Update with new link at bottom
Here's a letter that I just sent to my favorite news site, which shall remain unnamed for the nonce. Notice the fawning salutation, which is not insincere.
Attention Beloved Intrepid Reporters,
The more I see and hear about all these different GOP statehouse bills to outlaw collective bargaining, something that keeps coming back to my mind is that 'punked' call when Wisconsin governor Scott Walker believed he was on the line with David Koch. When they are discussing a third person that Ian Murphy (as Koch) says he liked because of his public statements and mentions maybe he will give him a call, and then Scott Walker says...oh hell, here's the transcript clip:
Walker: Ah, I—there’s one guy that’s actually voted with me on a bunch of things I called on Saturday for about 45 minutes, mainly to tell him that while I appreciate his friendship and he’s worked with us on other things, to tell him I wasn’t going to budge.Koch: Goddamn right!
Walker: …his name is Tim Cullen—
Koch: All right, I’ll have to give that man a call.
Walker: Well, actually, in his case I wouldn’t call him and I’ll tell you why: he’s pretty reasonable but he’s not one of us…
The transcript's emphasis is Murphy's surprisingly, because that's what I am getting at. Who is the "us"? Of all theses governors, besides the RNC and the Republican Governors group, is there any other organization(s) that they belong to in common that they could have been planning this dishonest budget/union busting move? Or did they co-ordinate it at the Republican Governors Association openly? Is this a "tell" or is it just as simple as Cullen is not a Republican?
Some more from the transcript:
Koch: Goddamn right! We, uh, we sent, uh, Andrew Breitbart down there.Walker:Yeah.
Koch: Yeah.
Walker: Good stuff.
Koch: He’s our man, you know.
Walker: [blah about his press conferences, attacking Obama, and all the great press he's getting.] Brian [Sadoval], the new Governor of Nevada, called me the last night he said—he was out in the Lincoln Day Circuit in the last two weekends and he was kidding me, he said, “Scott, don’t come to Nevada because I’d be afraid you beat me running for governor.” That’s all they want to talk about is what are you doing to help the governor of Wisconsin. I talk to Kasich every day—John’s gotta stand firm in Ohio. I think we could do the same thing with Vic Scott in Florida. I think, uh, Snyder—if he got a little more support—probably could do that in Michigan. You start going down the list there’s a lot of us new governors that got elected to do something big.
Koch: You’re the first domino.
Walker: Yep. This is our moment.
Sorry to go on so long, but ever since I heard this call, I have been wondering, why does the governor of Ohio talk to the governor of Wisconsin, every day? When did the Republican Governors Association meet after the November 2010 elections? How did these guys get so tight?
My instinct/gut/whatev tells me this anti-union move was planned en masse. I had the same feeling in high school when the Watergate burglary (just the burglary) hit the news and I thought to myself, "Nixon knew about this". Not bad for a 17-year old political neophyte.
So maybe there's a story there, maybe not, but I call it "government by fraud" when you run on one platform (and say anything), but get voted in and start doing what you really always planned on doing.
Thanks for reading my screed, and yours is the site that I always recommend to anyone looking for good solid current events reporting. Just resist getting too sensational with the headlines, a la HuffPo, please. They totally lost my eyes and time.
Cheers,
[real name redacted]
MsInformed
[UPDATE] Wow, you wonder and you wander and some times you find a new piece that fits the puzzle. Found this in the comments at TPM, regarding why the GOP is jumping on Professor Cronon so squarely. The comments are why TPM is my favorite news site. Smart smart people.
New Layer/New phrase: American Legislative Exchange CouncilAmerican Legislative Exchange Council
Sounds terribly Beckish, sorry.