THREAD: Rebecca Kleefisch is running to be the GOP’s nominee for governor against @GovEvers. She says a lot. The problem? You can’t believe what she says. Her record of dishonesty makes clear that you can’t trust #RadicalRebecca. For example…
Kleefisch’s campaign launch video starts with images of fires in Kenosha a year ago. No, she’s not calling out the vigilante teen who killed two people. She’s pushing a debunked, divisive right-wing storyline—that ignores Gov Evers’ swift response:
politifact.com/factchecks/202…
And while Kleefisch has been one of the worst offenders of using Kenosha to provoke conflict, her *initial* response to the shooting of Jacob Blake actually echoed Gov Evers’ comments. Now, she’s changing her position to fit her new radical agenda.
It’s not just Kenosha that brings out the two-faced dishonest side of Rebecca Kleefisch. It’s just about every major political issue of our time. Take, for example, the issue of health care—a core issue for @GovEvers, and something #RadicalRebecca constantly attacks.
In 2010, Kleefisch said in a TV ad with Scott Walker that the Affordable Care Act was “a government takeover of our health care.” Not true! And saying it over and over didn’t make it any less false. Her lie earned a “Pants on Fire” by PolitiFact:
politifact.com/factchecks/201…
Kleefisch also pushed the Republican lie about “death panels”—which is, and has always been, so thoroughly false that it was named PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year.
politifact.com/article/2009/d…
Here’s a 2010 video of then-Lt-Gov-elect Kleefisch throwing around the “rumored death panels” to make a dubious joke about the government regulating carbon dioxide exhalation as a way to curb supposedly-mythical global warming:
And here she is the year before on Twitter, pushing the “fear” that the government would prioritize young and healthy people in a “socialized health care line.” Now that the ACA’s been law for a decade, will she apologize and retract?
The Kleefisch-Walker ticket ran on the promise of creating 250,000 jobs. They missed that by a ton—delivering only half the promised jobs. That created a political problem for Kleefisch. So, did she apologize? Promise to do better? Take a guess.
Kleefisch’s strategy for dealing with her failed, broken-promise record on job creation was, once again, to say things that weren’t true.
In 2012, Kleefisch bragged that she made a cold call to FatWallet.com, a company that was based in IL at the time, and succeeded in persuading the company to move to Wisconsin. But PolitiFact, once again, found her claim to be “mostly false.”
politifact.com/factchecks/201…
A spokesperson for the company stated plainly, “We were already considering Wisconsin before she called.” PolitiFact concluded that “It’s clear from the chain of events that the state -- and Kleefisch -- played a minimal role in encouraging FatWallet to move to Wisconsin.”
And of course, Kleefisch played a key role in negotiating the disastrous Foxconn deal, the largest attempted government handout to a foreign company in American history. What’s more, she also misled voters on the price of the deal:
cbs58.com/news/lt-govern…
When the deal was first announced, Foxconn was supposed to get $3 billion in subsidies from the state to build a $10 billion plant & create 13k jobs. (After the legislation was passed, it was revealed that Foxconn’s required investment dropped by $1b.)
urbanmilwaukee.com/2017/12/21/mur…
In fact, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s estimate published in 2018, the Foxconn plant could've cost the public nearly $4.5 billion, almost 50% more than the $3b that was *initially* cited by the Walker-Kleefisch administration. madison.com/wsj/news/local…
In other words, Kleefisch touted a $3 billion taxpayer giveaway to generate a $10 billion economic investment. But her own deal—even if it had come true!—was a potential $4.5 billion giveaway for $9 billion. Higher cost, lower return. And then, of course, the returns evaporated.
Thankfully, @GovEvers stepped in and renegotiated this disastrous deal. His leadership saved taxpayers billions, while protecting the local investments already made in the project.
nbcnews.com/business/busin…
On jobs, health care, and her campaign-launch narrative of Kenosha, Rebecca Kleefisch has built a crystal-clear record of deception in pursuit of political power. You just can’t trust what she says.
Kleefisch’s credibility gap is the other side of the coin of her radical agenda. What she actually wants, and what she’s done, are out of step with Wisconsin. So she tries to have it both ways. But we can fight back by spreading the truth about #RadicalRebecca.
You can find more information about all of this, including her record, at radicalrebecca.com. Rebecca Kleefisch isn’t fit to be governor of Wisconsin. Spread the word.

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More from @benwikler

19 Sep
Pulling up now at the Democratic Party of Rock County Fall Fling. Nearby? Head over now—see you there soon!

Rock County was blue in 16 as well as 20... but in 2020, they turned out 7,319 more Dem votes than in 2016. More than a third of Biden's statewide margin. @RockDemsRock!
The picnic is on the beautiful grounds of the Rock County Historical Society on a gorgeous (hot) day. Image
Tremendous support from friends in labor. Biden beer from @bangstad’s @MBCbrews. Friendly volunteers giving out name tags on @IBEW lanyards. Love to see it! ImageImageImageImage
Read 6 tweets
18 Sep
On the occasion of the Justice for J6 rally, let’s use today to recall the fact that @DerrickVanOrden, the Republican who wants to represent Wisconsin’s 3rd District, still has not answered for lying about being on Capitol Grounds during that very insurrection.

Thread: 1/
@derrickvanorden Let’s review. In November, responding to the election, Derrick Van Orden instructed Republicans to “hold fast,” because there was so much “anecdotal evidence of voter fraud.”
Through the end of 2020, the ominous phrase “every legal vote” was never far from Van Orden’s tweets. Here he is QTing Rand Paul, who was sharing an utterly discredited allegation of “voter fraud” in Michigan.
Read 10 tweets
18 Sep
"States that ended federal unemployment benefits earlier this summer saw August job growth at less than half the rate of states that retained the benefits, according to new data released Friday"

Thanks, @GovEvers, for boosting jobs by vetoing the GOP bill attacking benefits.
This whole Republican push to force people to get jobs by yanking unemployment benefits early actually had the effect of pulling money out of their economies, which *hurts* job growth.
Read 4 tweets
13 Sep
You live somewhere deep blue. But in deep-red Marinette County, WI (67% for Trump), most folks have no idea what Dems really stand for. Local Dems are running an experiment: billboards, radio ads, and more to change the narrative. Chip in to help them: secure.actblue.com/donate/marinet…
Wisconsin is the only state where 4 of the last 6 presidential elections came down to less than 1%. Next year, we have the statewide race to beat Ron Johnson (last elected w/ 50.2%) and reelect @GovEvers (who won by 1.1%). Margins in small rural counties will really matter.
In fact, if you look at 2020, increased Democratic turnout in the 21 reddest counties in WI (nearly all rural!) added up to more than President Biden’s margin of victory. If we hadn’t organized *everywhere*, even in places where Trump dominated, we would’ve lost here.
Read 9 tweets
9 Sep
Rebecca Kleefisch, Scott Walker’s extreme-right Lieutenant Governor, just announced her campaign for governor against Tony Evers. #RadicalRebecca is wrong for Wisconsin. Learn more at this new site, and read this thread for 10 reasons why: radicalrebecca.com
1. #RadicalRebecca is wrong for Wisconsin because she supported repealing the ACA, gutting protections for people w/ pre-existing conditions. She supported WI joining the lawsuit against the ACA, which would’ve stripped protections for 2.4m Wisconsinites.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
2. #RadicalRebecca is wrong for Wisconsin because @RebeccaForReal wants to make it harder for people to vote—specifically, people with disabilities, young people, people of color, and low-income Wisconsinites.
Read 12 tweets

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