244 replies to this topic

[Mr. Roboto]

MADISON, Wis. – On a prank call that quickly spread across the Internet, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was duped into discussing his strategy to cripple public employee unions, promising never to give in and joking that he would use a baseball bat in his office to go after political opponents.

Walker believed the caller was a conservative billionaire named David Koch, but it was actually the editor of a liberal online newspaper. The two talked for at least 20 minutes — a conversation in which the governor described several potential ways to pressure Democrats to return to the Statehouse and revealed that his supporters had considered secretly planting people in pro-union protest crowds to stir up trouble.

The call, which surfaced Wednesday, also showed Walker's cozy relationship with two billionaire brothers who have poured millions of dollars into conservative political causes, including Walker's campaign last year.

Walker compared his stand to that taken by President Ronald Reagan when he fired the nation's air-traffic controllers during a labor dispute in 1981.

"That was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and led to the fall of the Soviets," Walker said on the recording.

The audio was posted by the Buffalo Beast, a left-leaning website based in Buffalo, N.Y., and quickly went viral.

Ian Murphy told The Associated Press he carried out the prank to show how candidly Walker would speak with Koch even though, according to Democrats, he refuses to return their calls.

Murphy said he arranged the call Tuesday after speaking with two Walker aides, including the governor's chief of staff. He placed the call using Skype and recorded it.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie confirmed that it was Walker's voice on the call. At a news conference, Walker acknowledged being deceived but stuck to his message that the union changes were needed to balance Wisconsin's budget.

"I'm not going to let one prank phone call be a distraction from the job we have to do," Walker said. "The things I said are the things I've said publicly all the time."

On the call, the governor said he was ratcheting up the pressure on Senate Democrats to return to the Capitol a week after they fled to block the legislation. He said he supported a move to require them to come to the Capitol to pick up their paychecks rather than have the money deposited directly.

He also floated an idea to lure Democratic senators back to the Capitol for negotiations and then have the Senate quickly pass the bill while they are in talks.

Walker said aides were reviewing whether the GOP could hold a vote if Democrats were not physically in the Senate chamber but elsewhere in the building. At the news conference, he insisted that idea was not a trick but an effort to get Democrats back to work.

Democrats seized on Walker's recorded comments as evidence that the governor plans to go beyond budget cuts to crushing unions.

"This isn't about balancing the budget. This is about a political war," Rep. Jon Richards of Milwaukee yelled Wednesday on the floor of the state Assembly.

The governor's plan would strip most public employees of their collective bargaining rights and force them to pay more for their health care and retirement benefits. Unions could not collect mandatory dues and would be forced to conduct annual votes of their members to stay in existence.

The proposal has set off more than a week of protests at the Capitol.

The GOP-controlled state Assembly began debating the bill Tuesday and was still hearing dozens of Democratic amendments nearly 24 hours later before taking a break. Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald said he expected to take a vote on the bill by the end of the day.

On the call, Walker said he expected the anti-union movement to spread across the country and he had spoken with the governors of Ohio and Nevada. The man pretending to be Koch seemed to agree, telling Walker, "You're the first domino."

"Yep, this is our moment," Walker responded.

The remarks showed Walker's private relationship with David Koch. He and his brother, Charles, own Koch Industries Inc., which is the largest privately-owned company in America and has significant operations in Wisconsin.





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[Zimbochick]

^ ^ ^ What a complete nincompoop. I love how his supporters are now saying of course he knew all along that it was a prank, and he was just playing along. Puhlease!

[wedjat]

That phone call was heavily edited in the journal-sentinel & some other site. Here's the full transcript...

http://host.madison....1cc4c002e0.html

While Walker may not have said anything outright about getting rid of unions, the overall tone of this conversation heavily suggests that is his full intention.

[freedom78]

Was the caller dressed as a pimp? I believe that's the protocol these days.

[wedjat]

Was the caller dressed as a pimp? I believe that's the protocol these days.

