Wisconsin lost nearly 24,000 jobs over the past 12 months - the only state in the union with "statistically significant" job losses over that period, according to a new federal government report. For a governor who promised thousands of new jobs would be created on his watch and who now faces an unprecedented electoral challenge, that had to be troubling news. It's certainly troubling for job seekers across the state.But I disagree that Walker took his eye off the ball.
Certainly, Gov. Scott Walker is responsible for politicizing job creation in Wisconsin - and then taking his eye off the ball as his fellow Republicans embarked on fulfilling a conservative wish list ranging from concealed carry to the castle doctrine to voter ID.
Let's not forget that Walker was all for this extreme GOP conservative social agenda - - he said he's sign any concealed carry law that got to his desk, for example - - because he knew these were red-meat issues for the far right and pushing along those so-called social conservative issues would solidify his tea party base.
And while the newspaper says that a governmental official cannot really create jobs, Walker would have taken full credit had the numbers worked in his favor.