Walker's Whine And Weenies Summit

Not just a summit, but a
career opportunity!

Tuesday is the big day for Scott Walker's "Beer and Brat Summit."  He's invited all the lawmakers, their spouses and two staffers each to come and munch on some brats (Johnsonville, no doubt) and wash them down with a beer (Miller, no doubt), before holding hands and singing "Kumbaya."

Amazingly, all the RWNJs that tore into Barack Obama for holding a beer summit a few years ago are either now strangely mum on the topic or are calling the idea the greatest thing since sliced bread.

And as with all things Walker, his summit is starting to fall apart before it even happens.

Some Democrats - Mark Pocan, Kelda Helen Roys and Joh Erpenbach - are finding better things to do with their time.  They recognize that this is not a sincere effort on Walker's part to reach out across the aisle.  I can't say that I blame them.  In fact, I wish more of the Democrats had that fortitude. Walker's never worried about working with the Dems before, despite claims to the contrary, why should anyone think he would start now?

There is no word if Walker will order the state patrol to find and bring in the missing Democrats feet first.

Even people from his own side are also refusing to attend.

Rep. Steve Nass-ty
(stock photo)

The hilarious and histrionic Steve Nass-ty (R-Sandbox) is having a pity party of one and is refusing to come.  His reasoning is that he wants to punish the Democrats because DPW Chair Mike Tate accurately stated that Walker would see the inside of a prison cell before he sees another term.  Nass-ty also said that he was upset about Fred Risser pointing out Walker's previous refusals to work with the Democrats.

In a radio interview on Monday, Nass-ty repeatedly called the comments as "vile."  Leave it to a Republican to see truth and honesty as being vile.  But if Nass-ty really wanted to punish the Democrats, he'd show up and talk to each of them.  But then again, that would probably violate the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

And if this is how Republicans act when they win, can you imagine how petulant they'd be if the election hadn't been bought for Walker?

Another suspicious angle to this whole fiasco is that Walker is closing it to the press and to the public.  His excuse is laughable:

Lawmakers may bring their spouses and two staff members, but otherwise, the two-hour picnic is closed "to provide a relaxed environment for lawmakers to socialize with each other and with the governor," said Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie. 

It makes sense to keep the picnic private to encourage conversations and avoid accusations that it's just a photo opportunity, said Brandon Scholz, a Republican consultant and former state party executive director who's now head of the Wisconsin Grocers Association, which handled food for the event. The menu was to be released Monday afternoon.

Don't let him fool you.  Walker is still going to make this into a photo op.  He just closed it to the media because he wants to control the message that comes out of it, which is the false message of bipartisanship and working together.  Again, this is something we know all too well as being false.

The fact that you have all but four of the state legislators together in a meeting closed to the public is also a shining example of the flagrant disregard that Walker has for the law, such as open meeting laws.

Finally, I certainly hope someone follows up with looking into whether all of the food and beverages are truly being donated, as Walker claims that they are.  He made the same claims about the food and beverages served during Operation Freedom, with complaints that the donors were being rewarded and/or threatened into making these donations.  We've already seen that Walker is a slow learner.  There is no reason to believe that this would be any different.