[img_assist|nid=59297|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=199|height=119]You've probably seen the right-wing spin coming out of the right wing media and talkers in the recall elections - you know the drill, massive amounts of union money coming in to the state, all the protesters are out of state bussed in people, the people of Wisconsin stand behind Republican politics, political coverage is slanted by the left-wing media, ad infinitum. Most of this is either untrue or a careful spinning of the facts. What's even more amazing is that the GOP keeps accusing the lefties of the very things that they themselves keep doing, and in blatant form.
Let's take a look at an interesting campaign floating around our state. In today's Plum Line, Greg Sargent reports on the latest bit of out-of-state GOP sleazery. Flyers have been floating around the district of troubled recall candidate Randy Hopper (R - wherever the heck he's sleeping tonight) that indicate how desperate the GOP has become over that recall election. You may remember the story of how the GOP ran "fake" Democratic candidates to force primaries in the recall districts - but that these were only "protest" candidates? Apparently they're now trying to actually campaign for the fake candidates. In Hopper's district the fake democrat is 81 year old John Buckstaff, who is running in the primary against Jessica King, deupty Mayor of Oshkosh. These flyers are actually pretending that Buckstaff is a real candidate, and that he provides a genuine choice against King.
The general tone of the flyer is to get Republicans to go out and vote for the "DEMOCRAT" Buckstaff against King. Are they really trying to win this primary because they know that Hopper cannot win against King? This is a bewildering campaign.
The particularly interesting part is that the flyers are being circulated by Patriot Advisors, Jonathan Martin, Treasurer. So -- who is this? Some grassroots bunch of people in Wisconsin supporting Buckstaff because they somehow believe he's really running? Nope, that would be too simple. It's a corporation in Midland, Texas run by Denis Calabrese and Tim Dunn. Calabrese is a director of the Sam Adams Alliance -- the same people who are funding the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity -- who in turn fund the Wisconsin Reporter, one of our recent publishers of GOP-financed half-truths. The flyer quotes Wisconsin Reporter. And they're all in one way or another associated with (you know this was coming) the Koch Brothers. Thank God there's no out-of-state money involved there.
I think the point here is that there is a LOT of money flowing around in these recall campaigns, and a lot of it is coming in at the last minute. Some of it is flowing in from out of state, and on both sides. It's just one more indicator of how badly we need campaign finance reform. But let's please not pretend that the GOP is not attracting outside influence funds. At least the unions are being pretty straightforward in admitting that they have an interest here. What about the corporations trying to keep the GOP in control of the state? Mr. Pot really needs to stop screaming about Mr. Kettle. Let's stop pointing fingers and work on making this insanity stop.
Thanks to Jesse Russell of Dane 101 and Karoli for added insights.