By of the

The campaign headquarters of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was inundated Tuesday with outraged callers who received an anonymous text message accusing Barrett of being a "union puppet."

The message, which came from WI@obamasaliar.com, said this:

"Tom Barrett is a Union Puppet who will give Union Thugs everything they want. Call & ask why 414-271-8050."

That is the phone number for the main campaign office for Barrett, a Democrat running against Gov. Scott Walker in the June 5 recall election. For a short period Tuesday afternoon, the Barrett campaign number appeared to be out of service from the flood of calls.

Karin Mather, of Amherst, said the message went to all members of her family who are Sprint cell phone customers. Mather, who supports the Democratic challenger, said the Barrett campaign told her that it had received more than 3,000 calls in response to the text.

Barrett campaign staffer Phil Walzak blamed the mayor's foes for the dirty trick.

"Certainly, Gov. Walker or allies of Gov. Walker are behind this," Walzak said. "This is a sign of desperation."

But Walker's staff denied any involvement.

"This is a figment of Phil Walzak and Tom Barrett's imagination," responded Ciara Matthews, spokeswoman for the Walker campaign.