More Suggestions GOP Was Tipped To Pro-Walker Supreme Court Ruling

On Monday I wrote that Republicans seemed to have been getting signals that the State Supreme Court was going to issue its ruling on the Walker union-busting/Open Meetings violation case - - to suit a deadline announced by Assembly Republican Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald.

The Court indeed issued its ruling in Walker's favor as the Republicans wished while the Assembly waited in caucus - - ready, they had said, to add the Walker union-busting bill to the pending budget debate - - but were taken off the hook by the timing and content of the Court's decision.

Coincidence?

Luck, or leak?

Now WKOW-TV in Madison has reported that indeed Republican legislators had told officials in Sheboygan they knew the decision was coming and that it would favor the GOP:

MADISON (WKOW) -- An email obtained by WKOW27 News indicates several local officials Monday were assured by Republican lawmakers the state Supreme Court would rule on the contentious collective bargaining case this week.

In a 4-3 decision, state Supreme Court justices Tuesday upheld the collective bargaining bill and vacated a Dane County judge's restraining order against it.

Four Republican legislators met with Sheboygan County department heads Monday as part of monthly sessions involving state and local officials.

After the meeting, county corporation counsel Carl Buesing briefed other county attorneys across the state on information pertaining to the collective bargaining bill's inclusion of employee contributions to their pension and health care.

"This Monday morning we met and were assured that the Supreme Court was going to rule by Wednesday and that that legislature was going to clean up all the loose ends,"   Buesing wrote in the email.

In a brief interview with WKOW27 News, Buesing changed his characterization of what lawmakers told county officials, saying an "expectation" of swift court action was expressed.

If true, an investigation into the confidentiality of the Court's internal processes is definitely warranted, as this episode is beginning to fail the smell test.