We need to go all the way back to the the Citizens United case from early last year. It all started when a non-profit corporation called Citizens United made a film critical of Hillary Clinton. This violated the McCain-Feingold act, which prohibited all corporations and unions from airing “electioneering communications.”
Citizens United took it all the way to the Supreme Court, where a close 5-4 landmark decision struck down the McCain-Feingold Act. What this means is that our democracy is now for sale. Corporations were given the same freedom of speech rights as individual persons. There is no limit to the amount of money they can spend on the politician of their choice, and political bribery is effectively legalized. A century of struggles to keep these assholes out of our government was tossed. Justice Stevens wrote in his 90-page dissent:
At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.
And this part is important, so I'll just quote directly from the Wikipedia entry. This is where the Koch brothers come in:
A year after the decision, Common Cause asked the Department of Justice to investigate conflicts of interest on the part of two of the Justices in the majority. The organization noted that Thomas's wife was the founder and president of Liberty Central, a conservative political advocacy group that would be empowered to accept corporate contributions to run campaign advertisements. In addition, Scalia and Thomas had participated in political strategy sessions organized by David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch, who stood to benefit from the decision.
The goal of those political strategy sessions was to "change the balance of power in Congress this November."
This is huge. Two Justices on the Supreme Court are in bed with two super conservative billionaires who run an energy conglomerate. Those two Justices then voted in favor of legalizing bribery.
The Koch brothers are not small time. Koch Industries is the second largest privately owned company in the United States. If they were a public company, they would rank around 16 on the Fortune 500 list. They're oil men. Since the 1980s, they have given more than $100 million dollars to conservative and libertarian organizations, such as the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, and Americans for Prosperity.
Now enter Scott Walker. According to Mother Jones,
Walker's gubernatorial campaign received $43,000 from the Koch Industries PAC during the 2010 election. That donation was his campaign's second-highest, behind $43,125 in contributions from housing and realtor groups in Wisconsin.
But here's the kicker. Walker's budget proposal says:
16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state-owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).
What this means is that Scott Walker, whose second highest campaign donation was from the Koch brothers, would be able to sell Wisconsin's energy contracts to Koch Industries without allowing any other bidder come to the table. This would give them a monopoly over Wisconsin's energy.
To sum it all up: Two Supreme Court Justices attend a conference hosted by the Koch brothers with the intent to "change the balance of power in Congress." Those two Justices vote in favor of allowing corporations to give limitless donations to any candidate. The Koch brothers then give Scott Walker his second highest donation. Once Scott Walker is elected, his first budget proposal allows the Koch brothers to buy Wisconsin's power plants for pennies on the dollar with no transparency and no oversight -- in addition to taking away collective bargaining rights of nearly all public employees. Scott Walker is bought. The Governor(s) of Wisconsin are corporate interests.
So here's what just happened
Someone from Buffalo Beast called Scott Walker's offices pretending to be David Koch. Walker believes it is David Koch, and has a conversation with him for twenty minutes. The whole thing was recorded.
Unfortunately, the prankster didn't really seem to know what he was doing. As a redditor said,
The "Koch" scam caller did nothing but crack stereotypical right-wing-asshole lines, which the governor basically chuckled along with politely but mostly dismissed. Had the prank caller done some homework, he could have destroyed the governor's career. Instead, he ended his secretary's.
There was nothing illegal, and it's not as mindblowing as the internet is making it out to be, but it's still a PR nightmare. I would strongly suggest you take a listen for yourself, but here are the main things:
- Walker revealed that, in spite of what he's been saying, he will not negotiate in good faith, and he is not going to budge.
- He confirmed that this is not about the budget. It's about busting unions, and he confirmed that Republicans plan on spreading this to other states.
- He was planning on tricking the state senate dems into meeting so he can hold the quorum open, even without their presence.
- Walker considered planting provocateurs in the middle of the protests.
- He dismissed a dem as not being "one of us," referring to himself and Koch. Let me reiterate: Scott Walker considers himself and a billionaire who meddles in politics, as belonging to the same group.
Although this may not have been career-ending, what gets me was simply the mood of it. Walker just seemed to know that when this guy asks questions, you answer them. That may not be anything. I just want to know why he acted as if a conversation like this was normal. Here it is.
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