Red, white and blue
Walker and Barrett stump in Milwaukee area, argue job figures
MILWAUKEE - Both Wisconsin's Republican governor and his Democratic recall election challenger were to appear at locations in the Milwaukee area Thursday, while they continue to argue over a discrepancy in jobs figures.
Governor Scott Walker spoke at EmbedTek in Hartland, Wis. on Thursday, touting jobs.
"The other day, I had a company that added 39 jobs, and earlier that day in Neenah, I had a company that added 350 jobs."
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was to visit the Talgo train facility on Milwaukee's north side.
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development released new numbers that show more than 23,000 were added in our state between December 2010 and December 2011.
That number, using a different sampling method, shows a big difference from numbers released earlier in May 2012 that showed a loss of 33,000 jobs.
The discrepancy has both sides on the attack.
"They are desperate because the biggest issue they thought they had against us now suddenly isn't there," said Gov. Walker.
"This jobs report he is putting out is really all about one job, his job," retorted Barrett.
"He is well aware of the fact that the numbers he's putting out right now cannot be verified before this election."
The higher jobs number reflects a larger survey of 150,000 businesses, versus the smaller monthly samples of selected businesses.
That jobs figure release doesn't normally come until late June.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party filed a complaint to the Government Accountability Board about the DWD's release of the jobs numbers.
The Governor insisted he shot several versions of the TV ad last week. He claimed the final version was completed after the jobs numbers were released, and he added we can expect to see similar ads leading up to June 5th.
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