I won't rewrite T.S. Eliot and suggest that October is the cruelest month - - though there is some of a wasteland quality to what Scott Walker and his donors have wrought here, whether you prefer Fitzwalkerstan or Havocwreakostan or his "chamber of commerce mentality" government or another of the labels that regrettably describe our formerly progressive state - - but I will say that October could bring less a surprise Walker than something of an unwinding which could loom large the next time he's on the ballot
* For one thing, he's managed to get crosswise with a Federal judge whom his lawyers and minions had given assurances that the Voter ID law and other blatantly partisan and obstructive goals was going to be implemented in Wisconsin according to rules, law, fairness and transparency.
Though there was a long history to the contrary.
Anyway, Team Walker's lawyers and handlers now have to prove to the judge, and pronto, that they are not violating the court's directives.
As they have done before, they could sacrifice some underlings. And eat a fine as they did in the federal redistricting case, knowing, like the crack-backing lineman or head-hunting defensive back that the cost of the penalty was worth the damage done to the opposing team.
* Then there is the arrival in the second week of October to the offices of the afore-refenced 'chamber of commerce mentality'-managed Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources of investigators from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
This significant trip has its roots in the Walker administration's intentional disregard since 2011 of its responsibilities to residents under the US Clean Water Act - - details here.
And it was righteously provoked by aggrieved state Wisconsinites and their public interest lawyers doing for the people what the state under Walker deliberately and ideologically has refused to do.
I am hoping for good policy outcomes and the release of records that will further educate people about what has been denied and diverted for the benefit of the special interests that would turn public land, water, wells, shorelines, and other treasures into manure-factories, dune-demolishing and native artifact-crushing golf courses for the wealthy and other profit centers for Walker's partisan, self-interested donors.
* Then there is possibility that the US Supreme Court will agree to hear the case brought by John Doe prosecutors that their investigation into the GOP's dark money machine in Wisconsin was improperly cut short by a State Supreme Court majority that had taken millions of that same dark money.
If you haven't read The Guardian's document-driven report on the issue, take the time now.
It's a long-shot, as the US Supreme Court takes few of such petitions, but taking the case could more broadly explain why Fitzwalkerstan/Havocwreackostan/the chamber of commerce state managed to win elections in a bought-and-sold Wisconsin.
So stay tuned. October's just begun.
* For one thing, he's managed to get crosswise with a Federal judge whom his lawyers and minions had given assurances that the Voter ID law and other blatantly partisan and obstructive goals was going to be implemented in Wisconsin according to rules, law, fairness and transparency.
Though there was a long history to the contrary.
Anyway, Team Walker's lawyers and handlers now have to prove to the judge, and pronto, that they are not violating the court's directives.
As they have done before, they could sacrifice some underlings. And eat a fine as they did in the federal redistricting case, knowing, like the crack-backing lineman or head-hunting defensive back that the cost of the penalty was worth the damage done to the opposing team.
* Then there is the arrival in the second week of October to the offices of the afore-refenced 'chamber of commerce mentality'-managed Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources of investigators from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
This significant trip has its roots in the Walker administration's intentional disregard since 2011 of its responsibilities to residents under the US Clean Water Act - - details here.
And it was righteously provoked by aggrieved state Wisconsinites and their public interest lawyers doing for the people what the state under Walker deliberately and ideologically has refused to do.
I am hoping for good policy outcomes and the release of records that will further educate people about what has been denied and diverted for the benefit of the special interests that would turn public land, water, wells, shorelines, and other treasures into manure-factories, dune-demolishing and native artifact-crushing golf courses for the wealthy and other profit centers for Walker's partisan, self-interested donors.
* Then there is possibility that the US Supreme Court will agree to hear the case brought by John Doe prosecutors that their investigation into the GOP's dark money machine in Wisconsin was improperly cut short by a State Supreme Court majority that had taken millions of that same dark money.
If you haven't read The Guardian's document-driven report on the issue, take the time now.
It's a long-shot, as the US Supreme Court takes few of such petitions, but taking the case could more broadly explain why Fitzwalkerstan/Havocwreackostan/the chamber of commerce state managed to win elections in a bought-and-sold Wisconsin.
So stay tuned. October's just begun.