Last week, we took a look at the debacle of Wisconsin's republican redistricting efforts. The not-so-GOP performed this redistricting in secret, in a law office across the street from the Capitol. They were forced to sign "confidentiality agreements" (secrecy oaths) vowing not to discuss this legislation with anyone.
Why, some have asked, did republicans - all of them - go along with this? Surely someone would have had the spine, the gonads, to stand up to Fitzgeralds Scott and Jeff?
Now thanks to Wisconsin Public Television we have the answer, which was rumored through all last year, they were blackmailed. They were shown two sets of maps and told that if they did not go along with Walker and the Fitzgeralds, they'd get the "less favorable" one.
A personal note - Last summer, I asked a Democratic Assembly representative how Walker and the Fitzgeralds were able to keep such an iron grip on their caucus. He told me that he had heard that two versions of the redistricting maps had been prepared in secret - one which was favorable to each representative, another which was less than favorable.
Finally, nearly eight months after that conversation, this is getting some coverage.
Here is the video, from Friday, February 10th:
Watch Redistricting debate rekindled on PBS. See more from Here and Now.
And the transcript from WPT's blog:
Last spring Republicans in control of the Assembly and Senate hired a private law firm, at taxpayer expense, to help draw the new maps. After the maps were drawn, individual Republicans were brought in one by one to look at a map of their district. They were required to sign a secrecy pledge, in which they promised not to reveal what they had just seen. According to one lawmaker who asked not to be named, the logic they were given was the maps and the documents would be protected by attorney-client privilege, and the secrecy pledges were needed to protect that. But this lawmaker told me he felt part of the pledge was intimidation, to keep the rank and file from complaining. He was even shown two versions of the map, one more favorable and one less favorable, and was told if he didn’t go along, the less favorable version would become law. Republicans had already gone through a grueling battle over Governor Walker’s collective bargaining changes, and they were facing the prospect of multiple recalls in the Senate later that summer.
Update 1:10 CST - for an excellent summary of what transpired a year ago this weekend, and how it's evolved into our current movement to fight back, see Puddytat's recent diary,
A Year in the Life of a Protest - We're Still Winning in Wisconsin.