In Madison: Scott Walker Packed His Budget Address With Ringers

[The Straight Story]

In Madison: Scott Walker Packed His Budget Address With Ringers

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's budget address was delivered beneath a dead and stuffed eagle. His address made commitments to a better educated Wisconsin, even while offering almost guaranteed decreased funding of the state's schools. He criticized the state's wasteful use of "our tobacco settlement," and then minutes later praised, for his "bold new ideas and strong leadership," former Republican Tommy Thompson—the state's key architect of that tobacco settlement spending.

He twice passed into reverence for "our state's constitution," even while it was being broken two floors below him: the Capitol's doors were still locked.

One possible reason for why the doors remained locked to Wisconsin citizens nearly six hours after a judge ordered them open soon became clear. The assembly gallery had been packed with ringers.

In the run up to Walker's address, a press pass allowed me access to the goings on inside the dome, as well as to the assembly address itself.¹

http://www.theawl.com/2011/03/in-madison-scott-walker-packed-his-budget-address-with-ringers?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheAwl+%28The+Awl%29

[Blue Owl]

1. Wisconsin's "The Decider"

This guy's just like a little shrub, with his fake audiences and canned applause.

I thought America has had enough of that shit already.