Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has gone on the offensive with attack ads aimed against the two Democrats considered most likely to be his opponent in his recall election.
The black and white ads take aim at Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett and former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk. Walker is neck and neck with both of them in polls.
The two 30-second ads were released just as Democrats in the state are ready to choose between Barrett, Falk, and two other candidates to take on Walker in the June 5 election.
Both ads criticize the records of the Democrats, making the point that putting either Barrett or Falk into the Governor’s Mansion would be a backward step.
The anti-Barrett ad calls him “Backward Barrett” saying that under his eight years in power Milwaukee has lagged on job creation and high school graduation rates at a time when property taxes have soared.
It ends with the words, “We can’t afford to let Tom Barrett take us back.”
The anti-Falk ad says she raised property taxes in each of the 14 years she was in power in Dane County, which includes the state capital, Madison. It says that led to an 80 percent increase in taxes, while spending went up by 70 percent and unemployment tripled.
“Going back to Kathleen Falk’s way of doing things, that’s no way to move Wisconsin forward,” it concludes.
The May 8 Democratic primary has four main candidates vying for the nomination. The others are Wisconsin Secretary of State Douglas La Follette and state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout.
The recall election was prompted by Walker’s decision to curtail union rights for public sector workers in the state.
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