WI Gov. speaks candidly with someone pretending to be a Koch

[WhiteBear]

_http://my.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20110223/8d59d3c3-f1b9-4d76-8445-45d177cc1320

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A prank caller pretending to be billionaire conservative businessman David Koch was able to have a lengthy conversation with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker about his strategy to cripple public employee unions, the governor's office confirmed Wednesday.

On the call, Walker joked about bringing a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders, said it would "be outstanding" to be flown out to California by Koch for a good time after the battle is over, and said he expected the anti-union movement to spread across the country.

Audio was posted on the Buffalo Beast, a left-leaning website based in New York, and quickly spread across the Internet.

Democrats ripped Walker's comments on the call on the Assembly floor Wednesday morning, saying they had nothing to do with his assertion that legislation stripping public employees' collective bargaining rights is needed to help solve a looming budget deficit.

"That's why we must fight it! That is why people must come to the Capitol and fight this!" Rep. Jon Richards of Milwaukee yelled as thousands of protesters inside the rotunda roared in approval. "This isn't about balancing the budget, this is about a political war."

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie confirmed Walker took the call, which will only heighten widespread suspicions that brothers David and Charles Koch are pulling strings in Wisconsin's battle as part of a conservative agenda to limit the unions' power.

The governor's plan would take away the ability of state and local public employees to collectively bargain for working conditions, benefits, or any other than their base salaries. Unions could not collect mandatory dues and would face a vote of its members every year to stay in existence.

The plan has set off more than a week of demonstrations at the Capitol, and prompted Wisconsin Senate Democrats to flee the state to block its passage. Similar ideas are being pushed in some other states with Republican governors.

The man pretending to be Koch said, "You're the first domino."

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

The brothers own Koch Industries, Inc., which is the largest privately-owned company in America and has significant operations in Wisconsin. Its political action committee gave $43,000 to Walker's campaign, and donated heavily to the Republican Governors' Association, which funded ads attacking Walker's opponent in last year's election.

The Kochs also give millions to support Americans For Prosperity, which launched a $320,000 television ad campaign in favor of Walker's legislation on Wednesday and already has a website, standwithwalker.com, where more than 60,000 have signed a petition supporting his plan.

On the call, Walker talks about speaking with Democratic Sen. Tim Cullen, one of the Democrats hiding in Illinois to stop the bill, and telling Cullen he would not budge. After Walker said he would be willing to meet with Democratic leaders, the caller said he would bring "a baseball bat." Walker laughed and responded that he had "a slugger with my name on it."

The caller suggested he was thinking about "planting some troublemakers" among the protesters, and Walker said he had thought about doing that but declined. Walker said the protests eventually would die because the media would stop covering them.

At the end of the call, the prankster says: "I'll tell you what Scott, once you crush these bastards, I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."

"Alright, that would be outstanding. Thanks for all the support and helping us move the cause forward. We appreciate it and we're doing the just and right thing for the right reasons and it's all about getting our freedoms back," Walker said.

The caller: "Absolutely. And you know, we have a little bit of vested interest as well" and laughs.

"That's just it. The bottom line is, we're going to get the world movement here because it's the right thing to do."

Walker ends the call by saying, "thanks a million."

Cullen called the call an "astounding confirmation of what we've been saying for a couple weeks now."

"This bill is about the money," he said. "This bill is about destroying public employee unions."

Cullen said he felt the call "displays a level of partisanship and pettiness on the side of the governor I don't think is going to sit well with the public."

Werwie, the governor's spokesman, said the phone call "shows that the governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having."

___

Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.

 

[Skyfarmr]

Thanks for posting this WhiteBear. I heard a snippet in the local WI news yesterday during the Gov's news conference, but he really dodged questions regarding this conversation with the Koch imposter. Heard more of the conversation on John Stewart's Daily Show last night, and it has seemed to gone viral across the country. Walker's responses to Koch (imposter/journalist) really shows his psychopathic allegiances.

The prank caller was Ian Murphy, editor of the website the Buffalo Beast in New York, said Wednesday he came up with the prank to test how easily Koch could speak to Walker when Democrats complained the governor doesn't return their calls. The title of the article is aptly titled "Koch Whore" and can be read about and the prank call can be heard here: http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045

Madison Police Chief Angered Over Idea of Planted Troublemakers, channel3000news
http://www.channel3000.com/scanner/feature.html?newsWatchItem=8529

Madison police chief Noble Wray wants answers from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

It comes after a prank phone call was released online Wednesday, during which the caller, posing as businessman and Walker supporter David Koch, asked Walker if he had thought about the possibility of planting people in the crowd to cause trouble during peaceful protests at the Capitol. Walker responded that he had considered the idea, but decided against it because rioting could cause pressure on his office to compromise.

In a statement released Thursday, Wray said:

“I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members. I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers."

I wonder if this has anything to do with 4 city buses of state troopers reported to be heading to the capital as I'm writing this (information per WORT/Madison, listener sponsored radiohttp://www.wort-fm.org/programming-music-international.php). Tony Casteneda, host of the 8 o'clock Buzz was interviewing someone from LA who just arrived by plane with 160 others who flew in to join the protest, and were discussing the national necessity for this protest being successful at stopping the union busting goal (a very important element in Disaster Capitalism) of the right.

It'll be interesting to see what side of the fence the troopers are going to be on now following this revelation of our Governor.

 

[HifromGrace]

the national necessity for this protest being successful at stopping the union busting goal (a very important element in Disaster Capitalism) of the right.

First off, shout out to fellow Wisconsin-ite! Go Badgers ;)

Speaking of Disaster Capitalism, table talk from my husband is that the budget also included the privitization of the rest of WI's utilities to an undisclosed single bid.

Koch Bro's is intrinsicly tied to our coal processing (hell, they have their own lobbist at our capital too), and denied being the source of this bid.


In the mean time, the WI Republicans have been working on passing more stringent voter registration laws here - it may have passed already.


Hacking the Democrates at the knees - no Union campaign contributions and no historical thrust of first time voters with their Democratic tendencies. the plot thickens.... this is hard core