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Yahoo.com : On prank call, Wis. governor discusses strategy


killerbee99

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Is there a way this jerk off and his republican pals can get arrested for conspiracy....ok, I kid, but some pretty disturbing **** right there and furthers the republican and big business feeling that people have always had

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wisconsin_budget_unions;_ylt=ArKBu_jcYABE203R1AlzBNNH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTNlc3FxYmc5BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMjIzL3VzX3dpc2NvbnNpbl9idWRnZXRfdW5pb25zBGNjb2RlA21wX2VjXzhfMTAEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDb25wcmFua2NhbGx3

MADISON, Wis. – On a prank call that quickly spread across the Internet, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was duped into discussing his strategy to cripple public employee unions, promising never to give in and joking that he would use a baseball bat in his office to go after political opponents.

Walker believed the caller was a conservative billionaire named David Koch, but it was actually a liberal blogger. The two talked for at least 20 minutes — a conversation in which the governor described several potential ways to pressure Democrats to return to the Statehouse and revealed that his supporters had considered secretly planting people in pro-union protest crowds to stir up trouble.

[Related: Largest labor unions in the U.S.]

The call also revealed Walker's cozy relationship with two billionaire brothers who have poured millions of dollars into conservative political causes, including Walker's campaign last year.

Walker compared his stand to that taken by President Ronald Reagan when he fired the nation's air-traffic controllers during a labor dispute in 1981.

"That was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and led to the fall of the Soviets," Walker said on the recording.

The audio was posted on the Buffalo Beast, a left-leaning website in New York, and quickly went viral.

[Related: What is a right-to-work law?]

Editor Ian Murphy told The Associated Press he carried out the prank to show how candidly Koch would speak with Walker even though, according to Democrats, he refuses to return their calls.

Murphy said he arranged the call Tuesday after speaking with two Walker aides, including his chief of staff. He made the call using Skype and recorded it.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie confirmed that it Walker's voice on the call.

The governor said he was ratcheting up the pressure on Senate Democrats to return to the Capitol a week after they fled to block the legislation. He said he supported a move to require them to come to the Capitol to pick up their paychecks rather than have them deposited directly.

[Related: History of stalling tactics in politics]

He also floated an idea to lure Democratic senators back to the Capitol for negotiations and then have the Senate quickly pass the bill while they are in talks.

Walker said aides were reviewing whether the GOP could hold a vote if Democrats were not physically in the Senate chamber but elsewhere in the building.

Democrats seized on Walker's recorded comments as evidence that the governor plans to go beyond budget cuts to crushing unions.

"This isn't about balancing the budget. This is about a political war," Rep. Jon Richards of Milwaukee yelled Wednesday on the floor of the state Assembly.

[Related: First person: Wis. budget bill threatens my family]

The governor's plan would strip most public employees of their collective bargaining rights and force them to pay more for their health care and retirement benefits. Unions could not collect mandatory dues and would face a vote of its members every year to stay in existence.

The proposal has set off more than a week of protests at the Capitol.

The GOP-controlled state Assembly began debating the bill Tuesday and was still hearing dozens of Democratic amendments nearly 24 hours later before taking a break. Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald said he expected to take a vote on the bill by the end of the day.

On the call, Walker said he expected the anti-union movement to spread across the country and he had spoken with the governors of Ohio and Nevada. The man pretending to be Koch seemed to agree, telling Walker, "You're the first domino."

"Yep, this is our moment," Walker responded.

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I love how Governor Walker admitted that he and his aides discussed planting troublemakers among the protestors. Even though they ultimately decided not to do so, it's pretty telling that was an option that they deemed worthy of even discussing.

Additionally, the protests highlight a fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats are lobbying to protect the interests of school teachers at taxpayer expense. Republicans are lobbying to protect the interests of billionaires (e.g., the Koch Bros.) at taxpayer expense. The difference is, only one party is shouting over and over again that they are going to shut off the spigot for the benefit of taxpayers.

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It's a hoax perpetrated by a liberal rag. Besides, the liberals did it first!

OK so now that that's out of the way, perhaps our far-right Tea Party brethren can provide a fresh excuse this time around. Oh yeah, I know. As it relates to their agenda, the ends justify the means....always.

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It's shameful.

I'm all for balancing budgets, but this is obviously only half of what this governor is trying to do.

~Bang

I think you're giving him way too much credit. Calls like this make me think that this has nothing to do with the budget at all. Just politics and power.

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This is ALL about busting the unions, and it's a 15 statewide GOP campaign to do so. These people are scumbags.

Viva la revolution!

It's shameful.

I'm all for balancing budgets, but this is obviously only half of what this governor is trying to do.

~Bang

I think you're giving him way too much credit. Calls like this make me think that this has nothing to do with the budget at all. Just politics and power.

I missed where he said this in the call? is it the part when he says: Yep, this is our moment?

But as Burgold pointed out it must be a conservative reporter because it spends a tiny amount of time on the call and then dives back into an agenda report.

It creates more questions than answers for sure.

and this: "All right, that would be outstanding," Walker replies, adding that the standoff is "all about getting our freedoms back."

