Prank call proves billionaire David Koch owns Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP

Prank call proves billionaire David Koch owns Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP

www.grist.org

Why would the governor of a state that is literally under siege by protestors take the call from some businessman? Well, Koch more or less owns Walker. The Koch Brothers -- put their wealth together and you'd get the third richest man in America -- have made no secret of their desire to apply their vast wealth toward shaping American politics; that is, buying and selling elections.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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[url=http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/23/buffalo-beast-allegedly-tricks-wisc-gov-walker-into-taking-call-from-fake-david-koch/]www.rawstory.com[/u rl]

Originally Titled: Koch Whore

by Murphy of BuffaloBeast.com

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker answers his master's call

"David Koch": We'll back you any way we can. What we were thinking about the crowd was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: You know, well, the only problem with that-because we thought about that...

Amazing how open and gabby Scott Walker was with this David Koch impersonator. These two must have a chummy relationship. The editor of the Buffalo Beast does make for a good Koch impersonation.

These are the same jokesters that prank call a lot of politicians; heres one were they go after Hilary Clinton's staff:

www.buffalobeast.com...

BTW the Buffalo Beast's Web site is experiencing server overload (or a DDoS attack) since this story has aired.


Some more from the "Koch"/Walker chat:

Walker thinks this is "ground zero" for the battle against organized labor, and that the fight will spread to other states:

Walker: So this is ground zero, there's no doubt about it. [...] [T]he new Governor of Nevada called me the last night, he said [...] "Scott, don't come to Nevada because I'd be afraid you beat me running for governor." That's all they want to talk about is what are you doing to help the governor of Wisconsin. I talk to Kasich every day -- John's gotta stand firm in Ohio. I think we could do the same thing with Vic Scott in Florida. I think, uh, Snyder -- if he got a little more support -- probably could do that in Michigan. You start going down the list there's a lot of us new governors that got elected to do something big.

Koch: You're the first domino.

Walker: Yep. This is our moment.

Walker is happy to take favors from Koch, presumably weekend getaways:

Koch: [Laughs] Well, I tell you what, Scott: once you crush these bastards I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.

Walker: All right, that would be outstanding. Thanks for all the support...it's all about getting our freedoms back...

Koch: Absolutely. And, you know, we have a little bit of a vested interest as well. [Laughs]

A full transcript can be found at the linked source

Walker: [Blah] Thanks a million!

Buffalo Beast allegedly tricks Wisc. Gov. Walker into taking call from fake ‘David Koch’

www.grist.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow. The Koch impersonator must be pretty good, although he didn't do a lot of talking in the parts I heard. The guy they're calling Walker sang like a bird though. That makes me suspect this recording somewhat. It was almost too good, you know? I'll be curious to see if it gets validated as authentic.

If they openly employed a Koch impersonator is it possible that they employed a Walker impersonator as well?. Or perhaps used edited sound bites?

To good to be true. These clowns remind be of The Jerky Boys THeir set ups are notorious. Time for something new and original.

P.S. Do you have Prince Albert in a can?

I think they are/were the Jerky Boys. They've been straightforward in the past about their crank calls, normally they've gone after smaller political targets (staffers and the like), occasionally they go after some bigger ones like Clinton.

Walker's got some 'splainin to do...... or do you suppose the media will make this story... fade away?

reply to post by jibeho

If they openly employed a Koch impersonator is it possible that they employed a Walker impersonator as well?. Or perhaps used edited sound bites?

Ah yes, deny deny deny....just bury that little head of yours into the sand.


unbelievable.

this seems fake to me, the Kock guy sounds extremely fake and scripted, and how can someone just call the governor's office without getting a secretary?

Originally posted by jibeho
If they openly employed a Koch impersonator is it possible that they employed a Walker impersonator as well?. Or perhaps used edited sound bites?

It's too smooth for sound bites. But I didn't see this the first time I looked:

Update: Walker's Office Says the Call was Real:

Gov. Walker's spokesman, Cullen Werwie, issued the following statement hours after the Beast went to press:

"The Governor takes many calls everyday. Throughout this call the Governor maintained his appreciation for and commitment to civil discourse. He continued to say that the budget repair bill is about the budget. The phone call shows that the Governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having."

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Wow. The Koch impersonator must be pretty good, although he didn't do a lot of talking in the parts I heard. The guy they're calling Walker sang like a bird though. That makes me suspect this recording somewhat. It was almost too good, you know? I'll be curious to see if it gets validated as authentic.

BH,

I would have to call this one BS.

It seems to well scripted, but people that have voice analyzing software can validate it for its authenticity.

This CAN'T be. Republicans are the one's fighting for freedom for the working man! Not the Rich Elitists.

This is obviously a liberal lie.

