Union Plan not Lost on Walker Aide

[Kathryn Ball]

In case anyone thinks that ACORN, SEIU and others of that ilk will not be active this year, think again!

Wisconsin presents especially fertile ground for any sort of cheating at the polls because we allow for election day registration with no more proof of residency than someone to vouch for you [I AM serious....no photo ID required]. The "Government Accountability Board" [an oxymoron if ever there was one!] stated in a recent report that there are over 18,000 REGISTERED voters in the state [most in Milwaukee County] who are not VERIFIABLE!!! First class postcards were sent to ALL registered voters and 18,000 were returned as undeliverable, 'no such address', in other words BOGUS! And what did this illustrious body DO with this information?..................ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Those names should have been removed but were not to "avoid disenfranchising some voters".

There were situations in presidential elections where bus loads of developementally disabled young adults were taken to polling places, registered to vote and then coached on how to place their vote. They were 'vouched' for by ACORN volunteers.

There have been elections which have been won or lost by many fewer than 18,000 votes and the powers that be in Wisconsin are willing to disenfranchise honest, hardworking citizens in order to cheat and elect liberal candidates.

The story below is a bit long but well worth the read. A campaign worker for a conservative candidate for governor happened to overhear the SEIU person on his phone and engaged him in a conversation resulting in some eye opening admissions including the willingness of the local news media to help deliver the message of the SEIU to destroy the charecter and reputation of the conservative candidate.

How, in the name of all that is Holy, do we defeat this pernicious disease that has infested the process we once trusted to be honest?!?

To be fair, this article appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal last Sunday.

Daniel Bice

Union plan not lost on Walker aide

Talkative labor official divulges strategy, unaware he's being taped

Sept. 19, 2010 |(149) Comments

The Conversation

Listen to, or read a transcript of, the conversation between John-david Morgan and Michael Brickman.

WARNING: Audio and transcript contain strong language.

Election Coverage

Organized labor is hatching a plan to use prominent Democratic officials and TV ads to pummel Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker over the O'Donnell Park garage accident to try to keep him from being elected governor.

So says a local union official with loose lips who was secretly recorded yakking away outside an east side bar earlier this month. `

Here's what he said everyone can expect in the next six weeks:

TV spots will hit Walker for neglecting county facilities; supervisors will continue to call for an independent investigation of O'Donnell Park; Walker's opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, will push legislation on the subject; and Gov. Jim Doyle's administration may let state engineers come in to inspect the county facility.

"I'm kind of at the center of a maelstrom right now in terms of kicking Scott Walker's (expletive)," said John-david Morgan, a lobbyist and spokesman for the Service Employees International Local 1, on Sept. 10 outside the Y-Not II tavern on E. Lyon St. "I've been kicking Scott Walker's (expletive) for two months now. We've been on TV; we've done all kinds of stuff."

Using his cell phone, a Walker campaign staffer recorded a 15-minute talk in which Morgan laid out what he said were his union's plans to tie the problems at the O'Donnell Park garage and the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex to the Republican nominee.

The Walker aide, Michael Brickman, didn't disclose who he was during the one-on-one chat. He gave a false name and occupation at the end of the conversation.

According to a copy of the recording obtained by No Quarter, Morgan explained how he has been working with County Board members - in particular, Supervisor John Weishan - to call for an independent investigation into what caused a 13-ton concrete panel to fall from the O'Donnell parking ramp and kill a 15-year-old Greenfield boy in late June.

A resolution requesting an independent probe was introduced by Weishan and other supervisors in July. Morgan told the Walker campaign staffer that another news conference will soon be held on the subject.

"I've got county supervisors to do this stuff so, you know, it's not just the labor union," Morgan said.

The union staffer bragged about his ability to garner news coverage of his anti-Walker events from local TV stations, which he called "willing partners" in his endeavors. He also disclosed that he secretly runs an anti-Walker blog at www.scottwalkertruthsquad.org, which prominently features Weishan and SEIU's criticisms of the county exec.

Morgan suggested that, based on a conversation with a Barrett campaign staffer, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee is expected to bring up the accident in the upcoming debates and push for legislation on the matter. In addition, Morgan talked in his unguarded chat with the Walker worker about trying to get state engineers from the Doyle administration to lend a hand with the O'Donnell Park probe.

The Barrett staffer, Phil Walzak, dismissed any suggestion that he was coordinating efforts with the labor union.

Walzak, the campaign spokesman, said he did have a brief discussion with Morgan at Laborfest, as Morgan discussed in the taped conversation. Walzak said he can't remember what they talked about, but he is sure it had nothing to do with the debates.

"Why would I do that?" Walzak said. "That's ridiculous."

Morgan, a former reporter for the Shepherd-Express who contributed stories to the neighborhood and suburban sections of the Journal Sentinel in the mid-1990s, said Friday that he now works full time for SEIU in Milwaukee. His local represents about 1,400 janitors in the area.

