The Wisconsin 'Dirty Dozen'

“If there are doctors and teachers doing that sort of thing, abusing the system, that’s outrageous.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Governor, you are absolutely correct. Sadly, it’s not a question of “if”, but rather, HOW MANY?

Dr. Adam B. is one of twelve Wisconsin doctors who have been accused of or have admitted to such actions. How do I know? Not only did he sign his name and medical license number to a form which allowed me to miss the work week of 2/21 to 2/25, he even helped me come up with a sickness and explained why I wouldn’t get in trouble. There was one problem: I used a false name, birth date and willingly acknowledged I wasn’t sick. He didn’t care about the truth, however. He had a political agenda.

I am not an investigative journalist in the mold of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. It’s just not my thing. I don’t even own a camera…

So how did I end up on the corner of Mifflin and Hamilton playing the role of an elementary school custodian looking to join the “sick” teachers in protest?

For over a week now, America has been captivated by the drama unfolding in Wisconsin. I live in the rural farming community of Fillmore, and even we feel the “buy-a-thug” madness being enacted upon our state’s magnificent capitol. From the beginning my friends in the legislature have kept me informed as union rioters trashed lawns, intentionally clogged the building’s toilets, magic markered expletives on the marble walls, harassed staffers, and threatened elected representatives.

Teachers called in “sick”. Conservatives had their houses picketed by rotating groups of union members. And. . . the unthinkable. . . Democrats ran away, crossed state lines into Illinois, and left our city at the mercy of national unions and the President’s community organizers.

Back at home men like my boss, a simple farmer, continued to work the daily grind. Days ran into each other as the struggle to survive dragged on. Watching the Madison mob at home on his TV, my boss dropped his head into his work hardened hands. When the American Majority announced a “Stand With Walker” rally on the south steps of the capitol, he sent me a text message.

“You need off for the rally tomorrow?”

“Probably not,” I told him. I was falling behind in pre-calculus, and I couldn’t afford to miss a day of work. After talking it over with my dad, however, I called my boss back.

“Change of plans. I won’t be milking cows tomorrow morning. I’m going to ‘Stand With Walker.'”

I am blue-collar, and so is my entire family. We have deep traditional union ties, but we understand something liberals don’t. Wisconsin is broke. Common taxpayers are struggling enough to cope with the rising inflation of daily living expenses. We can no longer afford to pay government employees luxurious salaries plus benefits. It’s that simple. And remember, the government works for the people, public sector employees would be wise to pay heed.

That’s why my non-college educated boss practically forced me to take off. I was there to represent people like him, average citizens who couldn’t shirk their obligations for the sake of a political protest.

In Madison presidential contender Herman Cain and media mongrel and entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart headlined the Walker rally. Unknown to us, union sympathizers managed to successfully tamper with the sound system and the speakers’ voices became distorted. Shortly after that I stopped even trying to listen.

Instead I began watching. Perched on top of a pillar I had a good view of the crowd, which an officer to my right estimated to be at 100,000. The setting was dominated by a mass of humanity who were continually circling the capitol square, cheered on by those lining the sidewalks, unable to move any closer. A fitting specimen of relentless vigor, the bodies never stopped moving, churning, chanting and waving their signs. Those who left the line were instantly replaced by the contents of union buses who were unloading protestors from Illinois, Minnesota and other states.

Earlier in the day I had seen doctors signing sick leave passes. For days union members used “sickness” to legally strike without illegally breaking their contract. Originally I hadn’t given it much thought, but now, unable to hear the speakers, I decided to take another look.

Capitol police let me past the stage so I could walk across the stone plaza, hop a marble wall, cross the muddy lawn past more policemen, and eventually make my way through the barricades into the union filled streets.

A socialist party member handed me a schedule of their upcoming meetings, and a union man handed me a cartoon picture of Gov. Walker depicted as a buffoonish villain.

I marched and chanted with the crowd until we reached the union headquarters of operation where a smiling lady informed me of the doctor’s location. They were impossible to miss– professional looking men and women dressed in white lab coats filling out forms.

One of them broke away and angrily confronted me about my friend’s camera, which hung openly around my neck. He was on the look out for those “darn tea-partiers”. Using the insulting picture of Gov. Walker as identification, I pleaded my innocence. I received a prompt apology and was directed to Dr. Balin.

I told him I wanted a sick leave pass. He didn’t inquire into my sickness or occupation but instead helped me diagnosis my illness– I was “sick” of everything. He recommended a week off of work in order to spend time with other like minded people. I readily accepted his professional advice.

Halfway through his “examination” I hit the camera’s record button.

I broke the story on a local radio station. Later I discussed it on an Arizona show, followed by appearances on Lars Larson’s nationally syndicated program, the Fox Business Channel, and America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer.

In the following days Fox News would repeatedly play the video, and it would become the signature evidence of doctors willfully falsifying information.

For that I am happy. And as Gov Scott Walker noted, these doctors will be held accountable.

Yet justice alone cannot heal this divided state. Political pundits fail to grasp the intense trauma and conflict consuming Wisconsin. Hatred is never easy to analyze, but on the streets of Madison it was heavily felt. Everywhere. It was a scene I had never before known in Wisconsin. It was a scene I will never forget.

After the rally ended, I walked solemnly back to my car,. My heart yearned for the day when Democrat Senators would return to their jobs, schools would re-open, identities of “union” and “non-union” would cease, and Wisconsin would once again be at peace.

But until then, hard decisions must be made. And as always, I Stand With Walker.