So wait, the governor is "owned" by this Kock guy but he can't even tell when he's talking to him on the phone? Who are the people that supposedly pulled off this prank? Don't tell me O'Keefe.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

Update: Walker's Office Says the Call was Real:

Gov. Walker's spokesman, Cullen Werwie, issued the following statement hours after the Beast went to press:

"The Governor takes many calls everyday. Throughout this call the Governor maintained his appreciation for and commitment to civil discourse. He continued to say that the budget repair bill is about the budget. The phone call shows that the Governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having."

Good find.


So...for those claiming it was faked....what now??? Is this press release also faked???

reply to post by MindSpin


What's confusing is that there's nothing in that press release that talks about THIS call specifically. I'm still not sure about the story.

So this seems like an elaborate hoax. Most prank calls aren't 20 minutes long. Secondly this could be seen as wiretapping since he does not know the conversation is being recorded. Third, what does it really prove? That Walker will talk someone's ear off? Does he say anything at all that seems illegal or unethical? It is strange that he is saying all this to this supposed Koch guy who he can't even tell the difference between the real voice and a fake.

It's interesting that Walker is saying most of the protesters are from out of state, and his rebuke to Obama was pretty good, of course he wouldn't know that people would be listening in on it. This smells like an O'Keefe prank which has a political angle at best and usually involves breaking the law, impersonation, and wiretapping.

reply to post by filosophia


you said it brother. so what if the governor takes tie to discuss tactics with a multi-millionare who stands to benefit from the governor's actions? i bet he'd answer ANYONE'S call, hes a man of the people!

reply to post by filosophia

the Kock guy sounds extremely fake and scripted, and how can someone just call the governor's office without getting a secretary

Please re-read the article, the Koch guy was the editor of the Buffalo Beast (and an impersonator), so obviously was "fake", at the other end of the phone call was Scott Walker, believing he was talking to the real Koch. The site linked in the OP shows what he had to go through to reach the Governor, and yes he did go through other people and take more than one call to reach him.

The crank call from BB weren't set up as a "gotcha" on Walker, I base that on the many other examples of crank calls from these guys, most of the time they don't stray from the juvenile, but here the BB editor just sticks to fairly banal suggestions and let's Walker do all the talking, and does he ever talk - on and on about the collusion going on between himself, his benefactor (Koch) and other governors in keys states, Ohio's Kasich in particular - all who have set out with identical agendas with a certain billionaire's backing.

There used to be a time when Americans stood up to this sort of corruption and influence peddling. Dwight Eiseonhower once made his Secretary of the Interior return a raincoat he received as a gift then fired him because it was "graft". A raincoat. He's rolling in his grave at the sort of graft our politicians now receive, and on a regular basis, from greedy jackals like the Koch brothers.

reply to post by inkyminds


I'm still wondering how this prank caller got straight to Walker. Walker says "Hello" and then the guy says it's David Koch. So the prank callers must have had a direct line to the gov.'s office otherwise why would he say hello as if he is not sure who is calling him. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it just seems odd that someone could just get to the governor's office directly, especially at this time when probably hundreds or thousands of people are calling his office.

Ok, for anyone still trying to claim this is fake...here is the statement release by Governor Walkers office


www.wsaw.com...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been lured into a conversation about his strategy to cripple public employee unions by a prank caller pretending to be a billionaire Republican donor.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie confirms the governor is on audio of the call posted Wednesday on the website of the Buffalo Beast, a left-leaning New York newspaper.

The governor believes the caller is conservative businessman David Koch. He talks about plans for layoff notices and what can be done to punish lawmakers who've left the state.

The caller suggests Walker take a baseball bat when meeting with Democrats. Walker jokes he has "a slugger with my name on it."

Brothers David and Charles Koch have given millions to support Americans For Prosperity, which has launched a $320,000 ad campaign supporting Walker.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Press Release Madison— Today Governor Walker’s spokesman, Cullen Werwie, Released the following statement:

The Governor takes many calls everyday. Throughout this call the Governor maintained his appreciation for and commitment to civil discourse. He continued to say that the budget repair bill is about the budget. The phone call shows that the Governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having.

Can you stop being willfully ignoratn now??? Please???

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


It's hardly surprising how many right-wing neo-con apologists have already jumped on this, just here in thread. Claiming a "fake" Governor Walker!

Took a listen....I invite the "naysayers" to as well...IN just in the first few minutes, first part, PAY DIRT!!!

Gov. Walker mentions a "reasonable" Democrat in the State Legislature, and the fake "Koch" asks for a name....response?

"Tim Cullen"

Guess what? :

... On November 2, 2010, (Timothy) Cullen was elected to the state senate. He is a member of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

en.wikipedia.org...(Wisconsin_politician)

And:

legis.wisconsin.gov...


Walker "He's not one of us"....


Well. This should get LOTS of play (I hope).