TPM Reader ES is represented by that state Rep. who got into a scuffle with a Capitol police officer last week. He shared with us an interesting to on his evolving impressions of Gov. Walker …
I didn’t vote for Walker, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He made a concrete promises on new jobs created during his term, and the governor-as-cheerleader can be effective in creating a positive business climate. I looked at his tax proposals with interest to see if they would benefit my business.
But then he proposed a sweeping new bill on a Friday, that was intended to be passed into law in SIX DAYS. He also said that he’d talked to the National Guard about contingency plans. I called his office on Monday to complain about that sort of scare tactic, and the receptionist interrupted and told me that I had it wrong. That all the media had it wrong, the story had been misreported. Overall she was quite argumentative for a receptionist, and I ended the conversation quite confused. I told her I’d investigate further on my own.
My next call was to my State Rep’s office. I told his receptionist what the governor’s office had said, and we both scanned through WI newspaper websites until we found a clip of the Governor saying what his staffer had claimed was a newspaper misrepresentation. Yes … in his own words, in video. Milroy’s receptionist and I quickly came to the conclusion that the governor’s staffer was bald-faced lying to me about the governor’s statements about the National Guard.
Maybe I’m naive, but I found this a bit shocking. I’ve lived in MN and WI all my life, I’ve been calling my elected officials about things for ~20 years. I have never, ever had a staffer lie to me in such an obvious way. I have never, ever had a staffer interrupt and argue with me before. This isn’t how government is supposed to work around here.
I guess this was a sign of things to come? When your lowest-level staff is boldly partisan, it’s probably not going to end well.
