From the Blogosphere: Highlights from Wisconsin's Top Political Bloggers

If you're a political junkie, this is a great time to be living in Wisconsin.

We've got the state Senate recall elections next month, the Legislature approving a new plan for legislative boundaries, the recent passage of the state budget and more.

Here's a look at what some of Wisconsin's political bloggers have been talking about in the last few days.

Collin Roth, Media Trackers
On Gov. Scott Walker's announcement on June job growth

"On Thursday, a new jobs report was released detailing the addition of 12,900 private sector job in Wisconsin. Since Gov. Walker took office in January with the mission of making Wisconsin “open for business,” the state has added 39,300 private sector jobs in just six months. With June’s numbers accounting for half of the job growth nationwide, Governor Walker was quick to tout the success of recently passed pro-growth legislation and initiatives. As noted by Andy Feldman in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin lost nearly 171,000 jobs in the recent recession, so 'we’re about 30% of the way back.'

"Gov. Walker pledged on the campaign trail to create 250,000 jobs by the end of his first term. At the current pace, Wisconsin will surpass that mark by 2014. Of course, a lot depends on the national economic picture and whether the country as a whole begins to recover at a greater pace."
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John Kaufman, Uppity Wisconsin
On Wisconsin's June job numbers

The Wisconsin Dept. of Workforce Development is reporting that June saw the creation of a net 12,900 private-sector jobs in the state, the largest monthly net gain since 2003.

Gov. Walker and the Republicans are, of course, taking all the credit.

Assuming that the jobs numbers are fairly accurate, more than half of the new jobs are in the generally low-paying "service providing" sector:  retail trade- 3,100 and "accommodation and food services" - 4,800 for a total of  7,900 "jobs."

Some of the retail jobs may be small business start-ups, but Walker can't take much credit for such local initiative.

Also, the relatively well-paying, unionized public sector - state and local - lost a combined 3,400 jobs over the same period.

Not all jobs are created equal.
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Rick Eisenberg, Shark and Shepherd
On whether the courts will overturn GOP redistricting plan

"The criticisms I hear are that it reduces competition, favors Republicans 'too much' and changes some things that have in place for a while. Even if these things are true, they will not result in judicial invalidation of the law. Allegations of partisan gerrymanders are effectively nonjusticiable and there is no obligation to draw lines in order to maximize competition or keep something the same. To be sure a legislature might seek to further competition (although they rarely do) or to accomplish what is sometimes called 'core retention' (minimizing the movement of voters into a district represented by another incumbent) but it need not.

"It is because redistricting involves the application of conflicting values subject to a rather rigid constitutional imperative of equal population that drawing lines is seen as an innately political process that, in Wisconsin, is the constitutional prerogative of the legislature. The courts will disturb a plan drawn by the legislature for a limited number or narrow reasons and allegations of partisanship - something akin to discovering that there is gambling going on at Rick's in Casablanca - is not one of them."

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James Rowen, The Political Environment
On GOP redistricting plan

"Legislative Republicans, elevating the chokehold to a 10-year plan, finished their hurried work to redistrict the state, with twin goals:

"Finish the taxpayer-paid work using private attorneys before the State Senate might tip back to Democratic control after the August recall elections;

"Create representation that will be about 60 percent Republican for the next 10 years, if the courts approve the scheme.

"You'd think that Republicans would have learned that power-grabbing turns off the electorate: Scott Walker and his legislative allies forfeited moral, leadership claims and usurped power through the union-busting measure and other bills, only to see the recall elections threaten their control of the Senate, crush their credibility, drive down GOP poll numbers and make Walker's recall election a looming certainty.

"But they have forged ahead with fast-tracked redistricting so quickly that local governments, which normally go first after a decennial census, will have to throw out their costly work and start over to abide by the legislative mapping lines."