Has Walker's call for unity already been betrayed by his staff? A letter from Callen Harty on Ciara Matthews





Just three days after Walker's noble call for cooperation and unity, his communications director, Ciara Matthews is already tweeting her own tune, issuing a spiteful, pointless jab that accomplished nothing beyond betraying the sense of cooperation Scott Walker claims the next stage of his administration will bring.  Callen Harty, whose guest posts on MoD never fail to inform and inspire, immediately called this hypocritical move to the governor's attention, with this beautifully restrained and civil open letter, which he published first on his blog, A Single Bluebird, and shares with permission below. If you're unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding Walker's choice of a communications director, you might look here and here for some context (and here and here for more salacious context).




8 June 2012
Dear Governor Walker
Here is it, only three days after you survived the recall election and three days after you stood in front of your supporters and media and told all of Wisconsin that you wanted to put the past behind us and work with Democrats to create jobs and move Wisconsin forward.  Your words sounded great and for those of us who voted for Mayor Barrett what you said was the kind of balm that can sometimes help ease the pain of a stinging loss in a hard-fought election.
You have said in other interviews that you have been humbled and that you have learned some lessons even as difficult as this last year has been.  You said that you would have done things differently and that you would have brought others to the table and you would have been more inclusive.  A politician who can admit that they were wrong and that they have learned lessons from their mistakes is a rare thing to see in our country.  If it is not just idle words I applaud you for it.
You have also said that you want to meet with Democrats, perhaps have some brats and beers together, and begin the difficult task of trying to piece back together the ripped fabric of the state we all love so much.  Again, unless this is empty rhetoric, I can appreciate your willlingness to do this.  I would suggest that you also open yourself to the citizens of the state and include more of us in your consideration as well.  You have made only rare appearances at events where anyone could go and the person who runs a state like Wisconsin really should be more accessible to the people.  You represent us and need to be able to hear our concerns.
All of these things you have said are good.  But it is meaningless if the people around you don’t follow your example  Your supporters created signs that said “Stand With Walker” to show support during the recall election period.  These people need to stand with you now and follow the leader and put divisiveness, anger, and other negative feelings behind them.  A true leader would not allow his followers to detract from his message of cooperation and reconciliation.  This is why I was surprised and upset to see that your Communications Director, Ciara Matthews, tweeted a very harsh message to Democrats (and I presume independents and Republicans who did not support you in this election).
I would be surprised if you haven’t seen it yet, as it is definitely making the rounds.  It read, “No leg. session until 2013 = symbolic state senate majority.  Your one seat accomplishes zero.  Just like your recall efforts.”  This kind of gloating and disrespectful behavior from a key player in your administration is unacceptable and juvenile behavior that should not and cannot be tolerated.  I might expect it from a neighbor who doesn’t like my politics, but not from one of your hired employees.  I presume Ms. Matthews is an adult, but based on the tone of this tweet from someone whose job is communications I question her maturity and her qualifications for such a position.
As the Governor, as the man who is telling Wisconsin that you want us all to move on and work together, you need to talk to Ms. Matthews and she needs to make a public apology.  As the chief executive of this state you should also release a statement acknowledging that this kind of behavior is unacceptable to you and that you truly do want to move past this kind of behavior and will not tolerate it.  If you do not, all the rest of what you have said this week will be seen as empty and meaningless words.
Thank you for your consideration.
Yours,
Callen Harty
Monona, WI

13 comments:

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    1. Matthews needs a douche.

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    2. What is with liberals' war on women? Honestly, you can't throw a stick in the air these days without it hitting some Bill Maher/Ed Schultz-worshipping misogynist leftie.

      It's going be fun sending this link to NOW and asking them for a comment about the sexist behavior that transpire on this blog.

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  2. a snake can not change its spots!

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  3. Ciara Matthews is a piece of work and her continued employment reflects very badly on our governor (maybe by next week I will be ale to say his name).

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. The real question here is whether Scott Walker feels the same as Ms Matthews. Sometimes employee comments reflect the true sentiment of their leader. From what I have seen of Scott Walker, he is a passive-aggressive person. This type of person rarely tells you the truth, instead they will say one thing but do something else altogether. Hence, the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: "What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say."

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  4. Every politician has a (Karl Rove/Rahm Emmanuel/David Axelrod/Andrew Young) sleaze ball figure who does the dirty work. In the aforementioned examples, it's a case of sinister savvy. In Ciara Matthews case, it's far less flattering. She is being used by Walker because she's a ditzy dope who is reveling in the attention. What a dumb broad.

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  5. Ciara needs to be fired.

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  6. her comments are paid for by big money because they cant hid their sheeps clothing

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  7. LOL! Bourenane, you always were jealous of a pretty girl.

    Just goes to show, you never can judge a book by its cover. Why is it all the hot chicks with brains end up Republicans? Whereas Democrats always look and sound like Barbara Boxer and Gwen Moore?

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  8. Yeah, how dare young Ms. Matthews actually WORK her way through college rather than shamelessy demanding that others pay her way. What a deviant!

    But, not everyone can have such an eloquent, charming, consummate professional as their spox like this guy:

    http://www.politifact.com/personalities/graeme-zielinski/

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  9. Wow! What a response! Not only did these guys (and gals?) miss the fact that the letter to the governor was written by Callen Harty, they don't seem to think there is any problem with Walker's communications director going completely off message. She has learned not to communicate directly with non-politicos (like me) who occasionally respond to her tweets.

    I agree Ciara Matthews should be fired. But the longer she stays in place, the more obvious it is that the governor is not sincere.

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