Oh boy! After he snapped because he didn't get what he wanted, adjurned the Wisconsin State Senate, and called a midnight session this week (that lasted all of 5 minutes), one of the Fitz boys (as in FitzWalkerKochStan) tries lies and charm (hang on to your lunch) in an 8 minute interview on our local PBS:
Watch Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald on PBS. See more from Here and Now.
H/T to antirove for the link to transcript, however there is still nothing up as of 5 PM Central Time.
First, some background stuff:
Yes, the brothers Fitzgerald (R - RedDistrictStan) rule Wisconsin. Even Daddy Fitzgerald has been given his share of power, having been appointed by Governor Scott Walker to head the State Patrol.
Jeff (the younger) as the Speaker in the massively Republican dominated (they don't even need one Democrat to show up to achieve quorum) State Assembly and Scott as the Majority Leader in the (diminishing) Republican majority State Senate. Jeff doesn't speak, but that doesn't prevent him from deluding himself that he'll be elected to the US Senate as Herb Kohl retires this year. Scott, on the other hand, talks (or yells) all the time. Particularly when he doesn't get his way.
He's not getting his way anymore or as fast as he wants it. Particularly with a mining bill he's trying to ram through the State Senate. The Assembly quickly passed the mining industrys dream bill that ignores those pesky environmental concerns (like the high probability of eternal groundwater contamination) to declare open season on Wisconsins under the ground resources.
The State Senate has some concerns and the fast tracked bill has slowed a bit. To aid the bills passage, he disbanded the subcommitteethat was about to make some changes to the Assembly version and simply referred the radical Assembly bill on to the Finance Committee where it's expected to fly through unemcumbered by the concerns of citizens who live in the areas of proposed mining. Everything just flies through the Finance Committee in FitzWalkerKochStan these days. After all, he appointed the heads of every committee in the State Senate.
On top of that, people in his district have signed petitions to recall him from office! Him! Scott Fitzgerald! Sitting in one of the reddest districts in the state! Oh, the humanity!
Of course, Fitz has already admitted that the 3 other State Senate recall efforts will survive challenges (nice when your own boss man throws you under the bus), but that his won't! He's run to the Government Accountability Boardand the courts to stop it. He'll use every dirty trick he can dream up. However, even he's been out there fundraising like crazy with the realization that there won't be 5000 signatures to discredit. Now, of course, he claims that instead of the old legislative districts, the recallers should have used the new legislative districts his own party created, rammed through, and quickly signed into law(because they're so very Republican-friendly)! He conveniently forgets, however, that even the legislation his own Republican majority pushed through has the new maps come in for the November election in 2012 and not before. Bwahahahahahaha! Nice try.
And then there's those districts he and his buddies created, in secret, with secrecy oaths signed. It's being called the Republican Redistricting Scandal now.
End of background (yeah, I kept it short, too).
With recallers nipping at his heels, his redistricting scheme in peril, scandal looming, bad headlines, a meltdown in the Wisconsin State Senate that makes a 3 year olds tantrum look rational, 15 indictiments in an ongoing John Doe Probe where prosecutors have invited Scott Walker in for a little chat (under oath), and Walker running from the media as fast as his legs can go, Fitz decided this might be a good time to pretend to be a rational human being and sane legislator by appearing on public television.
He did keep his cool, I'll give him that. I'm sure he knew what questions were coming, and the BS was thick.
On to the debunking:
He claims the Subcommittee on Mining was disbanded because it "didn't function". The fact is that they were about to come out with a compromised bill that would have addressed several problems with the Assembly Bill. He wouldn't have that! He wanted the Assembly Bill, a gift to the mining industry. Forget about poisoned water, ruined land, effects on the local population. The new meme now is that this bill is all about JOBS as though these were the only possible jobs in the state. And voting against it means you're against jobs! I'd laugh, but these flailing attmepts are just too sad.
Of course, Fitz recognizes that his majority rule in the State Senate hinges on Republican Dale Schultz, who is somewhat moderate. Schultz was not targetted for recall because he opposed union stripping and has taken moderate positions on other issues. His district, somewhat blue, tends to prevent him from joining extremist positions and votes. With the 2 recalled Republican State Senators, the State Senate now has Dale Schultz as the swing vote.
On to the Republican Redistricting Scandal. Of course, he's clinging to the whole idea that this wasn't deliberately secretive, but, a routine matter of attorney-client priviledge. Of course! And now on to the judge bashing! He claims (swallow any liquids in your mouth to prevent screen spew) that the courts are in violation of the Constitutional "separation of powers" with those evil judges thinking they can tell lawmakers what they can and cannot do!
And those emails they desperately tried to hide (and had to pay nearly $18,000 to the plaintiffs attorneys for filing frivolous objections to their release), well, those are just "mundane" and show "how we were just trying to make the maps fair". Bwahahahaha! Those emails that talked of "wildly gerrymandering"?
The last issue on the table is his own recall which he discounts. His claims that the new State Senate district should have been used, despite his own Redistricting Law saying that the new, shiny, GOP friendly districts don't get used until November, 2012. He further states that he's looked at those petitions and "recognizes" the names. He's pretty sure he'll avoid his own recall, but claims past victories in his district will ensure his survival in case he does have to run again.
In the 8 minute interview, the usually volatile Fitzgerald did keep his cool while spouting every talking point he can think of or invent. Whether this new charm offensive will work remains an open question. Facing voters with a series of extremist positions and well-known temper tantrums might be problematic, particularly in light of the scandals of redistricting, the budget cuts affecting nearly every community, and a John Doe probe with 15 indictments of Scott Walkers top aides already as well as an upcoming "chat" with the prosecutors (under oath).
We've come a long way in a year since Walker "dropped the bomb" Who knew things would be this interesting?
By all means, enjoy.