Where's Waldo? Scott Walker Avoids Wisconsin Capitol and Messy Protests

Scott Walker is making himself as scarce as possible right now. After unveiling his budget repair bill that aims to bust unions and threaten the lives of one third of Wisconsin's children on Friday, Walker seemed to suspect that his plans might be unpopular. He notified the media present that he had alerted the Wisconsin Guard to be on alert in case of unrest. He quickly back-pedaled and clarified that he meant to use the Guard to fill in should prison guards strike, but the implication was much more sinister.

Over the next few days, the unpopularity of Walker's budget has begun to show. Protests started at the capitol in Madison on Monday, and a hearing on the proposed plan lasted 17 hours before Republican legislators walked out - with citizens still waiting to speak. Demonstrations continue today, and the Madison school district closed schools today after approximately 40% of teachers called in sick in order to attend the protests at the capitol.

One person who hasn't shown up at the capitol, however, is Walker himself. While protestors gathered in Madison on Tuesday, Walker spent time at in Wausau at Wilson-Hurd Manufacturing, where he met briefly with workers then refused to answer any questions afterwards. Although the Wausau Daily Herald paper does not mention any connection between Wilson-Hurd and Walker, all it takes is a little investigation on the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign website to see why he chose this particular manufacturing company. The CEO of Wilson-Hurd, Bill Siebecker, and his wife both contributed to Walker's gubernatorial campaign. To his credit, he also stopped at McDonough Manufacturing near Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and the owner there, Sue Tietz, did not make any personal contributions to Walker's campaign.

But after Tuesday afternoon, his trail went cold. Although he has not yet made the move to his new mansion in Madison, protestors who marched to demonstrate in front of Walker's house in Wauwatosa last night were met with a dark house.

Walker was scheduled to hold a press conference before noon today in his chamber, but as of 12:15, no such conference had occurred and news is now that it will take place late this afternoon. Apparently the Senate Republicans held a secret meeting this morning , but no word on the outcome has been released. Hey, it was supposed to be a secret, right? Calls to Walker's office received only a busy signal, a widespread problem since the weekend.

Unfortunately, Walker has made no indication that he is willing to alter his plans for budget repair, and the extreme conservative bent of the legislature makes a defeat of the bill unlikely. It is a shame that this outpouring of support for Wisconsin's workers, children, needy, and disadvantaged did not occur on November 2nd of last year, when it would really have made a difference. Now, Walker's plan to bust unions, divide and conquer the citizens of the state, and leave almost a half a million children in the state uninsured seems unlikely to be stopped.