The American Spectator

Booger| 2.18.11 @ 8:39AM

From the desk of Senator Mark F. Miller, Minority Leader, Wisconsin Senate:

Dear Democrat Colleagues,

I've been watching the weather quit a bit lately, and I have to tell you that it is just too cold here for me right now. I know, I know, we're supposed to be in session, but honestly, how can we be expected to get any work done with fourteen feet of snow on the ground? Seriously guys, it's cold up here. What we need is a winter break.

Look, the Republicans are bound and determined to do whatever they want. I don't know where they got the idea that just because they have majorities in both houses and the governorship they can pass whatever laws they like, but that seems to be their thinking these days. So, since I can't accomplish any of my legislative goals anyway, and since it's colder than the Governor's heart, I say we get out of town for a while and hit the beaches down in sunny Chicago. Have you seen the lake here this time of year? I've gotta tell you, it's just plain beautiful. I really don't know why I'd want to be any other place.

Here's the thing. Over the years, I've maintained a 100% rating with Naral, all the gun-control people, the Sierra Club, the gay-rights group and the public sector unions (except for those a******* cops who keep giving me a bad rating, probably because they don't like the 100% I got from the ACLU). At any rate, it's obvious this year that all my hard-earned work was going to be shoveled aside like so much snow by the Republicans. Then it occurred to me what I could do. I could take a vacation, get a little sun and fun, a little r & r, some downtime, some me time, and at the same time I could keep the Republicans from doing anything, and I mean anything, at all. All I have to do is leave town and get you guys to come with me.

It's perfect! We have the new form of responsible government: If you can't win the game, don't play! We can take a vacation and still keep all of our special constituents happy! The unions will love us for this, after all it's a move right out of their playbook. Don't work, shut everything down, and make sure nothing happens until the other side caves to our demands. I really don't see how anything can go wrong.

So, until the next election cycle and we get our majority back, join me down here in sunny Chicago, grab a Chicago-style pie and a Bulls game, and let's enjoy our winter break.

Your friend a leader,

Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller

http://beautifulletters-bls.blogspot.com/

Deborah D| 2.18.11 @ 8:56AM

I must say, Booger, this is absolutely perfect. What a bunch of sore losers Democrats are. Someone on another post asked about Dems and their talk about democracy (in Egypt) over the past few weeks. Someone on another website said, "Democrats believe in democracy -- except when they lose." So true.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.18.11 @ 10:44AM

Heh heh, welcome back, Booger.

Deborah D| 2.18.11 @ 8:42AM

You know, Mr. McCain, I think Obama and his union thugs want the chaos in the streets. They want their "revolution." Isn't that the Marxist in Obama coming out fully in the open now?

This is the "top down, bottom up, inside out" way of taking over the country. They are showing themselves for what they are. Let's hope the American people are paying attention.

Tim the Enchanter| 2.18.11 @ 10:52AM

There's one thing that's a bit short-sighted on the Kenyan's part: He's assuming that his side is automatically going to win. Some of us have other ideas...

John| 2.19.11 @ 7:42AM

Well, if that's what Obama thinks he's even dumber than I thought. While he certainly has the thugs, he simply doesn't have the numbers.

FastJohnny| 2.18.11 @ 8:44AM

When are the public sector unions going to understand that there is NO MONEY. They clamour, whine and cry because they have to contribute to their retirement and health care like the rest of us. Clearly they are not thinking past their own interests. To many of these people, it doesn't matter that funding these pensions and health plans at the present levels is bankrupting all of us, as long as they get their's. The answer they want, raise taxes on the rest of us who are increasingly less and less employed. Repeat after me..." There is no money, there is no money, there is no money......"

Look, the economy is a big @#$% sandwich and we all have to take a bite, yes even you public sector employees. Everyone.

Ellios Wyatt| 2.18.11 @ 8:54AM

They have run out of other people's money. This kind of behavior disgusts the American people and cannot bode well for the left from a PR perspective for the upcoming budget battle on the national level. I am also encouraged to see that other states are soon to follow suit.

I suspect the major item in the bill that upsets the leftists is not the loss of collective bargaining benefits, but the fact that people will be able to freely opt out of the union and not have their own income confiscated by unions. This is the change we have been waiting for.

Conservative View| 2.18.11 @ 5:19PM

Wyatt:

To coin a phrase, you hit the nail on the head. The Democrats are caught in an impossible position. The state is broke, no the state is in debt. There is no money.

But that is not the real problem here. The Democrats have sided with the unions mostly because the unions have been their money cow. With the unions behind them, the Democrats have had unimaginable political power. Now however, the "worm has turned". The unions unable or unwilling to burden themselves with some of the costs have placed them in the position, rightly or wrongly, of being the problem not the solution. Because the Democrats side with them, the Democrats are siding themselves with the problem, not positioning themselves as part of the solution.

This isn't about money though. It is about power. The Democrats have held power through the alliance with the unions. Now they are losing that power as the unions become villified across the nation. The poor Democrats haven't a clue what to do about this. They can either abandon the unions, and their votes, and become part of the solution,or remain in the grip of the unions and lose the votes of everyone else.

Not a good time to be a Democrat.

Kris twinc in Oxford| 2.18.11 @ 8:59AM

Wow, 2011 will be known as the year of the protest. Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Wisconsin?!

