Rick Ungar, Forbes: "What Is Walker Not Telling Us?" - 2009 VIDEO: Walker: "eliminate county govt"

[highplainsdem]

Ungar doesn't believe Scott Walker's denial of the reports that he's planning financial martial law for Wisconsin. (I don't know of anyone who does believe Walker.)

So Ungar has done a followup to his original column on this, which came out a couple of days after Ed Garvey first blogged about Walker's plans at FightingBob.com.

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/04/20/what-is-wisconsin-governor-scott-walker-not-telling-us-about-financial-stress-test-legislation/

What Is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Not Telling Us About Financial Stress Test Legislation?
Apr. 20 2011 - 4:15 pm

-snip-

This led me to consider that while Walker may have been technically correct in the wording of his denial – because there may or may not be a member of the Governor’s staff or administration who is dealing with these issues – that involvement could be happening somewhere else, such as in the legislative branch or in the private sector.

-snip-

Ungar then writes about hearing from a private security officer, who's sympathetic to the protesters in Madison and who spends much of his off-work hours joining the protests, who heard Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald and a woman he didn't recognize discussing who could have leaked the information to Ed Garvey. There was speculation it might be someone named Jason, and although Fitzgerald's press secretary denied that overheard conversation had ever taken place, there is someone named Jason on Fitzgerald's staff.

Ungar then considers what might be going on in the private sector, especially with the Greater Milwaukee Committee of GMC. The GMC, according to their website page about their current president, Julia Taylor -- http://www.gmconline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=306&Itemid=91 -- "fosters public-private partnerships and is a catalyst for economic revitalization, education and quality of life as well as promoting collaboration on regional issues."

Ungar writes:

The past- Chairman of the GMC is one Mike Grebe (chairpersons serve for one year terms and Mr. Grebe’s has expired), who also happens to be the President and CEO of The Bradley Foundation, one of the leading ultra-conservative players in the nation and a primary funder of the Tea Party movement. Mr Grebe is also a past managing partner of the Wisconsin office of Foley & Lardner whom you may recall I discussed in the original piece.

Walker's been associated with the GMC for years, and Grebe was co-leader of Walker's transition team when he became governor.

Ungar writes that Wisconsin citizen-journalism site PolitiScoop.com posted a video yesterday of Walker addressing the GMC in 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksF1Q1bF9K8

Starting at 8:57 in that video, Walker talks about ELIMINATING Milwaukee County government, allocating its functions to the state or municipalities.

He also talks about "a separate parks and cultural district" -- which is just what was recommended by the MakeItYourMilwaukee.com website Garvey had posted about (which talked about the financial stress test and linked to an article about financial martial law in Michigan, making it clear that what they were recommending paralleled Michigan's EFM law).

When Ungar asked the governor's office about the video, he got a statement denying that what Walker had said had anything to do with a financial stress test.

Ungar then talks about a GMC report issued in January 2010:

In that document, the GMC reports on the publication of a study done by the Public Policy Forum, said study being financed by the GMC. The report recommends restructuring or eliminating Milwaukee County. It also quotes Sheldon Lubar, then a member of the board of directors of GMC as saying, in reference to Milwaukee County, “Scott Walker has joined the chorus, saying it should be taken apart.”

Ungar also asked the GMC about this and got a response from Julia Taylor (her name is misspelled as "Tayor" in his blog) and a followup discussion with a GMC spokesman that confirmed the law firm of Foley & Lardner is working on legislation to make this financial stress test a reality, required by law.

GMC told him that the financial stress test is solely for informational purposes for voters and has nothing to do with anything the state might do later, and especially not with the state taking over local governments.

Ungar doesn't believe that. And neither do I.



Editing to add the link to my earlier topic about Walker's plans and that website:

Walker preparing financial martial law in WI via "Local Government Flexibility Toolkit" - website

I also want to add the link to my diary at Daily Kos about this, which includes some information about Walker wanting to sell off or privatize Milwaukee County assets while he was county executive (and the diary links back to a couple of my DU topics on ALEC, since this initiative is following an ALEC "toolkit" and it's spearheaded by an ALEC member):

Scott Walker: Wanna buy some public land? Have I got a Milwaukee park for you!

[Greybnk48]

1. Hopefully we can recall at least 6 of these bastards

and Walker is gone in a little over 6 months. It can't happen fast enough for me.

[highplainsdem]

2. They'll try to do as much harm (including looting) as they can in the meantime.

I hope the negative publicity will slow them down a little and maybe make enough GOP legislators afraid to vote for this legislation that it won't pass.

[Blue Owl]

3. With every new revelation, Walker's credibility just keeps rising

:sarcasm:

[patrice]

4. K&R

[highplainsdem]

9. Thanks!

[damntexdem]

5. Well, I DO believe that Walker is NOT planning financial martial law for Michigan.

I believe that he is for WISCONSIN.

[patrice]

6. Good catch, but the article does say that something going on in Michigan is being used as a model fo

for Wisconsin, I believe.

[highplainsdem]

7. Oops. That'll teach me not to write posts before I have enough coffee,

especially after only a few hours' sleep. I'll alert on my own OP and ask the mods to let me edit it.

[highplainsdem]

8. I've fixed that mistake now. Thanks for alerting me to it (& thanks, mods, for letting me edit it).

[bobthedrummer]

10. AHA-the Fuhrer prinzip...n/t

[highplainsdem]

11. A followup column by Ungar yesterday is about a lobbyist named Jason who works for that law firm,

Foley & Lardner, the firm drawing up this legislation. This is not the person named Jason that Ungar was speculating about earlier, the one on Fitzgerald's staff.

Link to the column:

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/04/22/more-questions-of-koch-brothers-fingers-in-scott-walkers-wisconsin-pie-as-jason-identity-revealed/

More Questions Of Koch Brothers’ Fingers In Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Pie As ‘Jason’ Identity Revealed?
Apr. 22 2011 - 2:56 pm

-snip-

That speculation has now turned to Jason Childress, a lobbyist employed by the law firm of Foley & Lardner, the Wisconsin based firm with strong ties to Gov. Scott Walker and the Walker administration. It is also the law firm once run by Walker campaign chairman and Walker transition team leader, Mike Grebe.

-snip-

Ungar quotes Childress's bio on the law firm's site, which explains he was a Democratic strategist before joining the firm. He then quotes an article from Dave Weigel at Slate a couple of months ago about Childress being one of the Koch brothers' Wisconsin lobbyists now.

Could Mr. Childress’ Democratic Party political sympathies motivate a willingness to provide information to Wisconsin bloggers looking into the affair?

Two of the sources for my original piece on this topic, Ed Garvey and Nate Timm, deny that Mr. Childress was their source. Indeed, both deny even knowing or having heard of Mr. Childress. If this is true, then we can tell whoever was speculating on this when riding the Capital elevator that this Jason is not Ed Garvey’s source.

However, another source – a Wisconsin blogger who is actively engaged in this issue and has reported information provided directly by a Foley & Lardner “insider” -was not quite so definitive.

Childress has not returned Ungar's calls.

Ungar admits he doesn't know if Childress is involved in the drafting of this legislation. But if he is involved, Ungar would like to know how much the Koch brothers are involved.

[bobthedrummer]

12. WALKER, THE FIZGERALDS, KOCH, ROVE et.al. VISIONS OF WHAT DEMOCRACY DOESN'T LOOK LIKE

^