Friday, June 17, 2011

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.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty funny fretting there James.

Just about everybody who knows much around the Capitol (and wasn't wearing blinders) knew that Stitt would be upheld.

But when it comes to insider information and whispering, I don't recall you making any complaints about the Secretary of State's contact with union leaders and Madison elected liberals to conspire to delay the publication of the law in the first place.

Nope - for you - outrage is situational.

James Rowen said...

Conflating isn't much of an argument.

Anonymous said...

So, conflation is situational?

Actually, on one hand you had groups conspiring, and on the other, you had anticipation of an obvious outcome.

Outrageous.

Anonymous said...

Obtuse conspirators are still conspirators.

We know where Walker is headed with this. It doesn't mean what he's doing isn't underhanded.

Anonymous said...

Ominous conflators have bad logic skills.

The indication of the leak is that the timing on the ruling was known.

gnarlytrombone said...

Just about everybody...knew that Stitt would be upheld.

And when! You knew that Michael Gableman would suddenly, magically transform the Huebsch petition into original jurisdiction and then, without benefit of a factual record, issue an opinion minutes before the budget was taken up.

Youse people around the Capitol are pretty godawful smart.

gnarlytrombone said...

Also, this didn't require a conspiracy at all. Just one of Gableman's wingnut law clerks to drop a dime.