In an interview, he emphasized that he doesn't work for the labor group's political action committee. He said he is employed by the union's nonprofit doing lobbying and research on legislation.

"It helps me to work on governance issues," Morgan said. "Then I can talk to whoever I want. Hey, Tom Barrett is the mayor of Milwaukee, right? I'm not coordinating anything with the campaign."

State law bars groups making independent, election-related expenditures from coordinating with politicians or their campaigns.

The PAC for Morgan's union local has been inactive this year. But SEIU's state chapter endorsed Barrett and gave his campaign $5,000. Last year, the union's national fund donated $40,000 to the Greater Wisconsin Committee, a liberal group that is airing ads critical of Walker.

Told that he is not registered to lobby with the state or county, Morgan said: "I guess we should probably go do that. That would probably make everything kosher."

Of everything, Morgan was particularly miffed over finding out that his conversation had been recorded.

"What are we in, seventh grade? A guy asked me a bunch of questions, and I answered them. He didn't tell me I was being interviewed," he said. "I don't think that's fair."

Two election law specialists said it doesn't appear that anyone has violated any election laws, even if everything Morgan said in the recorded conversation is true.

But the pair of experts - former state Elections Board lawyer George Dunst and Rick Esenberg, a Marquette University assistant law professor and conservative blogger - said they could see the labor union encountering problems if it ran ads on the O'Donnell Park tragedy now that an employee is on record saying he talked with Barrett's staff about hitting Walker on this issue.

The union may, in short, be handcuffed.

"If SEIU or any other union spent money based on discussions they had with the Barrett campaign - whatever campaign - yeah, you've got a coordinated expenditure issue," said Dunst, who is now retired from state government.

Brickman, a deputy communications director for the Walker campaign, said in an interview that he was meeting a friend on the east side Sept. 10 when he overheard Morgan on his cell phone talking about Walker and a protest held earlier in the day by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. It turns out that Morgan was talking with Weishan, who didn't return calls to the Journal Sentinel.

As that conversation ended, Brickman turned on the recording application on his iPhone, slipped it into his pocket and approached the labor staffer.

"To be honest, I didn't believe it would work," Brickman said of the recording.

The 23-year-old campaign worker was also surprised that Morgan was so willing to talk about the union's strategy with someone he didn't know. Morgan clearly considered the inquisitive stranger a sympathetic ear - the Walker aide didn't discourage that notion - but it wasn't until deep into the conversation that he even asked for Brickman's name.

Brickman responded by saying his first name was Rich and that he worked in retail.

Brickman said he lied about his identity to avoid creating a scene with the Walker foe.

A copy of the recorded conversation shows Morgan said the Barrett campaign is "always a little nervous" talking to him because of concern over election laws. But he said Walzak "wants to help on the independent investigation" of the O'Donnell Park accident. Morgan added that Barrett was likely to bring the issue up in the gubernatorial debates and to push bills on the subject.

In his interview with No Quarter, Morgan explained that all he meant was that it would be natural for Walker's opponent to mention the accident. Plus, he said, Walzak encouraged him to get in contact with state Rep. Fred Kessler because the Milwaukee Democrat wants to draft a bill related to the situation.

To Morgan, it's important to keep bringing up the problems at the Mental Health Complex and O'Donnell Park.

"That connects Walker to the neglect issue," he told Brickman.

Recent engineering reports found that nearly all of O'Donnell Park garage's 70 decorative concrete panels were installed improperly and connections for more than one-third of them are in danger of failing. Walker and the County Board are nowweighing whether to remove the panels, sell the structure or demolish it altogether.

As for the Mental Health Complex, the Journal Sentinel has documented a pattern of neglect and mismanagement - to the point that one patient with a history of violence was allowed to roam free. That patient is facing charges of sexually assaulting a female patient and is believed to be the father of a boy born to another patient, who told complex officials the man had assaulted her.

These subjects, Morgan said, will be hit hard in upcoming TV commercials.

"They're going to say Scott Walker's a, you know, a disaster," Morgan told Brickman. "Scott Walker, his name is synonymous with neglect. . . . He's anti-public services. He shouldn't even be running. That's what they're going to say."

That's not to mention all the free media that Morgan has gotten from TV news coverage of his union's rallies and activities.

Morgan specifically mentioned WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) for its coverage of the union's press-friendly inspection of county facilities last month. Like the Journal Sentinel, the station is owned by Journal Communications.

"They've really been willing partners in it," Morgan claimed of the news stations. "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."

That may or may not be.

But this much is certain.

The entire incident will serve as a lesson to all involved in campaign work: No matter where you are, be careful what you say because someone could be using a cell phone to record the talk.

Yes, it turns out, there is an app for that.

[Kathryn Ball]

I think this means we are doomed!

Is it possible to demand proof of a brain from the congresswoman?!?!?