Holy Cow!
We've all seen this video from early February, 2011 when Scott Walker was talking to a billionaire about his plans which were kept secret from the rest of us:
H/T rosarugosa for finding the link to the full trailer of this documentary scheduled to air on PBS sometime this fall. The part featured in the divide and conquor segment is towards the end of the 10 minute trailer.
Last year, we also saw and heard his conversation with someone he thought was billionaire David Koch:
He told those 2 billionaires the truth about his plans, strategies, thoughts, agenda.
The rest of us, however, got propaganda and bull pucky about "we're broke", "overpaid" public employees who got an excessively "rich" benefit package, "tools", "big gubmint union bosses", "outside agitators", tens of millions of dollars in (fake) damages protesters caused, and whatever baloney he thought he could get us to swallow.
Divide and conquor. Now we know that what we suspected in his actions is the truth. We know it as a fact only because he told it to a billionaire donor. He speaks the truth to them.
Walker tried to divide taxpayers and public employees (failing to realize that public employees are taxpayers), private and public sector unions, police and firefighter unions from other public employees, and turn the public against public employees with his continuing meme that public employees are overpaid and too richly benefitted.
Since when did the school teacher, public health nurse, snow plow driver, or local librarian become the enemy? For sure, their unions, the largest in the nation, are the only competition the monied interests face in their purchase of politicians.
He failed in his Divide and Conquer mission. Firefighters and police joined the Madison protests. Private employee unions did likewise. The public also didn't think that public employees were the enemy, particularly as they saw the effects of Walkers cuts to their local schools and public services.
This video couldn't have come out at a better time. Citizens in this state are deciding whether or not to change direction in our state. And this is yet another reminder of why tens of thousands of Wisconsinites surrounded our State Capitol in the middle of winter, recalled Republican State Senators this past summer, and came back out the next winter to collect a million signatures to recall Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch, and 4 more Republican State Senators.
Tom Barrett, our candidate to replace Scott Walker, said he was "flabbergasted" by the few seconds of video:
"I was flabbergasted. I was flabbergasted at his language," Barrett said.
Barrett said the video made clear what Walker's intentions were when he took office in January 2011. "If you want to know when Scott Walker is really telling the truth, it's when he's talking to billionaires and when he thinks he's talking to billionaires," Barrett said.
Barrett himself said he had been using the same phrase "divide and conquer" for months. At first Barrett said it was a coincidence that he used the same phrase, but then said he had been repeating it because, "I really believed it."
Barrett also said he was convinced that Walker planned to enact right-to-work legislation in the state. Right-to-work laws prohibit private-sector unions from compelling workers to pay union dues if the workers choose not to belong to the union.
And
more:
"Scott Walker has plunged our state into political turmoil with his 'divide and conquer' style of governing, and Wisconsin is tired of it. More alarming is how Walker says in public what he thinks the people want to hear, but then reveals his true colors to the conservative billionaires bankrolling his campaign. We cannot trust what Scott Walker says, and we can't fix Wisconsin and stop our massive job loss if we keep Scott Walker as governor."
Now Walker has finally
responded:
"About a year and a half ago I spoke to Rock County 5.0. The videotape that they showed, at least that I've heard about, is from that," he said. "It was a meeting with folks from Rock County 5.0 talking about how to help Beloit, Janesville, Rock County as a whole deal with some of the devastating manufacturing loss they've had in the past."
He added, "it's interesting to me that our opponents want to rehash, replay the debate. I think the vast majority, myself included, want to move on, move forward."
Asked about his use of "divide and conquer" in the video, Walker said, "A year and a half ago, I don't remember all of the particulars. We talked about the fact that someone needed to stand up and stand on behalf of the taxpayers."
I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to look backward at his truthtelling to billionaires. Nothing to see here, folks. These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Asked if "divide and conquer" was a strategy to separate police and fire from other public employees, Walker said: "It was a year and a half ago, so I don't remember the particulars of that discussion. I think it was very clear about standing up and saying somebody needs to stand up on behalf of the hard-working taxpayers.
