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As Ed Schultz noted tonight, the GOP governors appearing on the Sunday bobblehead shows all had their talking points ready and were on the same page with their defense of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker -- Wisconsin is broke, Democratic Senators are cowards and public employees have it way too good.

But as Ed noted, one Republican governor in Maine let the cat out of the bag with what their real agenda is: enacting so-called 'Right to Work' laws and busting unions.

LePage: 'We're going after right-to-work':

Maine Gov. Paul LePage said Saturday he would push forcefully ahead with right-to-work legislation in his state, even if it means a Wisconsin-style fight with unions.

In an interview at the National Governors Association, the Republican praised Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and couched his own proposal in the language of liberty loved by tea partiers.

"He's got a big challenge, and quite frankly, once they start reading our budget they're going to leave Wisconsin and come to Maine because we're going after right to work," LePage told POLITICO.

"I believe that the Declaration of Independence says 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,'" he said. "Whenever someone forces me to do something against my will, they're infringing upon my freedoms and my liberties. And that's what I think we're doing in Maine when we have fair share, which means that you are required to belong to a union, you're required to pay dues but you don't want to participate. I find that to be against everything the United States of America stands for." [...]

LePage said he's "never inspired by a fight," but that Wisconsin is unquestionably an impetus behind a renewed GOP push to demand concessions from public-sector employees and to go after union power. [...]

LePage said people who want to join unions have that right, but stressed that no one should be forced into the decision.

"I believe if an individual wants to join organized labor and work under a union contract, they should have the legal right to do so," he said. "At the same token, a person who does not want to work under organized labor and wants to work should have the ability to do so without the threat of having to join and having to pay dues to organized labor."

"It's that simple," he said. "It's all about freedom and liberty."

"Freedom and liberty" huh? I don't think so, Governor LePage.

As Ed pointed out, Maine workers cannot be forced to join a union already:

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Our own Susie Madrak joined Dylan Ratigan to discuss the response to the Boxing Day Blizzard which she wrote about here -- Take A Good Look At Post-Blizzard New York City. This Is What Our 'New Austerity' Will Look Like.

And of course Republicans are using the complaints about worker slow downs during the blizzard to attack public sector unions, gladly aided and abetted by their allies in the media. More on that at her blog here.

Federal investigation:

So let me get this straight. We see no criminal charges against the banking masterminds who crashed the economy, or the mortgage company crooks who are still stealing people’s houses with impunity, but this is at the top of the priority list?

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have opened a preliminary investigation into allegations that disgruntled sanitation workers sabotaged the cleanup after the blizzard last week that left some neighborhoods snowbound for days, people who have been briefed on the inquiry said Tuesday.

The investigation is focusing on whether there was a work slowdown and, if so, whether it was an effort to pad overtime. If the actions took place, two of those people said, they could constitute wire fraud or wire fraud conspiracy, both federal crimes. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

The inquiry, which began last week, is being conducted by the Public Integrity Section in the office of United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch, which will work with the city’s Department of Investigation, one of the people said. The city investigators also began looking into possible efforts to sabotage the cleanup last week.

“We’re taking a look at this,” one of the people said, adding that the inquiry was in its earliest stages. It was reported Monday night by WCBS-TV News.

Go read the rest for more. And as she also noted, they won't go after the banksters on Wall Street, but they're more than happy to go after those public pensions as well.

From The Onion.

Looks like they came up with an idea for all those GOP governors turning down infrastructure money.

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RNC chair Michael Steele doesn't think the White House is asking New York governor David Paterson not to run for reelection because he's black -- but Steele is injecting the question of race into the discussion. The White House asked Patterson to drop out, according to a report in The New York Times.

"I found that to be stunning, that the White House would send word to one of only two black governors in the country not to run for reelection," Steele told CBS' Bob Schieffer.