It has been generally assumed in insider circles that Scott Walker gives Republicans the best chance to retake the governor’s office in Wisconsin. And he has a very impressive army of volunteers who will have no problem telling you that.
But for Scott Walker, it’s all slipping away.
Yes, he may win the GOP primary on September 14. Yes, Rasmussen will have him up early over Tom Barrett post-primary. But a realistic assessment of Walker’s position reveals a highly vulnerable candidate with extremely serious problems that are jeopardizing his candidacy.
I only wish base conservatives would step up and admit it.
First, we in the blogosphere have had our fun nitpicking at Walker for the Scott4Gov.com fiasco, the death of that website’s Twitter feed, and the Walker insiders who were involved in the operation. While Scott4Gov.com alone is not a real issue for Walker, Darlene Wink and Tim Russell are. While Walker will continue to play dumb about the personal use of the computers in his executive office, the fact that his staffers keep getting pinched using them to campaign IS a major issue – and one that conservatives should be asking questions about.
Wink and Russell show that there is a serious disciplinary issue in the Walker’s executive office. By disciplinary I mean to say that, obviously, no one sat these people down and said, “Listen – boss is running for governor. As a result, there are certain ground rules by which we need to adhere. NO campaigning in the office!” This is Rule #1 for EVERY current public official seeking election – but Walker’s staff didn’t get the memo.
Walker is claiming that he is a strong and accountable leader. Yet such leaders tend not to let their staff bend and break rules. Sloppiness and rule-breaking like this ALWAYS tends to be a reflection of the leader’s style and attitude.
But even this may not end up as a big deal in the context of a huge campaign, but Walker will eventually have to defend himself over multiple news cycles – and TV ads.
What IS a major issue, however, is this result of an investigative report by two Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters:
Instead of keeping her safe, hospital administrators put the woman in the same unit as Omowale Atkins, a patient with a history of violence and sexual assault who once punched a nurse so hard he shattered the man’s eye socket.
Atkins had sex with the woman on the day she arrived and at least several times after that for the next three weeks, records from a federal inspection of the hospital show. Her guardian was never told about the sex, a violation of hospital policy.
When the medical staff discovered months later that she was pregnant, they further ignored hospital policy by waiting weeks before informing her guardian.
By the time her guardian was told of the pregnancy, the woman was believed to be in her second trimester, and it was too late to spare the fetus from the most dangerous effects of three psychiatric medications she had been taking.
…
Since then the newspaper’s investigation has determined that county health workers – from nursing assistants to administrators – mismanaged the case from the beginning, ignored medical orders and falsified documents to hide their mistakes.
The Journal Sentinel estimates their errors have cost federal, state and county taxpayers at least $700,000 in extra patient care costs and legal fees in the past year, a figure that may easily top $1 million.
The woman, who is not being named because she may be a victim of a sexual assault, likely would have stayed at the complex for only a few weeks until her condition could be stabilized, her guardians said. Instead, she had to be hospitalized throughout her pregnancy and for weeks beyond that at a cost of roughly $400,000.
For Atkins, who at times required greater supervision at a higher cost, the higher tally for care has been at least $300,000.
Add to that the expense of the woman’s prenatal care, the baby’s delivery, the costs of his foster care and adoption, costs to examine Atkins and other legal fees associated with his criminal cases, and the costs to correct the errors found in the federal and state inspections.
…
Federal inspection records show Atkins was allowed to leave the ward to buy cigarettes while nurses signed false reports claiming he had been checked every 15 minutes as his doctor had ordered. On July 26, 2009, Atkins was found outside the ward in the hallway of the complex’s nursing home, talking to three 8-year-old girls and blocking their path. Nurses failed to include the incident in the notes that Atkins’ doctors review to determine if he should be allowed to leave the secure ward.
Twice after that Atkins was allowed to leave the complex for overnight visits to a group home. Hospital staff did not tell the group home’s operators about Atkins’ full history of violent behavior, federal inspection records show. County officials won’t identify the group home or its location, and it was not identified in federal records.
Atkins was charged with sexually assaulting a woman on the ward less than a week after returning from his second visit to the group home. In the course of two months last summer, staff caught Atkins having sex with three patients.
Seriously – read the entire series, which can be found here. On a human level, it is absolutely heartbreaking – and infuriating. I would like to post all of the most outrageous parts here, but there simply isn’t room.
Bottom line is that this all happened at a facility overseen by Milwaukee County. That’s Scott Walker’s jurisdiction. He’s ultimately accountable and should be front and center accepting responsibility.
Friends, you don’t need to be James Carville or Karl Rove to understand the political implications of this for Walker. I’m sure you’ve already envisioned the TV ads from the Barrett campaign, Greater Wisconsin Committee and the Democratic Party.
Barrett’s already got a website up attacking Walker on the issue. I actually found myself nodding in agreement as I watched the Democratic Party hit ad on the front page.
Fellow conservatives, is this the type of governance we desire?
I submit that it is not. Further, I no longer believe that Scott Walker is the surest bet among the two GOP candidates to beat Barrett. He’s going to get torn to ribbons over this atrocity. Scott Walker would lose to Tom Barrett.
For conservatives and Walker, the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex scandal should be a deal breaker.
For a movement that claims to demand accountability, we need to back that up at the ballot box.
