Memo to Washington Post: Welcome to Walker’s Wisconsin
‘Walker Has Barred the Press, Public From Government Events for Last Year’
MADISON, Wis. — One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements after multiple media reports in Wisconsin and beyond that a reporter from the Washington Post was patted down by security and ultimately ejected at a Mike Pence rally with Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday in Waukesha. Ross noted Walker has been doing a taxpayer-funded closed to the media and public “listening tour” since 2015.
“Scott Walker has been regularly barring the public and the media from his taxpayer-funded ‘listening tour’ since it began in 2015. This is what it’s like in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin and looks like how it would be in Donald Trump’s America.
“This outrage is personal for my organization. After spending the last five years fighting for the cause of student loan debt reform, two of my colleagues were specifically prohibited from entering an event Walker had at a public technical college in Waukesha.”
Below is information from reporting by the Madison-based Capital Times showing that attendees to Walker’s “listening tour” were obtained by using information from Walker’s state agencies and Lobbyist recommendations. An analysis of records for the events from January to March 2016 showed attendees from have given 4,000 campaign contributions totalling more than $1 million to Republicans and conservatives.
One Wisconsin Now is a statewide communications network specializing in effective earned media and online organizing to advance progressive leadership and values.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Just as gerrymandering lets candidates pick their voters, pre-screened listening sessions let elected officials pick who is part of the “public” and who is not.
There are also subtle ways local officials are doing this by how they selectively publicize “public meetings” including on platforms that are not widely read.