Tom Barrett's soldiers and his dirty campaign strategy is no secret.
We have it spelled out on tape.
The Barrett campaign, unions such as SEIU and AFSCME, Milwaukee County supervisors, TMJ4 and other media outlets are colluding to defeat Scott Walker. At the core of their plan is the tragic accident at the O'Donnell Park garage in June 2010.
It's nauseating that they're willing to exploit the death of 15-year-old Jared Kellner for their political gain. Barrett should be ashamed.
Thanks to Scott Walker aide, Michael Brickman, we get a glimpse into this slimy "Democrat-Union-Media Complex." John-david Morgan, SEIU spokesman and unregistered lobbyist, shared the Dems' dirt when conversing with Brickman. Obviously, Morgan didn't realize Brickman's involvement with the Walker campaign when he spilled Barrett campaign details to some guy he met on the street outside a bar.
From Big Journalism: "The Democrat-SEIU-Media Corruption That Will Make Milwaukee Famous"
From Big Government: "'Loose Lips' Union Official Reveals Campaigning Strategy, Possible Illegal Coordination"
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Republicans file complaint over union lobbyist"
“This scandal shows you how desperate the Democrats and their special-interest friends really are over this election," said Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Republican Party. "The status quo is working out pretty well for them, even though it’s been a disaster for the rest of Wisconsin. But this coordinated plot runs completely counter to any standard of open and fair elections, and everyone involved needs to come clean."
The complaint says Morgan described himself as a lobbyist but is not registered to lobby with the state or county. Morgan told No Quarter last week that he was planning to register soon.
Republicans also charge that Supervisor John Weishan was using his office to try to help the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in his election bid.
Audio.
Transcript
MICHAEL BRICKMAN (Scott Walker aide): I don’t mean to be like real nosy or anything, but I heard you talking about that rally. Is that this weekend?
JOHN-DAVID MORGAN (SEIU spokesman, unregistered lobbyist): Which? The rally? The AFSCME rally?
BRICKMAN: Is that who’s doing it?
MORGAN: The rally was at four o’clock today. Are you a county worker?
BRICKMAN: No, I’m not a county worker, but I read about it on a blog. So I just wanted to know what the deal was.
MORGAN: So there was like 400 people there.
BRICKMAN: So it was like Scott Walker . . .
MORGAN: Yeah, I guess the news out of it is there was a guy from AFSCME nationals, (Lee) Saunders, was there. He said Scott Walker – OK, he was like -- I’ll give you the quote, the exact quote: “If Mark Neumann doesn’t kick Scott Walker’s ass on Tuesday, we’re going to bring an army of green from all over the country to Wisconsin, with resources, and we’re going to kick Scott Walker’s ass all over the state of Wisconsin.”
BRICKMAN: So what are they going to do?
MORGAN: Just do doors and beat him in the election. You know?
BRICKMAN: Throw in some of that money?
MORGAN: Huh?
BRICKMAN: I said throw in some of that money?
MORGAN: They’re gonna throw in some money, so they’re gonna, so if he wins on Tuesday, they’re, you know.
BRICKMAN: Is he supposed to?
MORGAN: Neumann is polled to be close to Scott Walker. Neumann might beat him. Neumann’s weird, he’s tougher to beat. Walker’s easy because we can beat him up all over the state.
More audio.
Transcript
MICHAEL BRICKMAN: So, I’m sorry, for interrupting. You said going forward you guys are gonna….
JOHN-DAVID MORGAN: So we’re doing that probably next week and then…
BRICKMAN: How long until the investigation?
MORGAN: Next week, when the County Board goes back to work.
BRICKMAN: Oh, they’re gonna call for the investigation.
MORGAN: Yeah, I’ve got county supervisors to do this stuff, so you know it’s not just the labor union.
BRICKMAN: Weish…what did you say his last name was?
MORGAN: Weishan, John. He represents people in West Allis and then the West Allis area, and then after that, we’ve got to focus on building the new behavioral health facility and try to talk about Walker’s miserable record in taking care of the county’s most vulnerable people, the mentally ill, and his record
on that is just so horrible.
BRICKMAN: You guys…I’m sure Barrett will help you with that.
MORGAN: Um, we can’t really coordinate too much with Barrett because of campaign finance laws and…..
BRICKMAN: Officially, you can’t, but like…
MORGAN: Yeah. What I do is, a lot of – it’s nice for me because the County Board went back to work, so I can just work on actual legislation and, you know, resolutions, so I can just be a political lobbyist, working for county supervisors. I don’t have to be this elections guy.
