Senate chief clerk: Fitzgeralds, Walker Admin Met Prior to Open Meeting Violation

Patrick Marley and Lee Bergquist of the MJS report:

Testimony also showed Republicans discussed forming the committee on March 7 - 48 hours before the committee met. That would have left them time to provide 24 hours' notice for the meeting, but [Senate chief clerk Rob] Marchant said he did not believe a final decision on creating the committee was made until March 9.

At the meeting were: Fitzgerald; his brother, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon); Brian Hayes, Walker's budget director; Eric Schutt, Walker's deputy chief of staff; Bob Lang, director of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau; and the chief clerks of both houses.

What is clear is that the Walker administration and the GOP legislature conspired to break Wisconsin's Open Meeting law.

See also Fitzgerald got legal advice from Walker’s legal counsel before contacting LRB to publish union-busting “law.”

One political issue that may present itself is didn't Walker and/or Fitzgeralds deny colluding on the March 9 sneak attack?

Forbes: Gov. Scott Walker To Defy Court Order Blocking Anti-Collective Bargaining Law?

It’s now officially a toss-up between Wisconsin and Michigan in the race to see which state government can do the best job of thumbing its nose at our most basic democratic principles in order to force their autocratic desires on their citizens.
- Rick Ungar, Forbes Magazine Online

John Nichols: Wisconsin GOP legislators head to D.C. for payoffs, er, campaign contributions

By John Nichols in the Cap Times

Wisconsin state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, the consigliere for Gov. Scott Walker in the legislative fight to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers and to make it easier for the governor to transfer public property to campaign donors in no-bid deals, traveled to the nation’s capital Wednesday to collect tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from Washington-based lobbyists for corporate interests.

Fitzgerald was the “star” of a lavish fundraising event at the offices of the BRG lobbying group. The “B” in BRG stands for Barbour, as in veteran GOP fixer Haley Barbour, who is now the governor of Mississippi and a potential 2012 Republican presidential contender. The firm is one of the most powerful corporate lobbying groups in Washington, and it delivered big for Fitzgerald and his fellow senators.