Democratic Party files complaint after new jobs numbers released

MILWAUKEE -- Gov. Scott Walker is touting new positive jobs numbers he says is a more accurate reflection of how the state's economy is turning around. Democratic challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says Walker is cooking the books by releasing the figures before they have been reviewed by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The figures based on a census of businesses released Wednesday, May 16th show Wisconsin gained 23,300 public and private jobs in 2011. Previous totals based on a smaller survey of businesses showed the state lost 33,900 jobs over the year.

Wisconsin's Democratic Party is not only fighting these new job numbers, but is filing a complaint with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. The party alleges Walker illegally coordinated with the Department of Workforce Development.

"This is an absolute cheap political stunt designed to score points," Democratic Party spokesman Mike Tate said.

While the Democratic Party slammed the new job numbers Wednesday, the head of Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development praised the accuracy of those numbers.

"Wisconsinites now know the truth, and the records have been set straight," Department of Workforce Development Secretary Reggie Newson said.

Newson says the decision to release the new job numbers early was his alone, and not made in consultation with Walker. "Of course, I work for the governor. The governor appointed me, but we are both responsible to the taxpayers of Wisconsin, and we both serve the taxpayers of Wisconsin, and we're going to make sure we do the right thing by the people of Wisconsin," Newson said.

The Democratic Party Wednesday filed a complaint with the GAB, citing an advertisement sent to TV stations late Wednesday morning. Walker says in the ad..."As it turns out, Wisconsin actually gained - that's right - gained more than 20,000 new jobs during my first year in office. Add the jobs created this year, and the total grows to over 30,000."

In the complaint, Democrats say "There is no way Walker and FOSW could have produced an ad without knowing the numbers from Newton ahead of time."

"We think it's pretty clear that the Scott Walker campaign illegally coordinated with the Department of Workforce Development of this state to benefit Scott Walker politically," Tate said.

Walker's office says Walker received the numbers Tuesday afternoon, May 15th. A campaign spokeswoman says the ad was shot before that, in anticipation of job growth. The spokeswoman says the governor shot a number of takes, using different ballpark figures for the total number of jobs created.

FOX6 News was told in a statement..."The production of the ad was not finalized until after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran the story, which is featured in the ad."

FOX6 News checked with the woman who schedules the ads on FOX6 who says the ad was received around 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 16th and will start airing Thursday, May 17th.

Walker's campaign says they knew job numbers would be up because when the Department of Administration released information of the projected budget surplus, one reason for it was better than expected job growth.

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