BRICKMAN: So you would kind of be a go-between between like the unions and county supervisors and…
MORGAN: Yeah, and the Democratic Party.
BRICKMAN: …and Barrett.
MORGAN: Yeah, the Barrett campaign feels always a little nervous talking to me, but…
BRICKMAN: Because they don’t want to be attached to…
MORGAN: Right, but I did talk… I know the guy that runs Barrett’s campaign, Phil Walzak. I ran into him at Laborfest, and he…
BRICKMAN: What did he have to say?
MORGAN: Well, he wants to help on the independent investigation with O’Donnell.
BRICKMAN: Why? Like Barrett will say there should be an investigation at…
MORGAN: I think that’ll be something, when they’re debating, talking about it…
BRICKMAN: When Walker and Barrett are debating?
MORGAN: Yeah, are debating. That might have come up. So…and he’s talking about maybe getting some legislation moving at the state level to get an outside investigation.
BRICKMAN: So the state would actually…
MORGAN: Yeah, we’re calling on the governor and the state to come in and look at this. We’re calling on Governor (Jim) Doyle’s Division of Facilities. They’re like the largest building management division in the state. You know, the State of Wisconsin owns more buildings than anyone, right, except maybe Aurora. So yeah, their engineers would come in just kinda check our work, you know.
On another portion of the tape, Morgan brags about the help he gets from TMJ4 and other Milwaukee stations to spread anti-Walker propaganda.
More audio.
Transcript
JOHN-DAVID MORGAN: I work for a union. I work for the Service Employees Union.
MICHAEL BRICKMAN: S…E?
MORGAN: SEIU. It’s a big janitors union based in Chicago. Yeah, I do political lobbying, communications work, research and media.
BRICKMAN: Oh, so you’re like big time in this thing.
MORGAN: I’m kinda at the center of like a maelstrom right now in terms of kicking Scott Walker’s ass. I’ve been kicking Scott Walker’s ass for two months now. We’ve been on TV; we’ve done all kinds of stuff.
BRICKMAN: You guys did TV?
MORGAN: No, We just get Channel 4 to come down with their news cameras and just a …. do news.
BRICKMAN: They seem like they do a pretty good job covering you guys.
MORGAN: Pretty good. You’ve seen that stuff?
BRICKMAN: Well just like the anti-Walker stuff.
MORGAN: Yeah, they’ve been really willing partners in it. They come in with the TV cameras and (channels) 58, 12 come, and 6 doesn’t always. But yeah, they’ve been really helpful. They think it’s fun.
BRICKMAN: Do they get the message? Do you think they agree with you?
MORGAN: Sometimes. It’s not perfect, but yeah, they get our message across.
BRICKMAN: [inaudible]
MORGAN: Yeah, you know, like, when we did the people’s building inspection, we went around to a bunch of buildings where we know stuff is falling apart. Scott Walker has neglected these buildings, and he keeps putting repairs off because he, you know, won’t fix anything. So, you know, they poked fun at us a little bit for having like a phony report card. It’s like whatever, but then they said, “But the group does have a point – a piece fell off the courthouse in May.” It’s like, “Yeah, that’s why we’re out here.” We’re all out there, we have these hardhats and we look up at the area where. So…
What journalistic integrity!
It's no surprise that "willing partners" TMJ4 and others are in Barrett's pocket, but it's still disturbing to hear. Corruption is always disturbing.
The very ethical Dan Bice, Mr. Journalistic Integrity, should write a scathing column about this abomination by the local media.
(Not going to happen.)
As a former member of AFSCME, this "Democrat-Union-Media Complex" makes me sick.
The good news: Barrett can kiss his disgusting O'Donnell Park accident strategy goodbye. Voters will be spared that ugliness.
Busted.
So what does Barrett have now?
He has nothing but the graphic photo of himself from his beating after State Fair.
__________________
UPDATE: Union fires lobbyist with loose lips
The Service Employees International Union Local 1 announced Tuesday that it had fired an employee who was secretly recorded talking about his union's plans to work with Democrats to try to defeat Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker in the governor's race.
A spokeswoman for the union announced the action just two days after No Quarter disclosed what John-david Morgan, a lobbyist and researcher for the group, said in the conversation secretly recorded by a Walker campaign employee.
"Immediately after SEIU Local 1 learned of his comments, he was terminated," Leslie Mendoza Kamstra, communications director for the local, said in an e-mail.
