6 Extreme Republican Governors Fighting For Their Political Lives This Fall

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/election-2014/6-extreme-republican-governors-fighting-their-political-lives-fall



1. Florida’s Tea Party Republican Rick Scott. Florida under Scott has not been a state of warm sunshine. Joblessness, foreclosures, crimes preying on the elderly, economic inequality have all risen. Scott also has overseen cuts in needed programs, from education to social welfare. Scott made his fortune as the head of a hospital chain that was fined $1.7 billion in the late 1990s for Medicare fraud— as Politifact Florida put it, stealing from the elderly. His re-election strategy is based on spreading fears about Obamacare and trashing the health reform. Like most ideological Republicans, he did not expand his state’s public healthcare for the poor—Medicaid—under the Affordable Care Act, despite federal funding covering the startup costs.

2. Wisconsin’s Union-Buster Scott Walker. Two years ago, Walker became the darling of the GOP’s union-busting wing by ripping up collective bargaining rights for most public employee unions—teachers and civil servants, but not police and fire fighters. That prompted tens of thousands of people to protest for weeks at the Capitol in Madison and sparked a recall election. However, Walker won after Democrats put forth the same lackluster gubernatorial candidate who lost to him in 2010.

3. Kansas Pro-Business Libertarian Sam Brownback. Pundits considered Kansas to be an irrevocably red state, but that was until Kansans saw what Gov. Sam Brownback, the former U.S. senator, has done as governor. Brownback ran on a platform that embraced the conservative fantasy that cutting corporate taxes would create so much growth that state revenues would explode and cover public programs. Brownback’s plan, adopted after taking office, has spectacularly imploded and created what’s projected to become a $1.3 billion budget deficit within five years. Tax revenues have fallen by 10 percent, leading to cuts in teacher salaries, larger classrooms, draining the state’s rainy day fund, and lowering its bond rating.

4. Pennsylvania’s Anti-Teacher, Pro-Fracking Tom Corbett. It seems that Pennsylvania voters have come to their sense after seeing what a governor who was elected in 2010’s Tea Party wave has wrought. Corbett, a former state attorney general, ran as an anti-tax crusader and then proceeded to gut basic public services while pandering to private interests—especially the natural gas fracking industry. Upon taking office, he faced a $4 billion deficit. Corbett’s response was to not raise taxes but to cut thousands of teacher jobs and social services for the poor. A year later, he pushed Act 13, perhaps the nation’s worst new environmental law, through the GOP-led Legislature. It gave the industry unchecked authority to drill anywhere, overturn local zoning, seize private property and muzzle physicians from discussing fracking-related illnesses in patients.

[TRoN33]

1. By our constitutions, Corbett's Act 13 is considered illegal. Period.

[RKP5637]

2. K&R! n/t

[WinkyDink]

3. Corbett is done.

[ReRe]

4. A boot to the head of...

... each and every one of them.

[AllyCat]

5. If you have money or time to spare, please help Mary Burke help Wisconsin!

[Sancho]

6. Rick Scott is the worst governor ever!

...hopefully he killed himself with fan gate! Of course down here the GOP controls the voting machines too...

[KansDem]

7. I drove through Mission Hills (Kansas) yesterday evening...

(Kansas Citians will know what I'm talking about).

Saw at least four "Davis/Docking" signs in the front yards of the mansions there. And this is the OnePercenterville of the area!