Walker emails reveal how ALEC Tea Party Republicans win primaries and beat Democrats

The Gov. Walker emails provide numerous examples of how Walker and his staff used Wisconsin talk radio to get into the Governor's mansion.

Most of the ten examples below show Walker and staff feeding talking points to talk show hosts, prompting them, and coaching them. At one point staff listens to a favorite talk show tool, Charlie Sykes, to see if Sykes is helping them.

There were a number of references in the emails to Wisconsin right wing radio talkers including Sykes and Mark Belling in Milwaukee and Vicki McKenna and Mitch Henck in Madison on Limbaugh station AM 1310 WIBA.

With Walker now in Madison I imagine WIBA plays a larger role than it would when these emails were written.

Sykes seemed to be Walker’s go-to carnival barker. Along with his radio work for 620 WTMJ, Sykes co-publishes a blog with ALEC ‘alum’ and stink tank (MacIver Institute) co-founder Brian Fraley. Walker also has an ALEC background.

During the day WTMJ can be heard in the Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Chicago area ( http://www.radio-locator.com/... ). WTMJ broadcasts Wisconsin University Badgers, Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Milwaukee Brewers games. In Madison, WIBA also pays the University of Wisconsin to broadcast Badger sports.

Republican politicians and ALEC/GOP think tanks feed and manage hundreds of radio talkers nationally, selling ALEC legislation and obstructing progressive legislation at little cost. The radio hosts are presented in our communities as concerned citizens enjoying their individual free speech rights on the public airwaves, broadcasting from radio stations licensed to operate in the public interest.

After the emails I have four suggestions for challenging the Republican talk radio advantage before the 2014 elections.

Note: The originals are all mixed up from repeated inclusion in replies and forwarding. I tried to order them by date. I reordered some email headings and cut some redundancies to make the emails more readable. The six digit numbers are page numbers. My notes within the quotes are in parentheses. If you want to search the Walker emails for the examples I use I suggest referencing material in the block quotes, or unique fragments, like dates, that wouldn't have been changed.

I hope Wisconsinites will weigh in with context and corrections.

(also posted on DKos)

1)

When the Milwaukee Area Labor Council AFL-CIO sent out a flyer announcing a protest of Walker’s proposed budget in May 2010 the flyer was scanned into the emails and forwarded. Walker suggests alerting 'talk radio'.

From: Darlene Wink/Co Exec/Milwaukee County
To: Thomas G Nardelli/Co Exec/Milwaukee County@MILWCO, Kelly Rindfleisch
Date: 05/06/2010 07:39 AM
Subject: Fw: Public Listening Session & Demonstration-Scott Walker's 2011 Budget

The crazies will probably be there on county time!

From: "Kelly Rindfleisch"
Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 08:47:32 -0500
To: ; 'Scott Walker'> Cc: (plus others)
Subject: RE: Schultze typo

Looks like they are going to be demonstrating beforehand.

148659

From: skw@scottwalker.org
To:Kelly Rindfleisch; McLaughlin Nardelli; Bob Nenno; Gilkes; Bader; RJ Johnson
Subject: Re: Schultze typo
Date: Thursday, May 06, 2010 9:49:34 AM

We should let talk radio know.

130872

How many protestors are the pro-Walker rantings from those radio stations worth?

The radio screamers can hide behind call screeners while they attack protestors and make excuses for Walker and the Republicans and their failed Ayn Randian dreams. They can complain all day and long after to tens of thousands of Wisconsinites about dirty lazy protestors trashing the capitol and interfering with traffic, trying to get free money while bankrupting the state. They can encourage the cops and excuse their excesses. And they can lie without worrying about being corrected in real time.

With that kind of support do Walker and the Republicans have to worry about protestors?

2)

Walker has been getting criticism for security problems at mental health facilities. Keith Gilkes sends a critical news clipping to Walker 19 minutes after it is posted by Steve Schultze of the Journal Sentinel. 32 minutes later Walker emails Sykes to use him to defend his mental health chief. They ask for and get help from Sykes.

