It was a dark night in a city that likes to keep its secrets. No, wait, that’s Guy Noir, private eye, creation of Garrison Keillor. The story I’m about to tell took place in a city that used to be known for open doors and transparency of government. Used to be known, I said.

It was late at night and approaching a major holiday weekend when a new item was slipped into the massive state budget document soon to come to a vote in Wisconsin. This action, this insert of a new little piece, was done quietly. Delicately.

The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) added a policy item changing Wisconsin’s Open Records Law. They chose their timing carefully: late at night on July 2, the Thursday preceding a long holiday weekend. The Powers That Be on the JFC hoped that legislators would return to work refreshed and relaxed and completely unaware of the changes.

They were wrong. This being Wisconsin, the birthplace of progressive politics, the people found out.

The changes exempted legislative communications from the law; shut down public access to all records created in the process of drafting legislation (any rough drafts, emails, written analysis papers); and specified that the Legislature could freely exempt any record from disclosure simply by passing a rule or policy. (source: Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council) In a nutshell, legislators could keep under wraps anything they wish to hide.

In keeping with the shadowy tone of secrecy, no one on the JFC would admit to authoring or contributing to this outrageous action. Some even walked away from reporters rather than answer questions.

Let’s jump to the final chapter of the mystery. As word got out that the suggested changes had come from Governor Walker’s Office, the insertion was quietly deleted. No one knew for sure, but the scent trail led to the top, and the top wasn’t willing to risk the biennial budget to the very vocal opposition.

So, folks, Governor Presidential Wannabe Walker didn’t have to admit his role, if any, in a potential gut of Wisconsin’s Open Records Law. And therein lies the danger: whether Walker suggested the changes or not, his office climate allowed and even encouraged this kind of action.

Is this dark and sneaky atmosphere the kind of climate we want in the White House?  I’ll answer that: absolutely not.

I laughed out loud – almost snorted coffee out my nose, to be honest. It wasn’t funny, though. It was…highly ironic is the best I can do. Ridiculous? Unbelievable? Illogical? Unreal? All of the above.

Governor Walk-a-Mile-in-my-Shoes, according to one of his top advisers, is running as a “Uniter”. His campaign managers have decided to market him as one who cooperates, reaches across the aisle, and works in a bipartisan fashion.

Let’s see. Gov. Walk-My-Way introduced what he called a budget repair bill that was really a union busting bill. He knew the votes would be split right down the party aisle with a win on his side, so he wanted to rush it in for a vote. Did he reach out to the Democrats in the Senate? Hum the Jeopardy theme while you mull this over.

Time’s up! He couldn’t reach out to the Democrats. They left the building to delay a vote because without them, there would be no quorum, and without a quorum, budget bills cannot come up for a vote. Meanwhile, he reached out to the Democratic Senators by threatening to send state troopers to round them up. Instead of waiting patiently, those on the left side made a run for the border: the Illinois border.

Enough about the rapid evacuation of the Senate. We were talking about Mr.Walker as peacemaker, one who unites. Let’s see: anyone remember the video of Walker with his billionaire sponsor, telling her how he would handle the union busting bill? “Divide and conquer,” he told her. He must have had different campaign advisers then because divide and conquer doesn’t mean the same thing as unite and concur.

How about name calling? I keep hearing the term “Union Thug” tossed around, but it seems the only time Walker actually used the term was when he was asked how he would deal with the terrorist group ISIS and he drew a comparison to his “handling” of thousands of public employees marching on the Capitol. I won’t blame the gov for creating the phrase until I can find a reliable source that quotes him, but the point still stands. Scott Walk-my-way-or-the-highway is not one who unites. The Gov. is not one to reach across the aisle or pursue bipartisan cooperation.

Back to my first reaction. Ironic, at the least, this vision of Walker. Ridiculous? Unbelievable? Illogical? Unreal? Yes. All of these, at least, and more.

Feel free to leave more reactions in the comments, folks. I’m listening.

Dear Facebook;

Your algorithm failed mightily on this one. I follow several prominent progressives and local activists. One of them must have mentioned the issue below. Oh, Facebook, rest assured that I do NOT like and will NOT follow the page or group that posted this advertisement.

Facebook, WTH were you thinking?

Shudder. Those key word searches are not doing a good enough job of filtering posts for my interests. Facebook, let’s make a deal. How about you stop sending me things you think I might “like” and just let me see what my friends have to say. Okay?