wandeljw
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 12:40 pm
Quote:
Wisconsin Governor Pranked by Reporter Posing as Billionaire Conservative Activist
(By DEVIN DWYER, ABC News, Feb. 23, 2011)

An alt-news reporter posing as billionaire conservative activist David Koch recorded a 20-minute phone conversation with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during which Walker reveals his strategy for breaking Democratic and union opposition to his budget.

The governor's critics said the immediate access granted to "Koch" and the length of their conversation illustrates a damning tie between outside influences and what they see as an orchestrated effort to bust unions.

The governor's office confirmed Wednesday that the voice on the tape, first posted online at BuffaloBeast.com, was Walker. But a spokesman said the call showed the governor's "appreciation for an commitment to civil discourse" and repairing the state budget.

While Walker's comments closely tracked what he has said publicly -- expressing refusal to compromise or negotiate with Democrats -- they shed new light on the tactics he has considered to discredit his opponents and move the budget process forward.

The Republican governor's budget would, among other things, strip state employees of their collective bargaining rights and trim their benefits. Democrats have protested the plan and some lawmakers have fled the state to block the legislature from moving forward.

Walker said he was investigating whether the unions were paying food and lodging expenses of the 14 Democratic senators believed to be hiding out in Illinois. "If the unions have been paying to put these guys up out of state we think at the minimum there's an ethics code violation if not a felony," he said.

The governor also indicated that his overtures to Democrats to "sit down and talk" have an ulterior motive.

Once the Democrats register their presence in the chamber during the session, Walker said, Republicans may be able to proceed to move forward with the bill, whether or not the Democrats were present for the final vote.

"Legally, we believe once they've gone into session, they don't physically have to be there," Walker said. "My sense is hell, I'll talk to them. If they want to yell at me for an hour, I'm used to that. But I'm not negotiating."

The prankster pretending to be Koch also asked Walker whether "troublemakers" should be "planted" into the protests, presumably to discredit their efforts. Walker reveals that he and his aides "thought about that," but decided against it.

"My only fear would be that if there was a ruckus caused, that would scare the public into thinking that maybe the governor's got to settle to avoid all these problems," Walker said.

"I think it's actually good if [the protesters are] constant, they're noisy, but they're quiet and nothing happens. Because sooner or later, the media stops finding them interesting."

"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," Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said in a statement.

The reporter behind the prank, known as "Murphy" on BuffaloBeast.com, wrote in a blog post that he devised the scheme to reach Walker after Democrats had complained of not being able to engage Walker on a path forward.

Murphy said that attempts to set up a call with Walker were surprisingly easy using the Koch name.

When he reached Keith Gilkes, Walker's chief of staff, he explained that he wanted to talk directly to Walker.

"He said that could be arranged and that I should just leave my number. I explained to Gilkes, 'My goddamn maid, Maria, put my phone in the washer. I'd have her deported, but she works for next to nothing.' Gilkes found this amusing. 'I'm calling from the VOID—with the VOID, or whatever it's called. You know, the Snype!'" he said of the exchange on his blog.

Gilkes then apparently gave Murphy the number to call Walker directly at the approved time.

"Koch" ended the 20-minute call with a promise and encouragement to Walker.

"Well I tell you what Scott, once you crush these bastards I'll fly you out to Cali and show you a good time," the man posing as Koch said.

"Alright, that would be outstanding," said Walker. "Thanks for all the support and helping us move the cause forward."
0 Replies
 
Cycloptichorn
 
  2  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 12:41 pm
@Cycloptichorn,
Cycloptichorn wrote:

This graphic accompanies the Gallup poll I listed a few pages back, but breaks down the poll into demographics:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/gallup_poll.gif

The concept that Independents support what's going on in WI simply is not supported by any data whatsoever, on either the local or national level.

Cycloptichorn


On this same subject: part of the reason that Conservatives think that the public supports their position on the matter lies in the fact that their propaganda outfit actively lies about it.

This same Gallup poll, when presented on Fox News, was flipped to the opposite of the truth:

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lie-300x217.jpg

It wasn't just a graphic error, either. Their host, Kilmeade, said:

Quote:
Kilmeade responded by saying, “I think Gallup, a relatively mainstream poll, has a differing view. And here’s the question that was posed. Do you favor or disfavor of taking away collective bargaining when it comes to salaries for government workers. 66 percent in favor, 33 percent opposed, 9 percent up in the air.”


Shameless lying. Totally shameless.

Cycloptichorn
0 Replies
 
Cycloptichorn
 
  2  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 12:48 pm
@Cycloptichorn,
I wanted to expand on a point I made earlier as well:

George stated,

Quote:
The very fact that a draft right to work law, like those that have existed in about 22 other states for the past 40+ years is being considered in Michigan, the former bastion of the UAW and the American labor movement, is a telling fact concerning public attituded towards labor unions.


The truth is that only five states do not have collective bargaining for public employees — Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Those states rank 45th, 48th, 49th, 38th, and 34th, in average SAT scores, respectively. Wisconsin is 3rd.