From: Keith Gilkes
Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 19:31:24 -0500
To: Scott Walker; 'R. J. Johnson' 'Rindfleisch'; Nardelli
Subject: MJS Article on BHD...

Supervisors call for firing of county mental health chief
By Steve Schultze of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: May 10, 2010 7:12 p.m. |(0) COMMENTS
Three Milwaukee County supervisors turned up the heat Monday on the county's top mental health official, calling for the firing of John Chianelli over mishandling of patient assaults. Their remarks follow a report Sunday in the Journal Sentinel in which Chianelli defended housing female patients with dangerous male patients to quell male-on-male violence, according to written account by Supervisor Lynne De Bruin. Chianelli called it a trade-off that resulted in more sexual assaults of female patients, according to De Bruin and two other supervisors.
"It's been one disaster after another out there with John," said County Supervisor John Weishan Jr. Weishan, De Bruin and Supervisor Christopher Larson called for Chianelli's ouster over an accumulation of problems. County Executive Scott Walker named him to the post three years ago. Mental health advocates also criticized Chianelli and called for a change in leadership.

From: skw@scottwalker.org
Sent: Mon 5/10/2010 8:03 PM
To: Charlie Sykes
Subject: Call

What is a good # to call and talk to you for a few minutes?

I assume he talked to Sykes. Sykes might have asked “what do you want me to say?”, because half an hour later Walker has drafted talking points and is asking for an opinion from staff.

From: skw@scottwalker.org
To:Keith Gilkes; RJ Johnson; Bader; Thompson; Rindfleisch; Nardelli
Re: MJS Article on BHD...
Monday, May 10, 2010 8:33:13 PM

I would like to send this to Sykes. What do you think?
Walker lists some talking points.
Any form of violence or abuse at the mental health complex is unacceptable to the me.
As for the policy of mixed gender units........ (Walker goes on...)
Scott

Here are two responses from Gilkes and Nardelli within 30 minutes.

From: jillb@scottwalker.org
To: Scott Walker; Gilkes; rj; Thompson Rindfleisch; Nardelli
Subject: Re: MJS Article on BHD (Behavioral Health Division)...
Date: Monday, May 10, 2010 8:52:09 PM

Scott - do you think charlie (Sykes) will get this? Do you think maybe you should call and walk him through everything?

From: Tom Nardelli
To: Scott Walker; Gilkes ; rj; Thompson Rindfleisch
Subject: RE: MJS Article on BHD...
Date: Monday, May 10, 2010 9:01:38 PM

Scott should not do an "on air" interview, but a walk through would be helpful. I like his email to Sykes.

A couple of days later it sounds like Rindfleisch is listening to Syke's morning show and lets everyone know Sykes is doing his job.

From: Kelly Rindfleisch
Subject: RE: HELP
To: "'M. Lisa'"
Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 9:15 AM

Sykes is defending John (John Chianelli)

From:Kelly Rindfleisch
To:"Keith Gilkes"; "RJ Johnson"; "Bader" "Thompson"
Subject: Charlie
Date:Wednesday, May 12, 2010 9:30:05 AM

Charlie just talked about BHD, read Jursik’s letter and the letters of support for Chianelli.

130972

From:M. Lisa
To:Kelly Rindfleisch
Subject:RE: HELP Wednesday,
Date:May 12, 2010 9:47:45 AM

THANK GOD - he needs it today

3)

Here the same PR problem continues (16 days later) and they talk about seeding the media, talking points for Sykes, and questions for him to ask CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services).

From: Kelly Rindfleisch
Subject: RE: Patient to Patient assault case
To: "'M. Lisa'"
Date: Friday, May 28, 2010, 11:50 AM

That is so bizarre. I was just telling Keith that we need to blow up the Mendota story and feed info to some investigative reporter in Madison. I specifically talked about this woman (the writer Dee Hall?). She’s the one who blew up the caucus scandal in the capital 8 years ago. I told keith that denniks contact needs to feed information to a reporter in Madison. I was gonna e-mail you and ask if we have any friendlies at CMS or the state that would anonymously give her the info.

From:M. Lisa
To:Kelly Rindfleisch
Subject: tim & sykes
Date:Friday, May 28, 2010 12:03:24 PM

Joan and I gave Tim a list of ?'s for Sykes to ask CMS and the form to complete with a copy of the suicide story. As a member of the "media" he can say the 20 day rule to comply with FOIA does not apply - it is now a question of the public's need to know for safety.

About 10 days later Walker seems to follow up. Dems are making Open Records requests so Walker suggests that Sykes make an Open Records request to his office as subject for his show. Walker also points out to Sykes that his GOP primary competition is doing what Democrats are doing. Implication: they're RINOS.....

From: skw@scottwalker.org
Sent: Mon 6/7/2010 2:47 PM
To: Charlie Sykes
Subject: Requests We get Open Records requests several times a week from the Dems, One Wisconsin Now, etc.

Some are easy to reply to while others take hours.
It might be interesting for you to make an Open Records request to my office (skw@milwcnty.com) for a copy of all of the requests made by various groups.
First, it will be amazing to see all of the information being requested. To fill these requests take hour and even days - if not longer.
Second, it is even more interesting to see that the other GOP candidate is asking for almost all of the same info as the left (in nearly identical requests).
Ask (my official office) and we would be happy to send over the info.

Later in July they’re still having problems with records requests. Here they use Sykes (and maybe another radio blowhard Jay Weber) to criticize Dems for spending money on open records requests re the Health Dept problems. So, if the local talkers are pounding this issue on their shows, how much feedback are Democrats getting and do they know where it's coming from? Do they assume that element of 'popular outrage' is real, merely because they don't know what's blasting from the radio?
Emails below suggest Walker's team is only releasing files they want to.

150200

From: kmrindfleisch@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 9:51 AM
To: Keith
Subject: JS

Umhoefer and Schultze have been hounding skw to release o'donnell records (they have open records requests). Skw is anxious to get them what they want. We are still trying to determine what can be released.
Last night, I had Fran call Schultze and walk through their requests to determine if info provided fullfilled their request and what they still needed. Goodwill gesture so they know we aren't holding out. Skw seemed pleased with that. We'll keep sending them info as its found and ok'd to release and skw sees it.

Later in the day Rindfleisch is aggravated to find out a local reporter named Bice is planning to write a piece blaming them for charging too much for the open records requests. She wants to get Sykes and Webber to preempt the article and blame Weishan for initiating the requests and wasting money.

From: kmrindfleisch@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 2:03 PM
To: Keith
Subject: Re: JS

Jesus tom is dense sometimes. Stop me if you knew this - bice called last friday about us charging weishan 2800 bucks for his open records request. He's gonna spin it as we're charging this outragous aamount and the public has a right to know.
For his $2800 he got four pages. My thought was to get weber or charlie the request the hours it took IMSD to complete the request and the response. Spin it as this jackass spent $2800 of taxpayer money and wasted hours and hours of county employees time on a political fishing expedition. This would preempt any story bice would do. Tom doesn't get it at all.

Later in the day Gilkes gets the OK from Walker.

From: "Keith Gilkes - Friends of Scott Walker"
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:06:07
To:
Subject: RE: JS

Talked with Scott on it - he was to check in with you guys on it. I hoped he did - but he understood the reasoning on giving it to talk radio.
I just don't want to do anything unless Scott is kosher with it.

From: kmrindfleisch@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 6:08 PM
To: Keith
Subject: Re: JS

I got skw what he needed for sykes.
And here’s Walker sending talking points to another radio talker Mark Belling in response re Weishan records request.

From: skw@scottwalker.org
To: Mark Belling
Subject: Fw: weishan
Date:Wednesday, July 28, 2010 7:59:16 AM
Attachments: SCAN7701 000.pdf

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is looking to do a story on this (likely Thursday) Open Records Request. On May 25th, Sup John Weishan asked for a very broad range of requests (see page 3). To fulfill the request, county IT staff had to spend 10 hours, 53 minutes and 23 seconds to copy 30.558 GB of data from stored browser cache files and 24 hours of staff time between three people to process the data for those specific URLs and then to create a report.
After all of that work, the report showed that four people in our office look at a conventional website to read updated press releases about the county. Pretty normal.
Weishan is grumbling because the cost of the 4 page report is $2,816.61. But this represents the actual cost to the county for the report.
In other words, Weishan wasted $2,816.61 on a political attack that didn't produce anything.

So, how much of the time charged was spent by staff filtering/choosing the material that they wanted to release?

4)

I couldn’t figure out the details on this (who's 'he'?), but I’m guessing it’s about competing for donors with democratic opponent for governor (Barrett). There's a reference to using Sykes again.

From: Tom Nardelli
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:33:00 -0500
To: Scott Walker
Cc: Rindfleisch; Keith Gilkes; 'Bader'; RJ Johnson; Nenno
Subject: RE: Barrett at Hoyt

Are the Morgridges Barrett supporters?

From: skw@scottwalker.org
To: Nardelli; McLaughlin Rindfleisch; Gilkes; Bader; RJ Johnson; Nenno
Subject:Re: Barrett at Hoyt Saturday,
Date:June 19, 2010 2:19:25 PM

They are big liberals (stem cell). If he tries to do anything, we should give info to Sykes. Barrett was probably just sucking up to them to get $$$.

So Walker hides behind Sykes while Sykes does the dirty work. Sykes hides behind his call screener. This is a standard function for RW radio.

5)

Walker is getting blame for underfunded maintenance programs that may have resulted in the death of 15 year old Jarred Kellner when a concrete panel fell from the O'Donnell Park garage in 2010. Sykes emails Walker to get help spinning it.

From: "Charlie Sykes"
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:06:27 -0500
To:
Subject: Deferred maintenance

Our TV brethren are breathless about this ‘report” ...can you put it in context for me?

Notice he's not asking specific questions, just how to interpret it as Walker would want.

6)

Here the GOP candidate for Lt. Gov, Brett Davis, sends a link to an article and prompts Sykes to pile on and help criticize then Lt. Gov Barbara Lawton, who was pissing off Republicans trying to get campaign finance reform (looks like she is now President/CEO of Americans for Campaign Reform).

From: Brett Davis
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 10:43 AM
To: Charlie Sykes
Subject: Does Barbara Lawton need 2 policy directors!

Charlie,
When is Barbara Lawton going to stop hiring policy directors? This is the second “policy director” she hired in the last 3 months. As you know, I did a formal statement on the hiring of her first policy director (below).
Yet again, another classic example of waste. (http://)www.wausaudailyherald.com/... Rosenberg-ready-to-resign-from-city-council-county-board. I’d love to come on and talk about this.

On Jul 8, 2010, at 10:45 AM,
"Charlie Sykes" wrote:

No shame at all...

155776


Here Rindfleisch passes on (didn’t see to who) that Sykes did his duty.

From:kmrindfleisch@gmail.com
Subject:FW: Does Barbara Lawton need 2 policy directors!
Date:Thursday, July 08, 2010 7:27:18 PM

Charlie read the email (a statement from Brett Davis criticizing Lawton) below on the air.

Consider this in terms of pushing ALEC voter suppression (or any other) legislation all over the country. They can always count on their local right wing blowhards to swiftboat their opponents, who usually have little idea that it’s happening until it has already been repeated all over the area for days. In this case it’s just a criticism but the same happens with lies and rumors. Other local radio talkers may have followed Sykes lead or could have been prompted with other communication.

7)

Here’s the kind of thing that RW radio can get away with any time it wants. In this case Sykes uses his program to lie to tens of thousands based on an email from an anonymous listener. Paid callers may do the same thing. The GOP made a retraction but it's already done the damage.

