In the political Omega frat house that is the Wisconsin GOP, State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has been acting the role of thuggish Douglas C. Neidermeyer to Scott Walker sniveling little Greg Marmalade. You only have to look at his "Nah nah, you're a poopy head!" type letter to Dem Senate leader Mark Miller a couple days ago to know the guy can whine and threaten like any low-grade political thug who stumbled into a position of authority (along with his brother and his dad...seriously, it's like having a low-rent version of the Borgia clan in Wisconsin politics).
But like many bullies, Fitzgerald can dish out threats but doesn't take it well in return. With the threat of recalls on numerous members of his caucus hanging over his head (and with it the threat of losing his precious leadership), Fitzgerald is, of course, complaining. But what's his target now? Those mean Dems? No, this time, it's those pesky state recall statures themselves, in a press conference yesterday. (Would someone explain to the Scotts that these daily press conferences are not helping their case one bit?)
Fitzgerald's off-the-cuff comments sounded less like he was mulling any actual prospective efforts to change the law, but rather seemed more a show of irritation that a significant number of his caucus members - those last elected in 2008 - are being targeted by recalls by Democrats, in the battle of Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal and its anti-public employee provisions.
And cue the whining and denial.
At one point, Fitzgerald was asked whether the wave of recall signature drives could lead to Republicans losing their newly-won majority. "No, I don't believe so," said Fitzgerald. "I mean, what I do believe is that we're taking those recalls seriously, and we're making sure that we have everything available to those senators to make their case."
Note to targeted GOP state senators: you want to survive a recall, stay away from this man and his fellow Scott as far as you can. He is not helping your case.
And the whining continues, with some projection to boot!
"The ironic thing to me is that, you know, at this point we've got senators under recall that haven't even voted on anything and you know, we've got an assemblyman [Gordon Hintz (D)] that was arrested in Oskosh (sic) for being at a massage parlor - and he's not under recall. I mean, I think it really makes a case for, you know, are our recall statues legit. And it really makes you wonder if they shouldn't be revisited at some point."
Awww, so the mean old Dem assemblyman can't be recalled but your sainted fellow Republicans can? Cry me a river. (Incidentally, Hintz was just elected last November, so he can't be recalled...and since assemblymen are up every two years, a recall would be pointless.)
But what changes would Fitzgerald bring to the recall statues, if given a chance?
"Yeah, I mean, I've always been a believer that recall probably would be more appropriate if a legislator was involved in some type of, you know, either criminal activity or something that could be deemed, you know, unethical," said Fitzgerald. "Not related to simply taking a stance on a tough vote. And you know, I think there's other legislators that feel that way as well."
Unethical? Like locking people out of the State Capitol, unleashing state police on the missing Dem lawmakers and such petty antics as blocking their paychecks? That type of unethical, Scotty? Be careful what you wish for, my friend.
For footage of Fitzgerald's comments, watch here, along with his paranoia that "the White House on down" is behind the recall effots.
One thing's for sure about the upcoming recalls; it's sure going to fun to watch Scotty squirm.