[Irritable Liberal]

4. One way or another Koch will benefit fromths.

N/T

[louis-t]

2. Gee, and guess who gets to determine what

"in the best interest of the state" is?

[sad sally]

3. Is this akin to the water T Boone Pickens water scam?

Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens is about to make a killing by selling water he doesn’t own. As he does it, it will be praised as a planet-friendly wind project. After he pulls it off, the media will deride it as craven capitalism. In truth, it is one the most audacious examples of politics for profit, showing how big government helps the biggest business steal from the rest of us. The plotline behind Pickens’ water-and-wind scheme is almost too rich to believe. If it were a movie script, reviewers would dismiss it as over-the-top.

The basic story amounts to this: Pickens, thanks to favors from state lawmakers whose campaigns he funded, has created a new government whose only voters are two of his employers; this has empowered Pickens to more cheaply pump water from an aquifer and, by use of eminent domain, seize land across 11 counties in order to pipe the water to Dallas. To win environmentalist approval of this hardly “sustainable” practice, he has piggybacked this water project onto a windmill project pitched as an alternative to oil.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/node/207036#ixzz1EdKVi7hK?du

[Hannah Bell]

5. kr

[cascadiance]

6. Maybe he wants to privatize and sell of the Packers to one of his rich buddies!

Might we try to get him to try and do something that stupid? Who knows! This guy's been pretty brazen so far!

[Angry Dragon]

7. walker thinks he is a Middle East dictator picked by the koch gods

instead of a governor of a Mid-West state elected by the people

[packback]

8. interesting article

http://milwaukeestory.com/index.php/2011/02/21/rnc-perfect-storm-reice-prebius-scott-walker-and-the-wisconsin-budget-bill/

Its important to understand that the chairman of the RNC is old buddies with Walker, so this is a test run for what they are planning on doing nationwide, or at least in every state that has a willing governor.