Walker, National Guard: LIE

Hey, Leftists claiming Scott Walker is threatening to call out the National Guard in response to your protests!

YOUR PANTS ARE ON FIRE!

From PolitiFact:

Group says Gov. Scott Walker threatened to send out the National Guard if workers protest his proposed changes to bargaining laws

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a Washington, D.C., organization that backed former Democratic Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold in his failed 2010 re-election bid, said it sent an e-mail to 13,000 of its Wisconsin members on Feb. 14, 2011, that contained this line in bold:

"Walker has threatened to call out the National Guard if workers protest against these cuts!"

It goes on to say:

"The idea that a governor can use the military to impose his personal, political will on the people he governs is a primitive relic of the past -- one that resulted in a century of bloodshed in this country. The last time military force was used against workers was during the Memphis sanitation strike in 1968, just days before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. It must not be repeated again."

Walker certainly anticipated a strong reaction from government employees to his plans to strip bargaining rights and increase their contributions to pensions and health care premiums.

But did he threaten to call out the National Guard in response to protests?

And did he threaten to use them in this manner, to use force to "impose his personal, political will"?

No. No, he did not threaten to use the National Guard to "impose his personal, political will." That is a "PANTS ON FIRE" lie.

...Walker made reference to having made contingency plans and was asked by a reporter whether they included the National Guard.

"In state government, we have had, before I’ve taken office, plans for contingencies no matter what the circumstances. We have updated those," Walker said. "I got a full briefing from all the major, level-one state agencies as well as the
the National Guard yesterday (Feb. 10). We are fully prepared and equipped to handle whatever may occur. So we have every confidence we can move forward on that.

"But again, you plan for the worst, you expect the best. And I expect from the good men and women who work for state and local government that they’re going to continue to do the good, professional job they do each and every day."

Referring to the Guard, he added:

"They’re not called up at this point. We obviously have a whole series of circumstances that would lead to that. I’m not anticipating that, I’m not expecting that, but I want to make everyone certain in this state that I’m fully prepared for whatever may happen."

When he spoke later that day to Journal Sentinel reporters and editors, Walker used the example of the National Guard helping run state prisons in the event of a strike by corrections workers.

In an email to PolitiFact Wisconsin, Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie wrote: "In the unlikely event that core government services are disrupted the Guard would be used just to continue those services. That’s what the National Guard does."

With all due respect, these union thugs and their minions are nuts.

Immediately, when I heard that Walker had "threatened" protesters with the use of the Guard, I knew right away his statement was taken out of context.

Discussing the matter with someone horrified by Walker's alleged threat, I said that has to be wrong.

Of course, it was.

I would hope the National Guard would be ready if public employees walked off their jobs. Should we have prisoners police themselves?

Good grief.

Bottom line:

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee said Walker "threatened to call out the National Guard if workers protest against these cuts!" The governor spoke of possibly calling up the Guard if state workers didn’t show up for work, but he made no reference to using it in response to protests. And certainly none that would suggest the Guard is authorized to use force to impose anything on state workers.

We rate the claim Pants on Fire.

Such outrageous claims cause these protesters to lose credibility.

Get a grip.
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Video, from the MacIver Institute: