During an interview on CNN’s State Of The Union, CNN’s Jake Tapper went there with Scott Walker by questioning his ties to the Koch brothers, and why Walker doesn’t oppose conservative special interests.
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Jake Tapper: I respect that you’ve taken on liberal special interests in Wisconsin, but you’ve been backed by the Koch brothers, right? How does that square with what you’re saying about taking on special interests, or do you think liberal special interests are the only ones worth taking on?
Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI): I’m taking on the ones in Washington. In my state, I didn’t just take on the unions and Democrats. Early on there was great support from the Assembly, and some from the Senate, people like state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald. There was some senators, including some in leadership who didn’t want to do the kind of reforms, so I’m willing to take on anyone. I stood up to a hundred thousand protesters. I took on the death threats. I took on the threats to my family. We pushed back when they took us to federal and state court. We pushed back when they went after our state senators. They went after me in a recall election and we won. They made me the number one target. The number one target last year.
Tapper: But aren’t the Koch brothers special interests too? Can you give me an example of one time that you took on a conservative special interest?
Walker: I’ll tell you flat out that when I took on the hundred million dollars, or so I raised eighty million dollars in three elections in four and half years and seventy percent of it came from people who gave me seventy-five dollars or less. We raised more than 300,000 donors in all fifty states. That’s grassroots….
Walker never answered Tapper’s questions about the Koch brothers. Instead, he tried to deflect with a misleading answer about the funding for his recall election. Scott Walker wasn’t telling the truth about where the money came from. Walker’s recall campaign was funded by out of Wisconsin interests like Koch-funded groups. The people of Wisconsin didn’t help Scott Walker survive the recall. Special interest groups and super PACs saved Walker.
Gov. Walker is the chosen 2016 candidate of the Koch brothers. Walker has never stood up to a Republican special interest. That is why all special interest groups on the right adore him. Scott Walker is for sale.
Jake Tapper destroyed Walker with the facts. Walker’s outsider rhetoric is inauthentic and disingenuous. It is a desperate gambit coming from a sinking campaign.
A national journalist has finally called out Scott Walker for ties to the Koch brothers. Jake Tapper deserves credit for debunking Walker’s b.s. with some heavy fact based questions.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
