WMC's Buchen Is Partisan, But Doesn't Really Know It?

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce's (WMC) VP for Government Relations (lobbyist), James Buchen, acted surprised and a little sarcastic on a recent WPR morning show appearance. Outgoing U.W. Chancellor John Wiley said, "..WMC has been taken hostage by partisan ideologues," in the most recent issue of Madison Magazine. Listen to his feigned innocence and then read the following post I made about an editorial he wrote with every Republican cliche you can think of.

WMC’s Buchen isn’t shy about expressing his elitist arrogance toward the people of this state and the ruthless corporate lust for power. His recent comment in the Wisconsin State Journal provides a glimpse into the ethically bankrupt mind of the man leading Wisconsin’s business leaders. Keep in mind; he is the VP of an organization whose members have millions to spend swaying the courts and legislative races in the state.

Buchen feels picked on by “an organized campaign involving misinformation, intimidation and threats of boycott.” After buying the last two Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices with misinformation and public intimidation, this statement is absurdly hypocritical. What other way does the public have to “speak to power” except through a boycott of their businesses? The power of money, withholding consumer spending, can come back to bite them.

Buchen falsely believes that his stereotypical list of bogymen i.e. unions, politicos and interest groups are out to get them. Sorry James, I’m unaffiliated, as are all the other citizens voicing their opinions in the daily papers and in blogs.

Buchen has contempt for liberals (which means he has a neo-conservative vision of a corporate state) with statements like, “…this faction has failed to convince the public to embrace its liberal agenda…Alice in Wonderland world of Madison politics … no room for (a) policy perspective that strays from liberal orthodoxy … true and correct policy perspective of WEAC … committed to ensuring that the public debate (is) not reduced to a monologue of left wing rhetoric.”

How can Buchen represent all corporate interests if he has such contempt for anything that is; Liberal, left wing, WEAC and Madison politics. As I recall, the Republican Party had right wing control of evil “Madison” and it's state capital for some time. Ah, those were the days.

Buchen still hasn’t connected the dots between the last 14 years of deregulation and free trade agreements to the Republican rule in Congress, and with a little help of our own state legislature. Buchen states, “Our economy sags and we continue to bleed manufacturing jobs.”