I rarely throw the term ‘despicable’ around, even when it comes to the most despicable of politicians. After all, they are presumably human beings and they likely are good people in their own private Idahos.
Scott Walker is truly despicable in every sense of the word. A man devoid of basic humanity. A slumlord who leaves tenants to stand in raw sewage while making them ‘volunteer’ on his campaigns. A man who will literally say ANYthing if it gives him some attention. Fat shaming, professing his alcoholism while proudly drinking beer, touting harassment charges against him as a means of getting more free publicity. A man who, like a certain president, runs a phony charity. And now, a man who has won the Republican nomination for Delaware’s only congressional seat.
Virtually nobody focused on Walker two years ago, when he ran as a Democrat in the congressional primary won by Lisa Blunt Rochester. He was viewed as a sideshow, a guy waving from a convertible and putting up makeshift plywood signs made by his ‘volunteers’, who doubled as his tenants. In truth, he was a sideshow. He got less than 5% of the vote. It was only after the primary that the News Journal revealed Walker for the slumlord that he was and is. Two years later, he defeated actor Lee ‘Go Murph Go’ Murphy to win the congressional nomination of the Republican Party. Rethugs can cry about one-party rule all they want, and they have a point, but when the Party doesn’t bother to recruit someone at least a little credible for a national office, they just might wind up with Scott Walker as their nominee.
Let’s take a look at YOUR Republican congressional candidate. When the News-Journal finally got around to writing about Walker as slumlord, this is what they found. Every single Republican needs to read that piece. Here are a couple of bite-sized excerpts:
A Democratic congressional candidate defeated in the September primary now faces another challenge – a lawsuit from city, county and state attorneys alleging the landlord is running a sham charity that houses approximately 150 tenants in deplorable conditions and tries to strip them of their rights.
Attorneys with the city of Wilmington, New Castle County and state Department of Justice have fired back, saying in the lawsuit that the crowded and unsafe conditions are violating Delaware law and housing codes.
They claimed Walker’s charity, Disabled Disadvantaged Delawareans Foundation, is a “mere sham.” The foundation is not tax exempt, and even though it purports to assist disabled people, none of the properties are handicapped accessible or are approved to operate as a group home, the suit said.Instead, the properties are “fraught with deplorable living conditions, regular calls for service, numerous criminal incidents, and hundreds of code violations,” the suit said.
You really need to read the entire article. If you’re not disgusted, you just might be a Scott Walker supporter.
Wait, it gets better, or worse. Here is Scott Walker, the reformed alcoholic who isn’t reformed. This is the Bizarro World story from Delaware 105.9. The gist:
Former Congressional Candidate Scott Walker took to Facebook LIVE in search of a sober house to treat his alcoholism as he prepares for another run for the U.S. House in Delaware.
“I need help with my addiction, right now” said Walker “I don’t want to go through another night, I’ve have too much at stake. The people of Delaware would expect me to be in tip-top shape.” Walker said he was seeking a sober living house in Georgetown. “It doesn’t even have to be a bed. It can be on the floor, the couch, anything. I just need to be around people that I feel safe around, because that’s what I need right now. I live with my wife, but I’ve not been able to conquer my alcoholism.”
I’m not making fun of an alcoholic seeking help.You see, here’s the follow-up, from yesterday’s News-Journal:
Walker said Monday that he is still drinking.
“My doctor approves of the amount of beer that I drink,” he said. “There’s a threshold. If I start destroying my life then it’s a problem.”
When asked if an alcoholic should be consuming any amount of beer, Walker said he “is not an expert.”
Martin on Monday said Walker should be focusing on his sobriety and not a political campaign.
“If he’s still drinking, that’s insanity,” Martin said. “The dude has stuff to work on. He needs to be clean and sober.”
So much for the sincerity of his plea for a rehab bed.
While giving himself a pass on continuing to drink, Walker has taken up a new hobby: Fat-shaming. From the same article:
In the 41-second video, the 67-year-old Milford businessman points his smartphone camera at an advertisement featuring a plus-size model hanging in the window of a Forever 21 store at the Quakerbridge Mall in Lawrence, NJ. At the time, Walker was working as a contract landscaper at the mall.
“The model, as you can see, is very obese,” Walker says on the video. “This is a protest because women should not get the idea that it’s ok to be unhealthy. To me, that’s discrimination against women.”
“It’s not meant to portray being overweight as ugly or unattractive,” he said Monday. “It’s meant to portray being overweight as unhealthy.”
Walker said he meant to draw attention to the nation’s obesity epidemic, which he argues is costing the nation “a trillion dollars a year.”
“One of the reasons I’m running for office is to shed light on this tragic problem,” he said. “And one of the biggest hurdles is admitting we have a problem.”
Just like Walker admits he has a drinking problem and keeps on drinking. Tom Waits: “I don’t have a drinking problem ‘cept when I can’t find a drink.”
And then there’s Walker speaking positively of having sexual harassment charges ginned up against him. From 105.9: “In November, Walker, in an interview with Dan Gaffney, welcomed the possibility of sexual assault allegations which he claimed would provide free publicity and significantly help his chances of being elected ahead of his next political campaign in Delaware.”
I went to high school with Scott Walker. He seemed like an amiable jokester back at Brandywine (which, to be fair, is how some people might have viewed me). He seemed like an amiable jokester during his quixotic candidacy for the Democratic nomination.
But he is no amiable jokester. He cares about nobody but himself. He treats his tenants like chattel. He is devoid of humanity. And he is the Rethuglican nominee for Congress. I think every Republican should disavow his candidacy, as should the Republican Party. All of my high school friends, save one, have.