The idea that removing collective bargaining leads to anything but poor performance is a joke. Once again, there is no proof at all that busting unions improves the quality of education in the slightest.

Cycloptichorn
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 01:08 pm
@Cycloptichorn,
I don't see this as the only issue that will haunt the GOP in the future. What about, a) no increase in taxes for the wealthy while our country goes deeper into debt, b) all while federal, state, and city governments cut back on services and schools, and c) where are the jobs the GOP promised?
Cycloptichorn
 
  3  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 01:10 pm
@cicerone imposter,
cicerone imposter wrote:

I don't see this as the only issue that will haunt the GOP in the future. What about, a) no increase in taxes for the wealthy while our country goes deeper into debt, b) all while federal, state, and city governments cut back on services and schools, and c) where are the jobs the GOP promised?


The jobs don't exist. Boehner has delivered nothing in terms of jobs. In fact, his 'budget' will directly lead to the loss of dozens or hundreds of thousands of more jobs right now.

He really doesn't give a **** about that and never did. It's just more empty hypocrisy from the right-wing, who never met an issue they couldn't demonize the other side with, and conveniently forget when it comes time for them to lead.

Cycloptichorn
0 Replies
 
georgeob1
 
  -2  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 01:15 pm
@Cycloptichorn,
Association is not causation - except of course when it advances a point you want to make. The stories of the abuse of the educational systems of New York, New jersey, Washington DC and many other states by the AFT are well-known.
Cycloptichorn
 
  3  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 01:16 pm
@Cycloptichorn,
Cycloptichorn wrote:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110223/NEWS05/102230396/Indiana-Senate-leader-says-right-to-work-bill-is-dead?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE

Indiana Senate leader says right-to-work bill is dead

This 'movement' sure isn't spreading to other states the way that Conservatives were hoping it would, is it?

A defeat on this issue will be a huge loss for the Republicans, because - foolishly - they put themselves way on the line over an ideological issue that the public simply doesn't support as strongly as they convinced themselves they would.

Cycloptichorn


In related news,

http://thegazette.com/2011/02/22/branstad-won%E2%80%99t-push-for-major-change-to-collective-bargaining/

Iowa won't push to change the law, despite earlier reports that the legislature there was attempting the same thing.

Cycloptichorn
0 Replies
 
H2O MAN
 
  -4  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 01:22 pm


Looks like Wisconsin democrats are on strike.

And now we have some democrat union thug calling for protesters to get bloody.

None of this will help liberal progressive democrats in the long run.
Cycloptichorn
 
  3  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 01:25 pm
@georgeob1,
georgeob1 wrote:

Association is not causation - except of course when it advances a point you want to make. The stories of the abuse of the educational systems of New York, New jersey, Washington DC and many other states by the AFT are well-known.


Right. Why bother talking about facts when we can go with your nebulous opinions and 'well known' stories? That's so much more interesting and productive.

Cycloptichorn
0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 01:25 pm
@H2O MAN,
Exactly, who is this "democrat union thug?" No names? LOL
H2O MAN
 
  -4  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 04:06 pm
@cicerone imposter,
Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.)
It's mob rule baby, mob rule.

Cycloptichorn
 
  3  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 04:50 pm
@georgeob1,
georgeob1 wrote:

engineer wrote:

georgeob1 wrote:

And yet the press is filled with stories of unfunded public sector pension had health care obligations that are concentrated in stated with public sector unions.

Gosh ! Perhaps we're all wrong !

You are because you are missing cause and effect. The reason the pensions are unfunded is that the governments involved did not fund them. Private companies are legally obligated to fund their pensions so they have been funding as they go instead of allowing the problem to build so they can cut taxes.


Oh ! Now I understand. All the states have to do is raise taxes and everything will be OK. Still, I'm curious, why didn't they raise their taxes when they unionized the state workforces and bargained away all those pension and benefit increases?


I wanted to follow up on this post, because I think it's a point that deserves greater examination.

One state who currently has a budget problem is New Jersey. Their new Gov, Christie, is really fond of blaming 'spending' on the fact that his state faces a 10 billion dollar deficit, and can't afford the pensions they are obligated to pay.

But at one time they COULD afford those pensions. What changed? Exactly what happened in other states:

Quote:
[Then] Christine Todd Whitman became governor in 1994, and to balance out her deep tax cuts, she reduced the payments to the state's pension funds. That contributed to the growth of the unfunded liability.

In 1997, Ms. Whitman, a Republican, had the state borrow $2.75 billion to deposit in the pension funds, to address the liability and keep annual payments low. That infusion, plus the run-up in the stock market, gave the funds a surplus for a few years. But it also helped entrench the habit of paying little or nothing into the system from the state budget, and Ms. Whitman and her successors consistently paid a fraction of what was recommended.

From mid-1999 to mid-2006, the state contributed an average of about $23 million a year; keeping up with the formulas would have required more than $600 million a year.

