Scott Walker Doesn't Want Another Fawn Killing PR Debacle
The DNR's messy fawn overkill right on top of Scott Walker's charm offensive at the National Governors Association conference last weekend has led Walker to drop another bomb at a Cabinet meeting:
No more DNR/SWAT-like seizures and killing of sheltered fawns:
Says Walker, "I don't ever want to see something like that again."Right. Especially when you're posing as FDR and burnishing a national leadership image.
Bambi in a body bag is right up there with Dick Cheney shooting someone in the face.
But we've seen the image-conscious Team Walker move quickly to squash bad media before:
* Remember how they responded after a big concrete slab fell off a county parking ramp, killing a teen-age boy and maiming an adult woman with him?
The night of the incident, Walker campaign manager Keith Gilkes told [then-deputy Chief of Staff/now convicted-felon Kelly] Rindfleisch to get to the office early and "keep on top" of county staffers to make sure "there is not a paper any where that details a problem at all."* And remember Walker's infamous email to the also now-convicted felon/former Walker county aide Tim Russell after news broke that Walker staffers were carrying out illegal political work in county offices on county time?
"We cannot afford another story like this one," Walker wrote to Russell. "No one can give them any reason to do another story."Got that, Cathy Stepp?
23 comments:
Veal. Where's the outrage there?
Someone - Pixar - needs to do a baby cow movie with long lashes and a girly voice-over just so the left can link it to a Scott Walker non-story.
As to veal: I know a lot of people who eat little or no meat because they are conscious of how the animals are raised.
"Where's the outrage there? "
The outrage isn't just that they killed a fawn. It's that they sent out a SWAT team to do it.
James,
How about we encourage people to drop this SWAT team meme? Were they dressed in black combat gear and armed with assault rifles? I doubt it. I haven't seen any photos, but I'm guessing they were simply DNR wardens carrying their usual sidearms, and doing a job they were assigned to do by higher-ups. This event is sad enough without adding hysterics.
AnonyBob
I said SWAT-like.
The description originated with an eyewitness, and aired on mainstream TV news - - http://www.wisn.com/news/armed-agents-raid-animal-shelter-for-baby-deer/-/9373668/21272108/-/wvh1n7z/-/index.html
AnonyBob, every description I've read indicated the men who carried this out were heavily armed.
Yes, Wisconsin law should be upheld. And people who pick up fawns are often being stupid and sentimental about wild animals.
But a simple talk with that animal shelter would have either confirmed the fawn was in transit to a licensed wildlife shelter, or gotten the matter resolved with euthanasia. This was handled Walker style. Instead of "speak softly and carry a big stick," we have "yell and flail like an idiot." THis needs to stop.
From the WISN-TV account:
"It was like a SWAT team," shelter employee Ray Schulze said.
Two weeks ago, Schulze was working in the barn at the Society of St. Francis on the Kenosha-Illinois border when a swarm of squad cars arrived and officers unloaded with a search warrant.
There are no photos because the agents made sure that there would be no photos -- they confiscated a staff member's cell phone and deleted any photos that had already been taken.
What does that say about those in charge of this operation? To me that is the most chilling detail of all: our public servants didn't want us to see what they were doing, and took measures to keep us from seeing. What won't they want us to see, or know about, next?
What won't they want us to see, or know about, next?
Scott Walker signing anti-woman legislation kind of comes to mind...
This is exactly what you can expect to happen when a semiliterate imbecile (seen her deer-kill photo?) is put in charge of natural resources.
Of course, no one but a semiliterate imbecile would have PUT her in that position.
For the un-knowing and willfully ignorant:
The wardens were doing their job, and were forced into a PR nightmare, They weren't "heavily armed" or "swat-like_. The were in prescribed uniform and carrying the required side arm. No more, no less.
The idiots and fools in this drama are the folks from IL that picked up an "abandoned fawn" and crossed state lines with it, then the folks at the shelter that accepted it. Place blame where due.
I will in no way defend walker or what he said in response to this situation. But don't blame the wardens or the DNR for how this particular scenario turned out.
So why did they make sure to take everybody's phones and delete the photos?
