Political ads supporting Walker's budget blatent lies

The last two evenings I've seen political ads on TV featuring a middle-aged woman essentially singing the praises of what Scott Walker and his Republican cronies have done with our budget. The print at the bottom was pretty hard to make out in the ads I saw because it's white print on a light-colored surface in the shot itself - I'm sure done deliberately so we can't easily see who's paying for the ads. But is certainly appeared that it was saying the ads were paid for by the WMC Foundation, which - by their own web site - WMC stands for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. Being that the WMC is very political, are they one and the same?

The ads themselves are rather laughable, but the one I saw tonight is nothing more than an outright lie, like some others we've seen come out of the Republican and other similarly-minded camps. The woman in the ad claimed this is the first time in years that Wisconsin has had a balanced budget. Someone really ought to ask the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board or whoever else oversees such political ads to yank this piece of crap ad off the air. And media outlets should reject such junk when it is delivered to them, no matter how much per spot or column inch they're being paid. Oh yes, and since the Republicans are so concerned about voter fraud, I wonder why they're not equally concerned about blatant lies like this which could be considered a type of fraud, too. But back to the main point...

FOR THE RECORD: THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS THAT WE HAVE A BALANCED BUDGET. As a matter of fact, the Wisconsin Constitution requires that the state pass a balanced budget, where estimated revenues are equal to or greater than estimated spending. By this definition, the state's biennium budget is in balance now, and has been ever since this law was passed. To WMC Foundation, I say, "Liar, liar, pants on fire." I would encourage these folks to produce a Wisconsin state budget that was passed that wasn't balanced since this part of the Constitution became law.

And guess what? Even with a balanced budget, and for all the union-busting and jacking around with the middle and low-income households in our state while giving more and more tax breaks to the rich and corproate entities, all under the guise of "We're broke and we need to do this," (which was another bunch of Scott Walker/Republican b.s.), our structural deficit still exists and there is dispute over whether it has improved at all. I guess it depends on how you look at it and I'm not here to debate that issue. I am merely saying the statement in the ad is an outright lie and has no business being on TV, radio, in print, or anywhere else, deliberately misleading people.

I know politicians always spin things, no matter the side of the fence they're on. But there is no spinning this. The budget is either balanced, or it isn't, and under Wisconsin law it must be, and is. Period. The WMC Foundation gets a thumbs down from me for false advertising.