Wisconsin GOP Goes Fishing

On March 15, University of Wisconsin Professor William Cronon writes a blog post analysing the origins of the current wave of anti-union legislation at the state level. He later follows this up with an Op Ed in the NYT.

But two days after the blog post the Wisconsin GOP contacts the UW with a Freedom of Information Act request for all of Prof. Cronon's emails that mention any of these terms:

Republican, Scott Walker, recall, collective bargaining, AFSCME, WEAC, rally, union, Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Rob Cowles, Scott Fitzgerald, Sheila Harsdorf, Luther Olsen, Glenn Grothman, Mary Lazich, Jeff Fitzgerald, Marty Beil, or Mary Bell.

Zero points for subtlety here - this is a naked attempt to make the professor squirm. We're going to read your email...Do you have anything to hide?

Think about how you'd respond to that. The political organization behind the current governor and majorities in both state houses wants copies of your email that include these terms.

Tactically, there are a number of clever aspects to this.

First, there's the chilling effect. You get a message like that, you might decide that your current line of research isn't worth the hassle of a legal struggle or a public war of words over your reputation. A win for the GOP without a lot of investment.

Second, there's the narrative win: You get any hit on these terms that results in an unflatteringly partisan message - you post them and announce that you've discovered this person is partisan, so any research they produce is bogus, and there is confirmation that university professors are liberal partisans infecting the youth of America.

Fun experiment: search your own email for these terms and see what comes up. Would those emails be justified to establish the truth of a hypothetical GOP claim that you were using email for improper purposes? Would you be comfortable handing those messages over to your political opposites? Discuss.

Third, you get to watch the professor and their university go into public contortions as they attempt to resist the FOIA request. See!! They don't want to answer questions!!.

And finally, the news cycle is occupied with something other than Why the hell is the GOP suddenly pushing anti-union legislation as a top priority?

Read Prof. Cronon's response - it's a marvelous summary of what is at stake.

He also includes an devastatingly appropriate visual aid:

Seems to me I've seen that plaque before...

(H/t TPM)