If they were 'just doing their jobs', why were they destroying private property and records? I am pretty sure the job description of "DNR Warden" does not include 'concealing the actions of the Wardens by eliminating evidence".
I am CONSTANTLY astonished by the meek obedience to any authority people are willing to extend.
"SWAT-like" was in the article, and part of the description used by the people who were there. Also, while 9 of the officers were Wardens, four were deputies. Thirteen guys to euthanize one fawn? Even for deer hunting enthusiasts, that's overkill.
And, as has been noted in the articles, with a phone call to the station ONE Warden would have probably been enough.
So, yeah, 'SWAT-like tactics' seems like an appropriate description to me.
Also, I can't blame the folks from IL who were only trying to rescue what they saw as a wounded animal, and took it to what they figured was the nearest place to deal with it. They surely had no idea of the supposed hazard posed, or the DNR rules on the matter.
zombie:
You make my point about willful ignorance. Do some research regarding captive wildlife in WI. Then come back and apologize, to me and the wardens.
In the spirit of full disclosure; I am not and have never been a warden in WI or any other state.
All this fuss over a fawn.
Spend some worthy time working at a homeless shelter or some other worthy cause.
Nothing better to do?
Oh, it's the Scott Walker thing again. Nevermind.
In the spirit of full disclosure; I am not and have never been a warden in WI or any other state.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have worked professionally with a group of the Wardens, and I have nothing but respect for them.
Respect, however, doesn't mean unquestioning support when they have done something beyond the bounds of proper operation, which I think this is.
An apology to you will not be forthcoming. You are the one operating from ignorance, as apparently you have read none of the stories linked on this.
Having known several DNR Wardens, I have no doubt that they will be perfectly fine with me not apologizing to them.
I will, however, thank you for working with a nym, so discussions are a bit easier. So many drive-by trolls don't even bother....
Perhaps, Hankdog, you might answer my question about the need to eradicate evidence? If the Assault Squad (does that work better for you?) was "just doing their job" then photographic evidence would be in their favor, would it not?
"Bambi in a body bag is right up there with Dick Cheney shooting someone in the face. "
I'll be chuckling over that one for quite some time.
I used to wish that Cheney had been hunting with Antonin Scalia that time, but you wouldn't liken the trollish Scalia to sweet innocent Bambi. . . ,
rotten:
If you have "worked professionally" with wardens, you wouldn't make such ridiculous comments. As anon 3:20 said, get a job at a homeless shelter and quit the fuss over the fawn.
If you have "worked professionally" with wardens, you wouldn't make such ridiculous comments.
You don't have to believe me, but I'm not lying. Why is it ridiculous to criticize the Wardens? Are they exempt from making mistakes, somehow?
And the fuss isn't over the fawn, but the overkill of the tactics. Nice straw-fawn there.
Still no answer on the eradication of evidence, I see.
The frightening thing about this whole scenario is the confiscating of the phone and deleting of pictures. That should never have been done. I speak as a DNR employee. This shows poor warden training and a very misguided sense of loyalty. That should be the real PR fiasco.
http://www.lakelandtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubsectionID=9&ArticleID=14250
Does this pic in the article Make the head of the DNR look like a heartless ghoul? Yes it does. We consider the source and see who appointed her to know that Scott Walker is a Sociopath. You shall know him by the company he keeps and by his words and deeds.
I asked the WDNR wardens at the State Fair on Sunday whether the WDNR was planning on doing a shoulder mount of Giggles the Fawn to add to the "Wall of Shame" the WDNR maintains at the State Fair exhibit.
The "Wall of Shame" consists of illegally taken deer confiscated by wardens. I thought that displaying the broken neck of Giggles the Fawn would be a nice reminder to all the citizens of Wisconsin to leave "abandoned" fawns alone lest they end of being the targets of a WDNR SWAT team raid and getting their necks snapped in half to save them from CWD.
The wardens manning the exhibit didn't think too much of my suggestion to display Giggles the Fawn in next year's exhibit.
This raid was such a glowing example of what Wisconsin has become under Scott Walker. I wonder why they don't want to display Giggles?
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