"At the government level there was an opportunity for that. There was a closed loop in terms of public employee unions in this state and the stranglehold government-union bosses had on the taxpayers at both the state and the local level, and I was willing to stand up on behalf of the taxpayers."
Riiiiight. Republican memory problems. Strange how when caught wife-cheating, bullying, or on camera disclosing something you don't want the public to hear, Republicans seem to "not recall".
While not remembering "the particulars", however, he sure does know about it:
"This wasn't anything covert. This was a public discussion as I walked into a building where people were there for that meeting," Walker said of his conversation with Hendricks, which was captured by documentary filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein. The filmmaker has been documenting events in Janesville in the wake of the shutdown of the General Motors plant.
"I think the key is, I'm willing to stand up for the taxpayers," Walker said. "Where I'm drawing the line in the sand is to put government back on the side of the hardworking taxpayers."
And, of course, prepare yourself for the typical whining:
"For 15 months almost I've been under attack," he said. "They've spent millions of dollars, starting last February and March, running TV ads attacking me at that time. They spent millions of dollars on a Supreme Court race, most of those ads were attacking me. They spent tens of millions of dollars in the state Senate recall elections across the state, overwhelming amounts of which were ads that attacked me. They spent money on the recall process itself, from the petition drives, attacking me. It's no wonder they're going to continue to attack me.
"But I think most people are sick of it," he said. "They want to look at the facts, look at results."
We're looking at the results and what we're sick of is your civil war that takes from the poor, vulnerable, and working folks to funnel to your donors.
On June 5 we'll replace you with someone that will work for Wisconsin not just rape and pillage it for the monied interests.
Politico is now calling the Recall Election Armageddon.
I hope it's going to be an awesome Friday News Dump Day. The last 2 were ..... disappointing.
Sorry I've been away a couple days, but I've been trying to fix my allergic asthma woes and my internet has been on and off (mostly off). I feel lost without the net because my life is, basically, online for a great deal of the day. I've missed the news, DK community, spending more than a few minutes on email, miss my weather reports, and lots else. Sad, but true.
But now I've got a new modem black box that I'm told will solve all my problems. The time before it was my actual cable wire from the wall the previous black box and replacing it would solve all my problems, the next time some "hub" problem, and this time, despite finding everything working (for the time he was here, that is), he replaced my black modem box. We'll see (fingers crossed).
Update: More Edition: Hahahahaha! The GOP has given up trying to recall Democratic State Senator Bob Jauch. In their "me, too" approach to the recalls, the GOP has been trying to collect 15,720 signatures to force Jauch to defend his State Senate seat.
The group issued a statement on the committee's behalf Friday saying the recall has been suspended. CRG Network Field Operations Director Orville Seymer said people are focused on recalls involving Republican Gov. Scott Walker and volunteers are spread thin.
Of course, Walker wants to make recalls a whole lot harder because he thinks they're "too easy" to do. Yeah, they're easy when you have an important and valid reason. Not so much otherwise.
Update: It's a Miracle Edition: Less than 4 weeks from the recall election, Scott Walkers pals now say we're not broke!
Gov. Scott Walker's administration released improved budget projections Thursday that would leave the state with a $154.5 million surplus a year from now.
Coming less than four weeks before Walker's June 5 recall election, the projections take the state from a previously estimated $143 million budget deficit in its main account through June 2013 to the surplus.
A large chunk of the surplus is realized by delaying payments that will ultimately cost taxpayers more in interest.
Yes, you read that right. To claim that surplus,
we're just not going to pay our bills and that will cost us taxpayers even more.
You know Walkers desperate when he resorts to funny numbers and Rovian math to make his "reforms" look like they're working.
