From the total lack of surprise department, County Executive Scott Walker is now backing off his ludicrous position of refusing any federal stimulus dollars. Now he “won’t rule it out” as long as the money meets certain arbitrary conditions decided upon by none other than himself. Naturally, this rare reversal of principles happened on the Friday afternoon news dump.

Publicity stunt accomplished!

A question to all the Scott Walker fans who couldn’t heap enough praise on him this past week because he was “standing on his principles!!”

Can you say you’re still standing on “principles” when your principles have conditions like non-matching local funding with a straight face?

As I pointed out from day one, this entire thing has been nothing but a huge publicity stunt for Walker’s 2010 Gubernatorial bid. Again, as I pointed out previously this week, I think it’s a largely failed stunt that was wildly miscalculated. However, the major media outlets in Milwaukee just couldn’t help but advance exactly what Walker wanted them to: that this was all about him and his political career.

They’re all wrong of course. What this should have been about is the residents of Milwaukee County who are going to miss the boat on our share of important and needed federal stimulus dollars.

“Walker for Governor: Working tirelessly to ensure that Wisconsin does not receive a single penny in federal funding for which he doen’t philosophically agree with!”

Or perhaps:

“If you thought I ran Milwaukee into the ground, just wait till you see what I can do for the rest of Wisconsin!!”

With a stunt as irresponsible as he is trying to pull by saying Milwaukee County, or at least HE, doesn’t want any of our share of the federal bailout, it’s no wonder Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker now being roundly criticized from those like myself on the left in addition to some on the right.

He’s opposing federal funding for Milwaukee County for the sole reason that he’s philosophically against the idea of the government stimulus plan. Suggesting that any money spent by the government is an odd position for an elected government official to take, don’t you think?

Funny that just this morning on a local talk radio show, he was almost mocking the fact that “lefty bloggers” would slam him for this out of touch stance. Looks like Walker underestimated just how badly he miscalculated this latest political stunt, because it’s not just us “bloggers” who see through it.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s stance against seeking any money from a federal economic stimulus package perplexes foes as well as some friends.

Standing on principle in opposition to expansion of federal deficit spending is one thing, said Timothy Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. He, like Walker, prefers tax cuts to federal work projects, Sheehy said. But since President-elect Barack Obama and Congress are on a course to approve a massive stimulus plan, the county would be wise to line up, Sheehy said. – jsonline.com

You’d think some enterprising reporter for the major news outlet in this area would ask him if it’s just federal aid in general he opposes, or just the kind he’s received for his own pet projects in the past.

Regardless, there is no simply no way any responsible elected leader can act with this kind of impunity and selfish attitude that puts his own limited philosophy in direct opposition to the very real and very immediate needs Milwaukee County is facing.

Our future as a County is more important than the political future of a single person.

With the worst recession in our lifetime wreaking havoc on our already fragile local economy what does our increasingly comical County Executive Scott Walker say about any potential federal stimulus dollars for Milwaukee County?

“Thanks but no thanks”. How cavalier.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker says thanks but no thanks to any federal economic stimulus money for county projects.

Unlike Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who sent the federal government a $599 million wish list, or Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who asked for $3.7 billion from what could be an $800 billion to $1 trillion federal shot in the arm, Walker said Tuesday the county and the country are better off without the spending.

The only federal economic stimuli Walker endorses are tax cuts, and he credited President-elect Barack Obama for recommending $300 billion in such cuts as part of a much larger stimulus plan.

Walker said federal aid for ongoing state or local operations would only put off the day of reckoning for unbalanced budgets.

Though he doesn’t categorically reject the idea of federal money going for local infrastructure projects, Walker said he won’t ask the federal government for anything.

“All we are asking for is ‘do no harm,’?” the county executive said. “I’m not asking for any new projects or things to be done here.”

Milwaukee County has some huge funding dilemmas, including $300 million in backlogged repairs for parks, annual shortfalls of up to $43 million in transit and some $300 million needed to rebuild its mental health complex.

“The last thing you want to do is put money in hands of government,” if the goal is to pull the economy from recession, Walker said. – JSonline.com

Imagine what you’d think about the captain of a sinking boat who would refuse the help of someone offering help.

And yet the local media continues to worship our County Executive and portray him in a positive light even when, as in this case, the ideology of Walker pushes aside what would be rational policy, much to the detrement of our entire County.