Ed Schultz smears Gov. Walker: Wisconsin Republicans might be voting for a criminal

On MSNBC yesterday, Ed Schultz referred to Scott Walker as a potential criminal. Mediaite caught the accusation:

Schultz continued, warning Wisconsin’s voters that they “may be voting for a criminal.”

Schultz cited an investigation into what is being called the “John Doe” scandal in which Walker is alleged to have employed staffers while he was Milwaukee County executive who sent illegal campaign emails to county residents while on taxpayer-funded time. The governor’s attorney met with federal prosecutors on the matter on Monday. Walker has not been implicated in the scandal, but he has established a legal defense fund.

So on Ed’s radio program, he reinforced his accusation once again (h/t: Radio Equalizer):

So Ed’s willing to smear Walker even though his caller admits that nothing is even confirmed against Walker.

What’s more interesting though is while Ed gleefully smears Walker, he fails to mention a more recent ongoing investigation into Walker’s opponent, Mayor Barrett, again via Mediaite:

But while these vague but nevertheless serious allegations against Walker merit the voter’s scrutiny in Schultz’s estimation, what Schultz deems unworthy of mentioning is a much more recent scandal surrounding Milwaukee police manipulating criminal statistics to suggest that there has been a drop in violent crime under Mayor Barrett when in fact violent crime has increased.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed that an investigation uncovered the details of the juking of the criminal statistics:

More than 500 incidents since 2009 were misreported to the FBI as minor assaults and not included in the city’s violent crime rate, the investigation found. That tally is based on a review of cases that resulted in charges – only about one-fifth of all reported crimes.

Yet the misreported cases found in 2011 alone are enough that Flynn would have been announcing a 1.1% increase in violent crime in February, instead of a 2.3% decline from the reported 2010 numbers, which also include errors.

As of this writing, Barrett’s own campaign website touts his leadership on crime as a central campaign platform: “violent crime in Milwaukee has decreased by 20% over the past two years, and homicides are at the lowest levels in more than 20 years,” reads a portion of Barrett’s campaign website.

Hmmm. I wonder why Ed failed to mention this one? Could it be that it might further depress Barrett’s chances of beating Walker?

Just goes to show ridiculously partisan and dishonest Schultz can be, especially when he’s trying to win an election.


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.