Quote Of The Day

From the Washington Post:

Eric O'Keefe is one of the biggest GOP donors in the country and is one of the main organizers in the effort to defeat the recall of Gov. Scott Walker in Madison, Wis. He says the average voter doesn’t care if faraway millionaires spend fortunes in Wisconsin. “That’s inside baseball,” he says. “There’s no moral issue involved. This is a nationally significant fight.”

They really don't understand us angry badgers, do they?

Heartland Employs Rep. Weiner Defense Strategy

Yesterday, I alerted the gentle reader to the "secret" plan by the Heartland Institute to try to tame the Angry Badgers in Wisconsin.

Today, the Heartland Institute initiated the Rep. Anthony Weiner Defense Strategy of Blaming Unknown Actors.

They issued a press release blaming the document on thieves and forgeries.  The odd thing is that if this were a forgery and made up of whole cloth, why did they apologize to their donors?

Apologies: The Heartland Institute apologizes to the donors whose identities were revealed by this theft. We promise anonymity to many of our donors, and we realize that the major reason these documents were stolen and faked was to make it more difficult for donors to support our work. We also apologize to Heartland staff, directors, and our allies in the fight to bring sound science to the global warming debate, who have had their privacy violated and their integrity impugned.

The Guardian also followed up on this story only to get changing stories from the H.I. flacks, who then took a "don't you dare question us" approach:

The nature of the "theft" charges by Heartland was also not immediately clear. Lakely, in his statement, explains that a staff member, persuaded by "an unknown person", mistakenly sent the documents to an unfamiliar email address.

Heartland's statement said the "stolen documents appear to have been written by Heartland's president for a board meeting that took place on January 17."

However, in an email to the Guardian later on Wednesday, Lakely backtracked on this apparent confirmation that some of the documents were genuine.

"Considering the fact that the individual who committed fraud and identity theft in correspondence with a staffer yesterday also created a fake Heartland document out of whole cloth, we cannot authenticate any of the documents," he wrote.

"At any rate, our standing policy is to not discuss confidential documents. We are also in the process of taking legal action, so our previous statements are all we have to say about the matter at present."

As the saying goes, I believe them, even if a million other people don't.

The Heartland Institute vs The Angry Badger

The Heartland Institute is a self-described libertarian group (read a hive of collectively-thinking ultraconservative nut jobs) that think they have an influence in the Midwest in pushing the corporate agenda of breaking the unions, destroying the environment by arguing against global warning and even have worked hand in hand with companies like Phillip Morris in an effort to try to show smoking doesn't cause lung cancer.

To get a better idea of what kind of people they are, well, they get their funding in part by the Bradley Foundation, whose CEO is Michael Grebe, the same guy that's chaired Walker's campaign and is back in that position now. Oh, and the Koch Brothers have been known to fund their efforts at turning the county into a corporate state.

So what this has to do with anything? Well, they've set their targets on us, the good people of Wisconsin.

In their 2012 Fundraising Plan, which they did not want to be publicly known, the Heartland Institute has a section starting on page 13 a section titled "Operation Angry Badger." Here's what they have to say about us and their anti-Wisconsin agenda:

Wisconsin was the focus of national attention due to recall campaigns waged in 2011, and campaigns are taking place in 2012 against Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and three Republican senators who voted for Act 10, the landmark collective bargaining reform legislation adopted in 2011. We have been following the Wisconsin debate closely, reporting on it in Budget & Tax News, commenting in op-eds and LTEs and on blogs, doing television and radio interviews, and sending research and commentary to elected officials in Wisconsin and nationally.

The recall elections of 2012 amount to a referenda on collective bargaining reform at the state level, making them of national interest. Successful recalls would be a major setback to the national effort to rein in public sector compensation and union power. Heartland is the largest and most influential national free-market think tank in the Midwest, so we are in the right place and with the right resources to help defend and secure Wisconsin’s recent gains.

We are contemplating five projects:

1. Recruit and promote superintendents who support Act 10
2. Explain the benefits of Act 10
3. Document the shortcomings of public schools in Wisconsin
4. Expose teacher pay in key districts
5. Create blogs that shadow small town newspaper coverage of the controversy

We anticipate that this project will cost about $612,000. Maureen Martin, Heartland’s legal counsel, with be the chief researcher and writer for this project. The anonymous donor has pledged $100,000 toward this project. We are circulating a proposal to other potential funders.

We know that this group is without scruples and will do everything and anything they can to prevent the people from reclaiming Wisconsin from the very same corporate interests that fund this shadow group.

I say let's show them what angry badgers are all about!