GOP retracts statement after criticizing nonexistent fundraiser
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel By Patrick Marley and Jason Stein September 1, 2010 (http://)www.jsonline.com/...
Madison -- The state Republican Party blasted Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett on Wednesday for holding a "secret" fundraiser with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi -- then quickly retracted the statement saying it had no evidence the event occurred.
Spokespeople for Barrett and Pelosi said no such fundraiser occurred. "It's too bad they will, out of desperation, spread whatever lies they feel are necessary," said Phil Walzak, a campaign spokesman for Barrett.
(cont)The Republican Party released its attack on Barrett -- which included a drawing of Pelosi handing a bag of cash to Barrett -- based on statements by WTMJ-AM (620) host Charlie Sykes and questions from reporters, said Andrew Welhouse, a spokesman for the Republican Party.

An entry on Sykes' blog quotes an e-mail from an anonymous listener that makes reference to a "quietly" planned fundraiser for Barrett which Pelosi would attend.

Sykes could not immediately be reached Wednesday evening. WTMJ and the Journal Sentinel are owned by the same parent company.

8)

Here Walker announces a tax cut on the Sykes show even before doing a press release.

From: skw@scottwalker.org
To:Fran McLaughlin Tom Nardelli; Rindfleisch; Archer
Subject: Sykes
Date:Friday, September 10, 2010 9:57:14 AM

I announced the $1 million tax cut on Sykes show. We should prepare a release to announce the cut. It needs to also mention that this fulfills the promise I made earlier this year. Also stress that the bill protects public safety, increases support for human services, maintains our parks and supports our transportation systems.

The normal way to do this would be to discuss the cut with staff (which it appears he did) and make a decision, formulate an announcement, then contact Sykes to help sell/excuse it. So did he make the final decision at home and on the way in to work he stops by the station to announce it on the Sykes show? Why would he announce it on Syke's show before he announced it to staff? Was he talking about it with someone outside the staff who suggested he announce it to Sykes first? Does it make sense?

9)

Here a Walker associate passes on the transcript of an interview by Mike Gousha, who has a statewide commercial TV news magazine. The unidentified guest refers to Walker’s talk radio advantage in the GOP primary contest with Neumann. Neumann can't go negative on Walker without getting blowback from Walker's talk radio friends.

From: Fran McLaughlin
Date: September 3, 2010 3:19:33 PM CDT
To: gopfran@yahoo.com
Subject: UpFront 8/29 WISN-MKE (ABC) - Milwaukee, WI UpFront with Mike Gousha
WISN 8/29/2010 9:14:01 AM

Gousha:
he's spending a fair amount of his money, mark newman is. >> he's investing millions of his money in his campaign. >> and yet, he has not really punched Scott Walker in the nose with this campaign. he came close when he criticized Walker's jobs agenda. but he really hasn't done it. do we know why that is? >>
Unidentified guest:
well, i think that will was a definite negative reaction. i think that either true polling or word on the street or from people he was meeting that this was hurting him. and you also had talk radio. you can't ever discredit talk radio. and in a milwaukee market, they were very pro Walker and beating up on newman for going negative on Walker or criticizing Walker. there was immediate blowback. so he pulled back from that and tried a different tact.

Walker can appear 'gentlemanly' while he uses his talk radio friends to attack.

10)

Someone passes on media coverage of a Tea Party pro Walker gathering:

Tea party energizes state GOP
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel By Bill Glauber It's not wing of party, but messages often merge September 19, 2010 (http://)www.jsonline com/news/statepolitics/103251749.html
It was March 2009 and Democrats still reveled in the glow of President Barack Obama's inauguration.
In Milwaukee, on a cold, damp Saturday afternoon, hundreds of conservative voters gathered inside the city's convention center for what was billed as a "Defending the American Dream Summit." The audience became fired up as speaker after speaker, including Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, rallied the true believers to the conservative cause.
At the end of the long day, a talk show radio host named Vicki McKenna got up and urged the crowd to attend what she called a tea party, to be held that April 15 on the steps of the Capitol in Madison.

No wonder Democrats keep loosing to ALEC Republican Tea Party stooges like Walker. In Wisconsin, how much help were blowhards like Sykes for beating Russ Feingold and putting ALEC shill Ron Johnson in the senate?

