Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker thought he received a call from a billionaire campaign financier Tuesday afternoon, but it turns out the editor of an online news site pulled a prank on him.
Ian Murphy, editor of Buffalo, N.Y., based online newspaper The Beast, introduced himself as billionaire David Koch when Walker answered, and asked Walker how the situation involving the budget repair bill was going. Walker told him things were going well, according to the audio released by the website.
""Well, we're actually hanging pretty tough,"" Walker said on the call. ""I mean-you know, amazingly there's a much smaller group of protesters—almost all of whom are in from other states today.""
Walker then explained plans to get the 14 Democratic senators who left the state back by bringing up non-fiscal bills for the Senate to debate.
""The state Senate still has the 14 members missing, but what they're doing today is bringing up all sorts of other non-fiscal items, many of which are things members in the Democratic side care about,"" Walker said.
Walker also said he does not plan to negotiate with Democratic leaders, but if they come back, the Senate can then take up the bill as long as a recess is called before they leave again.
Walker said if the senators do not come back and the bill does not pass, he will be forced to cut 1,500 public authorities.
""I've got layoff notices ready,"" Walker said.
Walker's spokesman, Cullen Werwie, released a statement after the call was posted online.
""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,"" Werwie said in the statement.
Walker talked about Ronald Reagan, MSNBC being ""off the deep end"" and a possible trip to California if the bill passes, which the man acting as ""Koch"" offered to pay for. Walker also indicated he had ""thought about"" planting troublemakers amongst the protesters, but decided against it.
Koch and his brother are billionaires who own an energy company based in Wichita, Kan. The political action committee the Koch brothers fund was the second biggest donor to Walker's 2010 campaign, and their business recently set up a lobbying office in downtown Madison.
