The ongoing drama over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill took yet another bizarre twist today when a telephone prankster pretending to be wealthy conservative campaign donor David Hoch tricked Walker into candidly discussing his political strategies to revoke the collective bargaining rights of the state's public employees.

The 20-minute conversation was then posted on BuffaloBeast.com and on YouTube, in two parts.

In the conversation, the prankster suggests using a baseball bat to "crush the union."

"I have one in my office. You'd be happy with that. I have a Slugger with my name on it," Walker replied.

The prankster then suggests planting "troublemakers" among the protesters at the Capitol in Madison, presumably to tarnish their public image.

"You know, well, the only problem with that — because we thought about that. The problem is, my only gut reaction to that is right now the lawmakers I've talked to have just completely had it with them, the public is not really fond of this… The guys we've got left are mostly from out of state. My only fear would be if there's a ruckus caused, that would scare the public into thinking maybe the governor's got to settle to avoid all these problems. You know, where as I've said, ‘We can handle this. People can protest. This is Madison, you know, full of the sixties liberals. Let ‘em protest. It's not going to affect us. As long as we go back to our homes and the majority of people are telling us we're doing the right thing, let them protest all they want," Walker said.

Walker also discussed how he stopped the automatic deposits for paychecks of the 14 Democratic Senators who fled the state to delay a vote on his bill. To cash the checks, the Senators will now have to come pick them up, Walker said.

Walker refers to Wisconsin as "ground zero."

The prankster closes the conversation by saying, "Well, I tell you what, Scott: once you crush these bastards I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."

Walker replies, "All right, that would be outstanding. Thanks for all the support…it's all about getting our freedoms back … Thanks a million."

The real David Koch donated $43,000 to Walker's election campaign and funded a multi-million dollar advertising campaign against Walker's opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

According to the web site, The Beast was founded in 2002 by Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, his eXile comrade Kevin McElwee and Buffalo attorney Paul Fallon.

When asked about the prank phone call today, Walker's office issued the following statement: "The Governor takes many calls everyday. Throughout this call the Governor maintained his appreciation for and commitment to civil discourse. He continued to say that the budget repair bill is about the budget. The phone call shows that the Governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having."

Meanwhile in Madison today, the State Assembly has been in session for more than 24 hours, with Democrats filibustering and offering amendments to Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.

Walker gave a speech to Wisconsin residents Tuesday night, reiterating his determination to revoke the collective bargaining rights of public employees. To read the text of his speech, click here.

State Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) held up his wallet at Tuesday's Assembly session and challenged anyone in the room to find any evidence that Walker, as a candidate for governor before the election, had said he would take away the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

Pocan said he would give away the total amount of money in that wallet to anyone who could find such evidence.

Walker lied when he said that no one should be surprised because he had told voters he would revoke collective bargaining rights, Pocan said.

"The governor never once told the truth that he was going to do this," Pocan said.

When they voted Nov. 2, "They (voters) never said, ‘Take away the rights of workers in the state of Wisconsin.'"

The governor's office could not produce any proof that Walker had promised during the campaign to revoke collective bargaining rights. PolitiFact Wisconsin said Walker's claim was "false."

Meanwhile, the first national poll about the Wisconsin debate showed strong support for protecting the collective bargaining rights of public employees. In the USA Today/Gallop Poll, 61 percent of respondents would oppose a law in their state similar to one being considered in Wisconsin, compared with 33 percent who would favor such a law.