May 25, 2012

The question I'd ask Tom Barrett at tonight's debate (and one for Scott Walker).

For Tom Barrett: Can you articulate, clearly and specifically, what the standard is for removing a governor in the middle of the term for which he was elected? Why exactly are the people of Wisconsin being put through this recall exercise? Can you commit to the proposition that the recall device should be used in the future — including, perhaps, against you — under the circumstances that we are currently experiencing in Wisconsin?

For Scott Walker: If you win this special election — particularly if you win by a sizable margin — will  you see yourself as having a new mandate, and what will you do with that mandate? What, if anything, will you have to offer your many adversaries, who may feel quite demoralized and bitter?

(The debate is tonight at 8 Central Time, and I will be live-blogging.)

31 comments:

MadisonMan said...

Your question is more than one question. Which one do you actually want them to answer?

wv: irycall (!!!) chewhys

Rabel said...

MadisonMan,

I think that's a law professor thing.

MadisonMan said...

Rabel, that was my thought to.

You, a Law Professor!


LOL.

Have a good weekend everyone!

gadfly said...

You will not get an honest answer from Barrett. He lost decisively to Walker in the regular elections, so he has no honest reason for running again until Walker's term ends. This is abuse against a law designed to control incompetence and dishonesty and we have none of that here - except on the part of the Dems, the Unions and the Mayor?

Original Mike said...

"What, if anything, will you have to offer your many adversaries, ..."

Crow.

ddh said...

Excellent questions, all of them. I would love to hear them asked, and I'd love to hear the answers.

Steve Austin said...

Here's my question for Mayor Tommy tonight:

"In your decade as Mayor, you've only brought into the city two new employers.

Assume you are Superman and Lex Luthor has just fired a missile at the City of Milwaukee. You are able to only save the Talgo plant or the Ingeteam plant but not both.

Which one of your government subsidized Spanish green energy company plants do you save and why?"

James Pawlak said...

OTHER QUESTIONS:

TO THE MAYOR: Why did your wife use government emails to campaign?

Have City of Milwaukee employees dne the same?

Who benefited from the non-bidding contracts given to car removal and scrapping companies by your Administration?

KCFleming said...

Chutzpah, Barrett demanding info on Walker's e-mails, when his own wife used her taxpayer funded Milwaukee Public Schools Employee email account to lobby Democratic lawmakers (twice) and a to recruit fellow teachers to campaign against County Executive candidate Jeff Stone.

Maybe she's 1/32nd Cherokee, so no foul.

harrogate said...

That would be a great question for Walker. I do not believe he would answer it honestly on television however.

rhhardin said...

How about lowering public union position wages and benefits until the number of suitable applicants falls to the number of openings.

Steve Austin said...

Another question I'd like them to ask Barrett.

"Mr. Mayor, you and the democrats opposed the iron mine over pollution concerns.

Which do you consider more damaging to the environment, any potential tailings from the proposed mine or the massive amounts of raw sewage that are dumped into the Milwaukee Harbor every rainfall. As a reminder Mr. Mayor, you do control the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the organization that does the dumping. "

(Barrett sometimes "forgets" all the stuff he's technically in charge of here in Milwaukee)

Dante said...

Ann, you may want to ask that question of Scott Walker, thought there was a very similar one in the "Raw with Walker" interview.

What he's going to say is that he has a goal of creating 250,000 jobs, whereas the previous administration lost 100,000 jobs. And he's going to work with people to create them. He doesn't want to go back and reopen the debate about what he did, so that's closed, time to move on.

The question was in the context of government union jobs, and whether the government union folks should worry about a re-elected walker with a mandate. In other words, he is confident in the medicine, and if it is working, you can expect more reforms of the kind Dems won't like.

Simon said...

Isn't the answer to the first question that the people of Wisconsin are being put through this recall exercise because they have allowed a recall provision to lurk in their constitution like a mine, waiting for an unlucky ship to wander too close or be dragged over the top of it? It's not Tom Barrett's fault that Wisconsin provides for recall, and the decision to have a recall was made independently of Tom Barrett's decision to run in that election.

Robert said...

Cut the professor some slack.

We live in a world in which J-O-B-S is a four-letter word, after all.

Beach Brutus said...

Answer for Gov. Walker: Alka-Seltzer and Kleanex

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I would ask Three-Time Tommy if he can explain the email having been sent to people from an organization supporting his campaign which states the following:

"By contributing now you will help reunite Wisconsin while avoiding any potential public boycott of your business in the future. Help us hold Walker accountable for ripping Wisconsin apart and causing the Wisconsin taxpayers millions of dollars in its effort to end his divisive bullying and job-killing policies so that we can move forward once again."

Beta Rube said...

I'd like to ask Tommy what he'll do when Wisconsin starts hemorrhaging money, jobs, and businesses if he wins.

Evil Capitalists are not interested in being a piggy bank for angry unionistas who want a do over when things don't go their way.

MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...

I know this is not very imaginative, but I'd ask:

"If you had won the general election, how would you have dealt with the $3.6 billion deficit?"

His only legimate response can be: 1) raise taxes, 2) fire employees, 3) kick the can.

In a normal state, or at least my own, those would all be political losers.

David A. Lunde said...

Mr. Mayor, If a person does political work on government time, should they be punished to the fullest extent of the law? Begin your answer with the word yes or no.

edutcher said...

Walker would probably say, "Keep on keepin' on", to a mandate; to his detractors he would be more of a gentleman that I.

Barrett will still be looking for an answer on Election Day.

Jay Vogt said...

Great questions, but I can see that you're drifting into "professor phrasiology". Just enough words, qualifying clauses and intimidating pre-reprimands to put the put the interviewee on edge.

You may want to slip into a more "journo-speak" vibe. That way you can lengthen the questions so as to show off how smart you are and reduce the amount of time the interviewee has to explain himself, which is why people presumable want to watch in the first place.

Or, you could just ask Mr. B; If you win by a lot what are you going to do?

Mr. W; Why in the world are we going through this?

Personally, I'd suggest you blow the whole thing off and open a nice bottle of a dry european rose.

Original Mike said...

Mayor Barrett, what does democracy look like?

eelpout said...

I wonder if Walker's lawyers will be joining him for the debate.

Chip Ahoy said...

Assume you are Superman and Lex Luthor has just fired a missile at the City of Milwaukee

I would detect the missile and whatever I am doing I would stop doing it, say pardon me, then speed off, destroy the missile and return as if nothing unusual happened. And I'd keep doing that, missile after missile over and over endlessly if need be as depicted in this here Super Partios animated gif, that is old but now with improved hero shadow.

geokstr said...

I'd like them to ask Barrett how he took advantage of Walker's reforms in balancing Milwaukee's budget this year without tax increases or layoffs.

Fen said...

My queston for Mayor Tom Barett:

Do you need to be reminded again that the age of consent is NOT twelve?

Richard Dolan said...

Answers to Ann's Qs:

Barrett: "I'll appoint a commission ..."

Walker: "More of the same. with an opportunity for all those demoralized Dems to get with the program."

MadisonMan said...

It's very confusing to call Barrett 'Tommy' -- everyone in Wisconsin will think you mean TT.

purplepenquin said...

what the standard is for removing a governor in the middle of the term for which he was elected?

This is an easy question, 'cause the answer is listed right there in the Wisconsin State Constitution.

Ya'll should read it some time.