Russ Decker’s fumbling attempts to get his priorities straight

I read with some interest Russ Decker’s (D-Schofield) recent interview with The Daily Page for their “Comp Time With…” series. Decker recently took over for Judy Robson upon her deposal from the top spot amongst Senate Democrats as Majority Leader.

His first action once in the position? Pushing through the so-called Video Competition Bill, a contentious piece of legislation that proponents claim will bring Wisconsin consumer’s greater cable competition and better rates, and that opponents say will destroy consumer protections, cut funding for public access and hurt access for people in more rural parts of the state.

So it was with particular interest that I read the following point-blank statement made by Decker in the interview. When asked "Why has the video franchise bill become a priority?" his response was simple: "The video franchise bill is not a priority for me."

Wait, what? Hadn’t I just been reading, in multiple sources, about Decker’s desire to make said bill his "first priority" once in as the Majority Leader? Or was my memory failing me?

I started to dig around. Sure enough, according to an opinion piece in The Capital Times written by John Nichols, Decker said "that one of his first priorities will be to promote passage of a plan to take the power to regulate cable companies away from Wisconsin communities."

Now granted, that little tidbit comes from an opinion piece, but one would hope that Nichols, as a journalist, had done his due diligence in getting the quote. The same sentiment, it should be noted, was mentioned in several other publications as well.

Still, the plot thickens.

There are a few other choice statements made by Decker in the interview. He claims that he tried to stall the bill as it moved through committee, and that "The only thing I had to do with it was when it was sent to the Finance Committee, and I didn't look at it all during the budget process. As I said earlier, when the budget was done, I took my first look at it."

You sure about that, Russ? That statement alone contradicts itself, first claiming that his first look at the bill was when it was referred to the Joint Finance Committee back in April, but then he goes on to say he took his "first look" at it once the budget was done (in October).

Have we managed to land ourselves a Majority Leader who can’t keep his own facts straight, lies in interviews and may or may not have, at one time, been in cahoots with disgraced former Senator Chuck Chvala? Oh yeah, and since we’re on a roll here, let’s not forget about Decker’s drunk driving arrest two years ago, which adds a nice twist (of lime) to his recent support of a last-minute provision added to the budget that legalized the serving of liquor samples in grocery stores. Decker himself commented that "I’m looking forward to going to the Pick N’Save back home" after that passed.

Knock yourself out there, Russ.