Is Barrett (or Vinehout) Governor Yet?

What an embarrassment. Scott Walker can't be gone quick enough.

On Tuesday our majordomo was in Springfield, Illinois to give a speech touting his dubious accomplishments and essentially act like a five year-old saying, "Nyah, nyah! Our economy is better than yours!"

Walker used the opportunity to address and Illinois crowd to deride the state's financial health when compared to his own state's.

"Illinois and Wisconsin, like nearly every other state, had big deficits. We had a $3.7 billion deficit," Walker said, according to NBC Chicago. "A year later, after we balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, things haven’t gotten any better in Springfield. When you raise taxes on business and individuals, it drives away wealth."

Meanwhile, Walker's mandarin, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, was in Chicago rallying the Teabaggers and proudly proclaiming herself a poacher.

The day before federal income taxes are due, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch helped rile up 300 Tea Party faithful in Daley Plaza, pledging to keep “poaching” businesses from Illinois.

“I’m the lieutenant governor who cold-calls your companies, and I’m happy to poach more if Gov. Quinn continues to march down the path he’s on right now — it’s all fair in economic development,” Kleefisch said after the rally.

Kleefisch, who could be recalled by Wisconsin voters along with Gov. Scott Walker this summer, said she cold-called Rockton-based FatWallet.com after Illinois passed a tax on Internet sales and the company moved to Beloit, Wis.

Gee, you got a company to move about 10 miles from Rockton, IL to Beloit. This is economic development worth touting? Were any new jobs created? Or are the employees from Illinois now just stuck with a longer commute?

I sure hope my taxes did not go to pay for these trips. Why were they on soapboxes in Illinois instead of Wisconsin? I thought the elections were here and not to the south. Oh wait. I forgot. Walker likes to take a lot of personal time.

I'd like to have a governor who, instead of starting childish pissing matches with governors in neighboring states, goes to visit them and talk about forming partnerships. Perhaps Walker could rustle up a little comity with Illinois governor Pat Quinn and get down to brass tacks to try to think of ways that our two states can work together for mutual advantage. But no. That kind of forward thinking probably just doesn't occur to an authoritarian like Walker.

Illinois has Chicago, a global city that is a major transportation hub, a leader in the financial industry, has venture capital, etc. Kleefisch can boast about fatwallet.com moving to Beloit but Illinois can boast about Evraz Inc. North America, a $3 billion company, moving its headquarters there because of O'Hare. Boeing moved there and MillerCoors decided to put its headquarters in downtown Chicago too. Rather than trying to leverage our state's proximity to a global city via cooperation, Walker's plan for economic development with our neighbors to the south consists of widening the interstate highways and voila! Instant growth!

I am eyeing Tom Barrett for our next governor for these reasons. Kathleen Falk is a one-note candidate – all union, all the time. (Vinehout – I need to learn more.) Great, I get that. Southeastern Wisconsin accounts for something like a third of Wisconsin's economic output and Milwaukee is a struggling Rust Belt city. It's way past time the state government stops shitting on Wisconsin's largest city and starts helping to turn it around. Both Barrett and Walker know first-hand that Milwaukee is part of a larger economic unit centered in Chicago but it seems that Barrett is the only one willing to capitalize on it. He leads the M-7, a regional economic development group, which shows me that he understands the value of cooperation in building an economy whereas Walker and his cronies seem content to go it alone with their poaching act.