Gov. Scott Walker, caught on tape — this time with a real billionaire, not a spoofed one. (Note, however, that the "reporting to the boss" tone is intact.)
In this video from January 2011, newly elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker tells his largest donor, billionaire Diane Hendricks, that he plans to use divide-and-conquer to turn Wisconsin into a right-to-work state.
The video just surfaced and it's a bombshell. He knew what he was doing from the beginning — and admits it here. Watch:
The second woman on the tape is Mary Willmer-Sheedy, "a community bank president for M&I Bank," according the Journal-Sentinel.
From the complete transcript published by the Journal-Sentinel, here's the set-up to the segment shown above (the video contains most but not all of this material). For example, this gives you the context of the video's creation by Brad Lichtenstein, the videographer (my emphases throughout):
This is a transcript of a conversation between Gov. Scott Walker and Diane Hendricks, co-founder of ABC Supply, on Jan. 18, 2011. The conversation was captured by documentary filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein, who was on site to videotape a meeting of the economic development group Rock County 5.0. The conversation took place in ABC's foyer just before Hendricks escorted Walker into the Rock County 5.0 meeting.And note this, from the transcript, which occurs after the clip above:
Diane Hendricks: Can we talk just for two seconds before we get up there?
Scott Walker: Yeah, yeah, that's fine.
Hendricks: - some issues we're just going to avoid a little bit. And by the way, this is Brad and he is part of Rock County 5.0 and he has been filming everything.
Brad Lichtenstein: I've been doing a documentary -
Walker: Oh, cool.
Hendricks: - so what we're going to do and talk about right now is just concerns that Mary (Willmer-Sheedy) and I have that we probably, are a little controversial to bring up upstairs. OK? I don't want to - because there's press up there.
Walker: OK, sure.
Lichtenstein: Just so you know, nothing I do is going to see the light of day for over another year.
Walker: OK, that's fine.
Hendricks: Which state would you mirror? Is there any state that's already . . .Killing unions was the goal all along, and the billionaire and governor talk easily about that.
Walker: Well, (Indiana Gov.) Mitch Daniels, did - now, see the beautiful thing is, he did it in Indiana, he had it by executive order that created the unions years ago, and so when he came in about a week after he eliminated through executive order. In Wisconsin, it's by the statute. So I need lawmakers to vote on it. But the key is by tying it to the budget, there's no way to unravel that. Because unless they're going to come up with $800 million for example - it's not exactly that amount, but it's close - there's no way they cannot pass that unless they're going to pass a tax increase...
The only difference between radical-Republican Indiana and radical-Republican Wisconsin is the methodology; Daniels could use executive order and Walker has to use the legislature (which he controls). "But the key is by tying it to the budget, there's no way to unravel that."
More on from Blogging Blue, the site that published the video above:
Republican Gov. Scott Walker admits in a video recorded on January 18, 2011 that he wanted to use Act 10, the so-called budget repair bill, as a first step towards a “divide and conquer” strategy against unions in Wisconsin, with the end goal of turning Wisconsin into a “right to work” state. At the time the video was shot, Gov. Walker had not yet “dropped the bomb” in the form of Act 10, but as the recording clearly indicates, Act 10 was intended as an attack on public employee unions, not as an actual “budget repair” bill.And there's an interesting quid-pro-quo with Ms. Hendricks from Blogging Blue:
Gov. Walker made the comments to Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, since Gov. Walker’s promises to her has given $510,000 to the governor’s campaign, making her Walker’s single-largest donor and the largest known donor to a candidate in state history.Again, killing the unions is the plan all along. The difference between the radical Indiana and radical Wisconsin plans is just the methodology.
Still more at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Uncle Straight Talk sez: — The radical Republican governors are the template for the next Republican president, including Mitt Romney.
Every step in the Movement Conservative Project started by Paul Weirich and others in the 1970s requires each Republican office holder to move the ball further down the field than the last one. So Reagan built on Nixon; Bush I built on Reagan; Bush II built on Bush I.
Even Clinton (I) and Obama did their parts. Clinton — repeal of Glass-Steagall, Telecom "reform," NAFTA, and his aborted attempt to start the roll-back of Social Security, just to name a few. Obama — NDAA, drone murder based on "data signatures" rather than target identification, the push to approve the planet-killing Keystone Pipeline, just to name a few of his sins.
I don't personally think we can afford to let another Republican win. But the current Democratic "alternatives" are not much to write home about. How 'bout we fix that, shall we?
GP
To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