Though i guess your right after its all said and done... You have to break the Union to undo the current issues...

So yeah he does want to break the union and get the money back, and also allow people to opt out and not pay the 1000.

nevermind... i agree with you.

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I'm guessing this story is newsworthy because it actually has the Governor saying some of the things most people have been thinking. But is it really that much of a surprise? We already knew he was trying to strip the unions of their collective bargaining rights, which for all intents and purposes is busting up the union. (What point is there in being a union if you can't collectively bargain?)

I'm sure it's there, I just don't see what the big deal of this phone call is. We already knew this stuff.

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And the Koch brothers who fund Americans For Prosperiety are bussing folks into support the government

This is all about the Koch borthers who gave large amounts of cash to get this guy elected getting the government they paid for

They funded indivuals and the Republican governors assoc

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And the Koch brothers who fund Americans For Prosperiety are bussing folks into support the government

This is all about the Koch borthers who gave large amounts of cash to get this guy elected getting the government they paid for

They funded indivuals and the Republican governors assoc

And how much have unions donated and bussed in to preserve what they paid for ?

Is one special interest virtuous?

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And how much have unions donated and bussed in to preserve what they paid for ?

Is one special interest virtuous?

Damn. Talk about message board obliteration.

You know, I think some people just can't analyze **** or think for themselves. I believe this affliction to be a consequence of the information age. An age where people no longer have to actually learn ****, because they can just google it.

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And how much have unions donated and bussed in to preserve what they paid for ?

Is one special interest virtuous?

Well, one of these special interests benefits a very small number of people.

The union benefits a lot more.

I won't argue that unions don't have their problems, but when up against a guy with the influence and interests as Koch has, I side with the people.

History bears that out. (And FTR.. I used to be a union man, IBEW, and while I was there I liked the security it offered me, I never could quite reconcile the inner politics that governed the top. (excluding Buddy Saterfield. Good man, he is. I understand he's with the international office now, and that I applaud.)

Let's not forget why unions formed in the first place.

To think that if unions disappeared that the people at the top of the industrial chain won't exploit them is simpy ignorant of not only history, but current working conditions in places other than the US, IMO.

~Bang

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Well, one of these special interests benefits a very small number of people, like one or two.

The union benefits a lot more.

~Bang

I don't see that as established fact,both special interest groups are beneficial in part,but not benevolent.

I don't trust either but you cannot deny the Koch brothers positions have benefited much more than themselves as well.

I prefer Right to Work...and let the best man win,be they Union or not

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I don't see that as established fact,both special interest groups are beneficial in part,but not benevolent.

I don't trust either but you cannot deny the Koch brothers positions have benefited much more than themselves as well.

I prefer Right to Work...and let the best man win,be they Union or not

I guess.

I think you're putting too much faith in people who benefit the most from oppressing others.

~Bang

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I'm not supporting the governor or his tactics, whatever they are. But this article is highly confusing and very short on actual evidence.

I don't get why he would believe he was talking to someone else on Skype, especially after his aides talked to Murphy about this.

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I guess.

I think you're putting too much faith in people who benefit the most from oppressing others.

~Bang

?...I'm not a union supporter :pfft:

Oppressing who and how?

You are not doing much to convince me to hire workers...I wouldn't want to oppress

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?...I'm not a union supporter :pfft:

Oppressing who and how?

You are not doing much to convince me to hire workers...I wouldn't want to oppress

Oh, I guess you're right.

If we give the top of the heap complete control and remove all power from the little guy, we'd be foolish to expect the big guy would exploit anyone.

Come on man, you can't be that naive.

~Bang

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Oh, I guess you're right.

If we give the top of the heap complete control and remove all power from the little guy, we'd be foolish to expect the big guy would exploit anyone.

Come on man, you can't be that naive.

~Bang

This. I'm not a huge fan of unions and when Reagan busted Patco the unions had probably gotten too powerful. However I'm also smart enough to know that we 9-5 schlubs all benefit from the threat, no matter how small, of a union making its way into a company. So if you think you're getting raped now, just imagine how rough things would be if employers didn't have even the threat of organized opposition. OTOH if you're doing pretty well right now, many of the benefits you enjoy are owed to the organized labor movement.

As for the wonders of right to work states, take if from someone who's lived in one for most of his life, it ain't all it's cracked up to be. To be sure it has certain advantages but right to work states have a lot of blemishes that many overlook in the rush to demonize organized labor.

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Oh, I guess you're right.

If we give the top of the heap complete control and remove all power from the little guy, we'd be foolish to expect the big guy would exploit anyone.

Come on man, you can't be that naive.

~Bang

You can't be that naive either,we have a plenitude of labor laws separate from unions,and the mass of working voters to push for more.

Right to work does not abolish unions,there are plenty in my neck of the woods.

But maybe I am naive since I have always lived in a right to work state....and like it.

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Well it looks like the union busting, employee hating, power grabbing apologists are out in support of the honorable governor of Wisconsin, can't even bring themselves to admit that he's a shady partisan hack who wants only to break up the Unions in compliance with a multiple state GOP strategy.

Can't win the votes, defund the other party. I guess the GOP got tired of trying to win elections on proposing better ideas.

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