Talk radio is a nearly 95% RW monopoly and a unique media advantage for GOP, ALEC, and US Chamber of Commerce. It's a strategic mistake to weigh it against any perceived advantage the Left has on the internet or social media. The Left's advantage comes with truth, common sense, and what's left of democracy in media.

And the talk radio advantage is practically free for them, independent of the money advantage usually factored into political calculations. It can be coordinated locally or nationally through their think tanks or directly like Walker is doing.

I suspect it's the norm in every state. Anytime local or national Republicans want to push or obstruct anything significant, sample your local state radio talkers and you’ll hear what I mean.

I’ve heard close coordination between Republican politicians, right wing think tanks, and local talk radio in Colorado and New Mexico. Think tank employees are regular guests on RW radio and one think tank president in Colorado has his own talk show (Jon Caldera- Independence Institute). For 25 years these right wing political elements have been working together to build and reinforce the alternate reality that every Republican politician and media hack depends on today.

The formation of the talk radio monopoly after Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine coincides directly with increasing ALEC success, record levels of partisanship, and Republican extremism since the early 1990's. It wouldn't have happened to the extent it has without that radio monopoly.

It's not going to fade away before the next election. I believe the Democratic Party and Progressive organizations can make significant gains in the next elections if they stop underestimating talk radio and finally include it in their strategies.

Four ways Democrats and progressives can challenge the talk radio advantage before the 2014 elections:

1) Right wing radio has been successful because it has been ignored. Use the latest transcription software to make transcripts of the major local RW talkers available for searching and reading. Lies and distortions can be responded to in other media, or with picketing at stations, BEFORE they hurt Democratic candidates and progressive causes. Most advertising the GOP and its candidates do is built on and reinforced by lies and distortions popularized and made acceptable with the unchallenged repetition that only talk radio is capable of. Correcting the talk radio gods and their propaganda publicly will reduce the effectiveness of those ads and the numbers of disinterested fence-sitters the dittoheads and teabaggers can mobilize on election day.

2) More than 28% of Limbaugh stations piggyback publicly funded schools. I don't think the RW radio monopoly can survive without its parasitic relationship with our institutions of higher learning. Shame colleges and universities that broadcast sports on RW radio stations. Get them to honor their mission statements and look for apolitical alternatives. The benefits those schools get from their associations with the loudest stations in the state pale in comparison to the damage RW radio has helped shills like Walker do. The RW stations and their talkers use college sports logos to boost their community credibility and attract advertisers while they help ALEC and the Koch brothers and their candidates defund and privatize public education, attack teachers and unions and Democratic candidates, and deny global warming and other science. Those stations also weigh in on elections of regents and the short lists of candidates for school presidents. The radio component of the media licensing revenue a school receives (usually packaged with all media) may be minuscule compared to total licensing revenues and schools need to be asked to reveal those details. What's the price to get a university to trash its own mission statement? The amount may be surprisingly small.

3) Support the Rush Limbaugh boycott efforts and extend it to all advertisers on right wing stations. Most stations include some innocuous and apolitical programming during the week but they are primarily part of the larger RW propaganda operation. Any damage done to progressive radio will made up for many times over as the right wing radio monopoly disintegrates and stations become available.

4) Where appropriate, include radio stations and talk show hosts in peaceful protests. For 25 years a few hundred RW talkers with big soapboxes have attacked, distorted, and sabotaged the citizen activism of millions- with little protest or acknowledgment from the 'Left' or it's organizations. Protests at state capitols are routinely minimized by the state RW stations and their carnival barkers. Those attacks can continue long after the protestors go home. Almost any major issue is appropriate, from social justice and equality, fair wages, global warming, the Keystone XL pipeline, fracking, media and election reform, voter suppression, gun control, wall street, and political corruption. All could legitimately be picketed at those giant megaphones - the true source of 'popular' power of the new irrational Republican Party. Media and politicians used to being intimidated and enabled by RW radio and its made-to-order think tank talk radio constituencies, will notice.