The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee County Post • May 19, 2017 (This is a transcript of a secretly made tape last Friday night in a banquet room at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, site of the 2017 Wisconsin Republican Convention. Well, not really, but ...) BARTENDER: Bar's open! GOV. SCOTT WALKER: I'll have a Diet Mountain Dew. ASSEMBLY SPEAKER ROBIN VOS: It's not really a tax increase because we're repealing the minimum markup law and lowering the excise tax and finally giving Wisconsinites income tax relief and do you know how embarrassing it is to rep- resent the only stretch of I-94 that is a measly three lanes and ... . SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER SCOTT FITZGERALD: Ignore him, Governor. He gives this speech nine times a day. STATE SEN. LEAH VUKMIR: Stop fighting, boys. Let's do something conser- vative for a change and get tough on crime! STATE REP. JOEL KLEEFISCH: Yes! LT. GOV. REBECCA KLEEFISCH: No! VUKMIR: Hey, look who just showed up. It's Dale Tax-enga. STATE REP. DALE KOOYENGA: That's not fair. VUKMIR: No Republican voter sup- ports your gas tax, Dale. KOOYENGA: But it's so much more than that. We're repealing the minimum markup law and lowering the excise tax and finally giving Wisconsinites income tax relief. VOS: That's right! WALKER: Hey, Robin. See this in my hand? It's a pen. It works real good writ- ing the word "veto." GREEN BAY TRUCKING HEIRESS AND U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE NICOLE SCHNEIDER: Bartender, put the whole party's drink tab on my bill. I can afford it. Wait until I start buying that Senate seat ... OW! VUKMIR: Oops, excuse me, Nicki. U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE KEVIN NICHOLSON: It's great to be at another Democratic Convention! FITZGERALD: Republican, you idiot. NICHOLSON: Sorry, it's so confusing. One day I'm a Democrat and the next day I'm a Republican Senate candidate ... . SCHNEIDER: Tell me about it. HOUSE SPEAKER PAUL RYAN: I need a drink. WALKER: Paulie, I'll bet you're glad to be out of Washington. VUKMIR, KOOYENGA, FITZGER- ALD, NICHOLSON AND SCHNEIDER: Why? We love it there. RYAN: I've got to admit though, Trump is growing on me. Do you know how many times I wanted to tell off CNN or the Freedom Caucus? But, you know, we have a real chance to reform health care policy in this country and bring real income tax relief. KOOYENGA AND VOS: That's what we're trying to do, too. RYAN: I'm confused. I thought you guys were trying to raise the gas tax? FORMER GOV. TOMMY THOMP- SON: What are we doing tomorrow, Ho- Chunk or the Tommy Bartlett Show? STATE TOURISM DIRECTOR STEPHANIE KLETT: Actually, the Tommy Bartlett Show doesn't start until Memorial Day weekend. But there's a fish fry at the VFW in Baraboo and a tractor pull in Lake Delton and great antiquing at ... . THOMPSON: I hear Vos is trying to raise the gas tax. VOS: It's not really a tax increase because we're repealing the minimum markup law and lowering the excise tax and finally giving Wisconsinites income tax relief. THOMPSON: Hey, Walker. I just saw that list of nobodies the Democrats are trying to get to run against you. It's a great day to be a Republican in Wisconsin! WALKER: You got to run against Chuck Chvala and Ed Garvey. NICHOLSON AND SCHNEIDER: I voted for those guys. VOS: We're repealing the minimum markup law and lowering the excise tax and finally ... . RYAN: (sighing) This guy thinks being speaker means it's easy to get things done. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE Partying with the Republicans OPINION Last week's question What do you think of President Donald Trump's fir- ing of FBI Director James Comey? Or, what do you think of Milwaukee-based Rexnord's move of 300 jobs from Indianapolis to Mexico and President Donald Trump's tweet chiding the decision? I think as far as President Trump's fir- ing of FBI Director James Comey: Better late than never. He should have been fired in July. In fact, everybody was amazed; they thought for sure Comey was going to bring charges the way he brought out every wrongdoing Hilary Clinton did in the email server scandal. The Democrats said when Hillary Clinton got in as president she should fire him. Now that he's been fired, and it was by Trump instead, they're thinking of all kinds of devious reasons, even ones that haven't been proven. It's a shame, a dirty, filthy rotten shame, how our country is going. And people had better wake up. — Marilyn Fedran Milwaukee *** Rex Chainbelt and Nordberg were once great and honorable companies to work for, then merger mania took over and their employees, both hourly and salaried, were lost in the shuffle. What kind of corporate mindset would ask their present employees to train the Mexican workers to actually take over their own jobs? I don't think President Trump went far enough in keeping Rexnord's jobs here. Hey, Mr. President, is this what you meant by "Making America Great Again"? — Don Meyer Oak Creek This week's question With Memorial Day approach- ing, how will you observe the holiday? Editor's note: When responding to the Question of the Week, please include your full name with spelling, phone number and city where you live. Phone numbers will not be published. Anonymous responses are no longer accepted by the publication. Call 744- 6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dmuck@conleynet.com. Question of the week Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dan Muckelbauer, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by email to: dmuck@conleynet.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, length and clarity. Letters should be typewritten or printed and include full name, phone number and address. Please keep your letters to no more than 400 words. Letters policy Wisconsin GOP is where all the action is

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