February 15, 2012
-For Immediate Release-

MILWAUKEE – In an exclusive, Media Trackers has confirmed that WEAC President Mary Bell lied to the press and the public in saying that her union had not extracted a veto-pledge from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk. Falk, ostensibly to gain the endorsement of several major unions, including WEAC, promised in a secret meeting to veto any state budget that did not repeal collective bargaining reforms from 2011. After a storm of protests, WEAC President Mary Bell told the LaCrosse Tribune that neither she nor her union asked Falk for a veto-pledge.

Faced with this discrepancy, Media Trackers contacted James Palmer of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association. Palmer was present with Bell at the union meetings and had related news of the veto pledge to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Palmer blasted his counterpart union leader Bell saying, “Mary Bell’s subsequent denial is completely false and amounts to nothing more than damage control.”

Brian Sikma, communications director for Media Trackers, commented, “Mary Bell should be held accountable by both the press and the public for her lying. Holding a secret meeting to strike a deal with a liberal political candidate, and then lying about that meeting to the press and public discredits WEAC, its members, and is a slap in the face to the public.”

“Already, WEAC members around the state are frustrated that an endorsement in the recall race was made without their consultation,” Sikma continued. “Perhaps after being steamrolled and lied to, they should consider getting someone with more integrity to run their union.”

Full Media Trackers report here.

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