In 2001, Gov. Donald DiFrancesco, a Republican, and the Republican-controlled Legislature raised pension benefits 9 percent and lowered the retirement age to 55, greatly increasing the future burden on the system. This came even as the stock market — and the value of the pension funds — was falling.


Hard to pin this one on Democrats and the Unions. Easy to pin it - at least in New Jersey - on Republicans who would rather cut taxes and ignore necessary contributions to their obligations. And they did so because the Republican party isn't interested in either fiscal sanity OR balanced budgets. All they care about is low taxes.

Cycloptichorn
0 Replies
 
Ionus
 
  2  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 06:04 pm
@BillRM,
Quote:
is this the time to be worrying about the national debt.

When is the time ? 50 years ago ?
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 06:13 pm
@H2O MAN,
Oh, this guy who misspoke, then said "I regret my choice of words." Yeah, he's a thug and gangster - only in your eyes. I'm sure you have never misspoke in your life; neither has any conservative.

Quote:
On Wednesday afternoon, Capuano issued a brief apology: "I strongly believe in standing up for worker rights and my passion for preserving those rights may have gotten the best of me yesterday in an unscripted speech. I wish I had used different language to express my passion and I regret my choice of words."

Political rhetoric has become especially heated in Madison, Wis., where Republican Gov. Scott Walker has proposed major labor reforms that sparked more than a week's worth of rowdy protests at the state capitol.
.


Get a life!
failures art
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 11:27 pm
Whoops, he accidentally the wrong thing.
CNN wrote:
Indiana state prosecutor fired over remarks about Wisconsin protests

An Indiana deputy attorney general lost his job Wednesday after commenting online that authorities should use "live ammunition" to run off the throngs of protesters railing over union collective bargaining rights two states away in Wisconsin.

The former state prosecutor, Jeffrey Cox, attached the comment "Use Live Ammunition" in response to a Feb. 19 Twitter posting by a writer for Mother Jones magazine. The writer, Adam Weinstein, wrote that riot police officers had been ordered to clear protesters from the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison.

The rumored 2 a.m. Sunday expulsion of protesters in Madison never happened.

Mother Jones on Wednesday published an article about Cox's Twitter posting and other inflammatory remarks the former state prosecutor had made online. By the end of the day, Cox had been fired from his job.

"Civility and courtesy toward all members of the public are very important to the Indiana Attorney General's Office," the agency said in a prepared statement. "We respect individuals' First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility."

Cox's initial Twitter remark Saturday night set off a pointed online exchange between the prosecutor and the author of the Mother Jones article.

Cox, according to Weinstein, called the demonstrators "political enemies" and "thugs" who were threatening to injure elected officials.

"You're damned right I advocate deadly force," Cox purportedly wrote, according to the Mother Jones article. He also called the author a "typical leftist," and wrote, "liberals hate police."

Cox, who was contacted by Mother Jones Sunday morning, confirmed that he was an Indiana deputy attorney general.

"All my comments on twitter & my blog are my own and no one else's," Cox wrote, according to Mother Jones. "You will probably try to demonize me. But that comes with the territory."

After his firing, Cox's tone appeared more conciliatory.

"I think that in this day and age that tweet was not a good idea." Cox told CNN affiliate WRTV in Indianapolis

"And in terms of that language," Cox said. "I'm not going to use it any more."


Source

A
R
T
Rockhead
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Feb, 2011 11:29 pm
@failures art,
damn it man...


I bet Glenn Beck would hire him in a heartbeat.
0 Replies
 
Ionus
 
  0  
Reply Thu 24 Feb, 2011 12:01 am
@failures art,
Thats the whole trouble with poor people wanting money...they have none of their own so they want to get it from the rich. Have they no consideration for others ??? Bloody useless poor....in my day if you didnt have money you could be arrested. Men on horses with sabres were used to break up protesters....now it seems that having convinced the peasants of our inherent superiority because we have money, they want it to.....I mean, be realistic.....how can the rich be superior if everyone has money ? The place would be a tasteless joke.
0 Replies
 
BillRM
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Feb, 2011 05:27 am
@Ionus,
Quote:
When is the time ? 50 years ago ?


You cut your own throat if you reduce government spending during an economic downturn,

See any basic economic book for more details.

Take note also that only the flooding of the economic with government money and a national debt that was more then GNP during WW2 ended the great depression.

Ionus
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Feb, 2011 07:07 am
@BillRM,
So you spend what little fat you have to get out of a hole dug by the greedy . With a mountain of debt, what will happen if there is a natural disaster that requires spending ? This is where a dictator would be handy...some of those fat cats should be taken out and shot, not given huge bonuses.
0 Replies
 
Ionus
 
  0  
Reply Thu 24 Feb, 2011 07:09 am
@BillRM,
Quote:
a national debt that was more then GNP during WW2 ended the great depression.
And when was this paid off or shall we consider it still there, but having been added to ?
 

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