Kamstra added that Morgan was a temporary, project-based employee for the local, which represents about 1,400 janitors in the region. She said Morgan did advocacy and research on issues affecting the union's members.
Morgan described himself last week as a lobbyist and spokesman for the group. He said he erred by failing to register as a lobbyist.
In his Sept. 10 conversation outside an east side bar, Morgan said his union would be working with Democrats and others to tie Walker, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, to the O'Donnell Park garage accident and the problems at the county Mental Health Complex.
In particular, he said TV spots would hit Walker for neglecting county facilities; county supervisors would continue to call for an independent investigation of O'Donnell Park; Walker's opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, would push legislation on the subject; and Gov. Jim Doyle's administration may let state engineers come in to inspect the county facility.
It has to hurt Bice and the Journal Sentinel to cover this story.
But Bice finds an angle to ease his pain.
If there is a scandal, [County Supervisor John Weishan] said, it has to do with how the Walker campaign worker, Michael Brickman, got the information from the union lobbyist.
Note: Morgan failed to register as a lobbyist.
Using his cell phone, Brickman recorded Morgan during a face-to-face chat outside the Y-Not II tavern on E. Lyon St. Brickman engaged the lobbyist after hearing him discuss an anti-Walker rally held by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees earlier in the day. Morgan said he was discussing the event with Weishan on his cell phone.
Weishan said it was "underhanded" for Walker's deputy communications director to record Morgan without letting him know who he was. Brickman gave a false name and occupation at the end of their conversation.
"I don't go into places and misrepresent myself," Weishan said. "That's just the wrong way of doing business."
Barrett, in fact, came down even harder on Brickman at a news conference earlier this week, saying he would fire a campaign staffer who secretly recorded anyone and lied about his identity. Barrett said this was just the latest in a series of controversial actions by Walker's staff.
The Milwaukee Democrat also denied that there was any coordinated effort between his campaign and SEIU. Campaign finance laws bar political groups from working with candidates in deciding how to spend money during an election.
It's ridiculous for Barrett and his campaign to try to shift attention from their wrongdoing and claim the real scandal here is Brickman's recording.
Barrett comes off so sleazy.
The Dems love whistleblowers. They're heroes, except when the Dems are the ones exposed as corrupt.
Hypocrites. Corrupt, slimy, sleazy hypocrites.
4 comments:
Sometimes you confuse me, Ms. Eden. Why do you think it would bother me to write about this subject? Didn't I type the transcript you're using, post the original audio of the conversation (after some internal discussions with our lawyers) and break the original story on Sunday -- three days before you picked it up? Maybe it's time to renew your Journal Sentinel subscription.
Oh, don't be so formal. Please, call me Freedom.
I don't want you to be confused, really I don't. I'll try to be clearer.
I think, given your allegiance to liberal Barrett and your often open hostility to Walker and other conservatives, that it must bother you to write about something that reveals Barrett, his team, his union soldiers, and "willing partners" TMJ4 of the Journal Broadcast Group to be such slimeballs.
Unless you have a masochistic streak, I don't think it would be something you'd enjoy.
Just because you broke the story doesn't mean it wasn't painful for you to expose that Team Barrett would shamelessly exploit the death of a 15-year-old for political gain or that TMJ4 "thinks it's fun" to collude with Barrett's campaign.
By the way, what's with the "three days before you picked it up" and "renew your Journal Sentinel subscription" stuff?
I'm not in a race to "pick up" any stories and I can't renew what I cancelled years ago.
Quite snippy coming from a professional, ethical journalist.
I didn't mean to be snippy. Both lines were intended as repartee -- but, alas, not very effective repartee. I was simply trying to offer a response in the tone and spirit of your original post.
It may surprise you that there is a healthy sense of competition among Journal Communications' various entities. Charlie and Jeff take shots at us, we delight in beating Channel 4 and the TV station prides itself on scooping us. As it should be.
I frankly wish the town had more competition, more news outlets and greater scrutiny of the press by informed sources. That's why I read your blog and many others.
The competition must be very inside stuff.
To the consumer, Journal broadcasting and publishing are linked, literally.
You wish for greater scrutiny of the press. That's unusual. I've found that those in power don't welcome scrutiny. They find it threatening and lash out. Tim Cuprisin comes to mind.
Critics of the Democrat-Union-Media Complex are dismissed and dissed as wingnuts and inconsequential.
It's too bad that civil, respectful debate is so rare.
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