Most likely he was wearing a cheese head, just to get in the mood of it all.

[freedom78]

My own governor (Mitch the Bitch Daniels...that's his official WWE Raslin' name) just said that public unions are "the privileged elite". Talk about having your head in the clouds.

[wedjat]

My own governor (Mitch the Bitch Daniels...that's his official WWE Raslin' name) just said that public unions are "the privileged elite". Talk about having your head in the clouds.

LOL, what??? Oh man, don't you just hate those words or phrases of the week? Elite...that's a favorite of the right.

[PERM BANNED]

My favorite word of the week is democracy. Like how certain representatives run away to prevent a vote from taking place. even though the people elected them to office.

[wedjat]

Yes, elected to office to support the will of the people. The people here don't want bargaining rights stripped, they know this. They are standing up for what they believe in & for what we believe in. There is a process in politics that involves negotiation & compromise. When the governor denies this process, this is what he has to contend with, he brought it on himself.

[PERM BANNED]

Yes, elected to office to support the will of the people. The people here don't want bargaining rights stripped, they know this. They are standing up for what they believe in & for what we believe in. There is a process in politics that involves negotiation & compromise. When the governor denies this process, this is what he has to contend with, he brought it on himself.

You have any data to show that people don't support what they're doing in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio? Cause if I run on a platform, and get the popular vote, I think that settles the discussion. Sounds to me like a segment of the population is unhappy and the Democrats aren't able to have their way, so rather than play by the rules, they ran away. That's not democracy. Using the legislative process to have your concerns addressed and then voted on is democracy.

[PERM BANNED]

Don't throw rocks at armed soldiers or set fire to multiple government buildings.

Jesus Fucking Christ! At the time that the murders opened fire on he students, there were no bottles being thrown, nor buildings being burned. for the most part the students had disassembled. But what the fuck if there had been? Should that fascist fuck Rhodes employed the same tactics that are now being deployed by Khaddafi?

That whole episode is a criminal stain on this country... one that has escaped justice.

Come on dude, the entire state of Ohio was being bombarded by protest that involved ROTC buildings being burned to the ground and assault against people in uniform or those who supported them. I'm not saying Kent State was right, but the notion of some peaceful protest is a load of horseshit. The real tragedy is that some of those who died that day had nothing to do with the protest in any form. Just innocent bystanders.

[wedjat]

Yes, elected to office to support the will of the people. The people here don't want bargaining rights stripped, they know this. They are standing up for what they believe in & for what we believe in. There is a process in politics that involves negotiation & compromise. When the governor denies this process, this is what he has to contend with, he brought it on himself.

You have any data to show that people don't support what they're doing in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio? Cause if I run on a platform, and get the popular vote, I think that settles the discussion. Sounds to me like a segment of the population is unhappy and the Democrats aren't able to have their way, so rather than play by the rules, they ran away. That's not democracy. Using the legislative process to have your concerns addressed and then voted on is democracy.

Uh, Walker never ran on a platform of dismantling unions & in fact, outright lied about keeping collective bargaining rights. Polls show the majority of people are not in favor of stripping bargaining rights. In case you weren't sure, I'm talking about my own state of Wisconsin, not Ohio or Indiana.

[wedjat]

Come on dude, the entire state of Ohio was being bombarded by protest that involved ROTC buildings being burned to the ground and assault against people in uniform or those who supported them. I'm not saying Kent State was right, but the notion of some peaceful protest is a load of horseshit. The real tragedy is that some of those who died that day had nothing to do with the protest in any form. Just innocent bystanders.

Yes, innocent bystanders like that famous pic of the woman kneeling over the guy that was shot? That person was an innocent bystander.....and you're going to blame the PROTESTORS for that instead of the person responsible for shooting him? That's interesting.

[PERM BANNED]

Can you link these polls you're citing. I'd like to see exactly what questions were asked. As to whether they support collective barganing across the board or just in the public or private sector.