Update: Scott Walker Needs to "Splain Edition: The Capitol Times, in an editorial, has some questions for Governor Divide and Conquer:
The governor has a responsibility to answer questions about:
1. Why he told a campaign donor about his plan to attack unions before he told his own Cabinet and the people of Wisconsin.
2. Why he discussed breaking unions as part of a strategy to make Wisconsin a "red (Republican) state."
3. What ongoing conversations he has had with Hendricks.
4. What he has done in return for her unprecedented campaign donations.
And there is one more question.
Gov. Walker's campaign shifted $60,000 from his campaign fund to the governor's criminal defense fund. The donor whose money was shifted to the criminal defense fund had to approve that transfer of money.
Only a handful of Walker contributors gave a sufficient amount of money to fund a $60,000 transfer.
Was Diane Hendricks the donor who authorized that transfer of money? And did the governor discuss his legal problems with her?
I'd like those questions answered, too.
Update 4: The RW Strikes Again Edition: Remember the Judicidial Commission that brought ethics charges against State Supreme Court Justice David (the Choker) Prosser? Well, the RW has struck back. The head of the judicial commission is not going to be reappointed.
Over the objections of the state Supreme's Court liberal wing, the court has decided not to reappoint John Dawson as the chair of the Judicial Commission.
In a letter to Dawson that was released to the media, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, and Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and N. Patrick Crooks, write that the decision not to reappoint him came "over our objections."
"The court's long-standing practice has been to retain appointees for the entire period for which they are eligible if they have served the public well," the letter stated. "In your case, the court is deviating from its practice."
In the letter released Friday, Abrahamson, Bradley and Crooks said Dawson, a retired partner at the Milwaukee law firm of Foley & Lardner, was "eminently qualified" to stay on the commission. "Your legal experience, your long public service, your past service on the Judicial Commission, and your institutional knowledge are unmatched," the letter said.
The three also noted that commission appointments are "especially sensitive now." Without citing specifics, the three said that, in 2007, 2009 and 2012, formal disciplinary complaints had been filed against three court justices - Annette Ziegler, Michael Gableman and Prosser. And without specifically mentioning the Prosser ethics case, the three said that complaint was awaiting appointment of an investigative panel to hear the case.
John Dawson was originally appointed in 2006, reappointed in 2009, and could have been reappointed to serve a final term as chairman. There is a 3 term limit on that position.
Update 5: John Doe Tidbit Edition: A 12th person has been granted immunity in the John Doe Probe:
The latest person granted immunity in the ongoing probe of former aides to Gov. Scott Walker is a Milwaukee attorney with Democratic ties who specializes in procurement.
David Halbrooks' links to the secret John Doe investigation remained unclear Thursday, a day after he was given immunity.
Since January, Halbrooks has been the director of procurement and contracting at Omnicare, which provides pharmacy services to long-term care facilities. Before that, he ran his own law office in Milwaukee for about eight years. He's also a former Milwaukee assistant city attorney and municipal judge.
Among other things, authorities have been looking for signs of bid-rigging or other misconduct as representatives of the privately owned Reuss Federal Plaza vied unsuccessfully in 2010 to keep the county Department of Aging in its office space. The offices had moved in 2005 to the blue tower in a $3 million deal.
John Hiller, one of Walker's highest-ranking campaign aides, worked on behalf of the Reuss building's owners on both the 2005 and 2010 deals.
Halbrooks declined Thursday to say if he has ever had Hiller as a client. Halbrooks' attorney, Robert Dvorak, did not return a call.
Mike Tate, Chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party responded:
"A dozen people with ties to Scott Walker have now been granted immunity in a criminal prosecution where their truthful testimony would have incriminated them," Tate said in a statement. "Scott Walker is the linchpin for the entire conspiracy. . . . "
Walker's campaign and administration declined to comment.
The liberal group, Greater Wisconsin Committee, has come out with a new ad focusing on the John Doe Probe:
.