David W| 2.18.11 @ 9:01AM

Get it through your heads, unions do not care about the people they serve. They only care about one thing - getting as much as possible for the union members, regardless of the expense or problems caused and regardless of how poor the product or service might end up being.

I hope that the Governor pulls a Reagan - the teachers who are not on the job at the end of the day (if still striking) are no longer employed. In addition, the union is decertified. If they want their jobs back they have to apply for them. Unfortunately the children will suffer, but they are already suffering.

Mimi| 2.18.11 @ 9:26AM

Heh Dave...I bet thereare lots of new un-employed Graduates of teachers college all over the U.S.A. Packing their bags for Wisconsin...Ready and willing to take their place!!
Change is coming...My how a few money-grabbers PRE-2008..Thrust this new world on us...we all must be willing to make sacrifice and bite the bullit....for now better days are coming when the Idiots in office get voted out....PATIENCE!!

JP| 2.18.11 @ 9:10AM

It appears the Unions, Dems, Progressives, and other asorted misfits overplayed thier hand. It is the public employee unions who are closer to Murbarek in thought and deed. Both live off the dime of the citizens (in Egypt's case, subjects); both do not tolerate dissension; and both will resort to violence, if need be.

I know the govenor wants a peaceful resolution to this mess. But the Progressives won't allow it. If need be he can fire them if they persist in thier strike. But I don't think it will come to that. The teachers and public employees know what a great gig they have.

Of course, the govenor could give in to thier demands. That, in and of itself would be a shrewd move. After all, the cuts and calls to end collective bargaining are meant to perserve the jobs of the current Wisconsin public employees. The GOP could just give in, and come Monday fire about 20% of the employees in order to balance the budget. The govenor could then remind the now terminated employees to call thier union stewards and complain to them.

It won't be the GOP that breaks the back of the union. It will be reality. Next year's elections in Wisconsin will be a referendum on public service employees and thier unions. In that case, the Dems risk suffering a nationwide landslide at the state and local levels. If you think 2010 was a bloodbath, stay tuned.

Geoff Ashworth| 2.18.11 @ 9:13AM

Comparing a teacher's TOTAL compensation package to the median household income is like comparing apples to oranges. The public sector employees in Wisconsin on average make 4.8% less in TOTAL compensation than similarly qualified private sector employees. The reason teachers have more income than the median household income is that most teachers have a masters degree. Now if you compared teachers to other people with masters degrees than you would see that teachers are undervalued in their compensation.

Floyd Looney| 2.18.11 @ 9:18AM

2/3 of education spending does not happen in the classroom. There are far too many Administrative paper pushers and some of them make well over $100,000. You won't even find those jobs in the private sector will you?

JP| 2.18.11 @ 10:06AM

Actually Geoff the author was comparing total compensation of both - apples to apples. And no, most teachers do not hold Masters degrees. And no, having a degree doesn't entitle anyone (esp state workers) to higher pay. Afterall, home schooling parents do a better job, and most do not hold degrees.

mere citizen| 2.19.11 @ 7:26AM

Yes, funny that. I opted to home school the youngest child three years ago when he was in 6th grade. I had had enough of out of control classrooms in which the master prepared teacher could not control elementary students and I was appalled that the master prepared teacher was giving my child As and Bs, but primarily As on papers that were nearly illiterate in the grammar dept. Yet for some reason she was grading these papers to signify that it was great work. When I complained the teacher just could not grasp the issue.

At present my child writes appropriately now, and is doing work that is clearly at a higher level than his public school friends. He is also much more mature then his peers.

It's all about the expectations. I am not a master prepared educator. I am simply a Registered Nurse with an Associates Degree. A degree by the way, the American Nurse Association would like to do away with, and which some hospitals are attempting to make obsolete, because some "better educated" believe that I am not quite as bright as those Bachelors prepared nurses, despite all of us having to pass the same tests for licensing purposes. Funny thing is, we know get students with their 4 year degrees who can't competently complete routine tasks like placing IVs and such, because they are so focused on the "art and theory" of nursing that they don't have time for the reality of nursing.

It's disgusting, the whole premise that paying several thousands of dollars to be "educated" makes one something. In today's world of the internet there is not one thing that a teacher can show my child that can't be found and learned by himself, without a gatekeeper.

That's what they can't stand, not being the gatekeeper to someones mind and opinion.

Tim the Enchanter| 2.18.11 @ 10:56AM

"Masters" degrees? In what? Education? Give me a break! I'd have more respect for a Master's in Flower Arranging or Basket Weaving. At least they know how to do something useful and productive.

Floyd Looney| 2.18.11 @ 9:17AM

Obama seems to want riots.

Having teachers fund a few percent more of their own retirement and medical insurance costs is a crisis? Really?

Mimi| 2.18.11 @ 9:38AM

FLOYD....Seems ? ......to want riots!...He's calling for buses. It's his game... and he plays "DIRTY".
We knew in 2010 if we won the November election, there would be Heck to pay! This is just a preview. They don't LOSE well...Their at the kicking and screaming stage... The GROWN-UPS are now in control! Theywill be "NOISY" before the tears come and get nice just like spoiled "KIDS"!!!

Tim the Enchanter| 2.18.11 @ 10:58AM

Give 'em time. It's still early in the game.

Richard Baker| 2.18.11 @ 10:26AM

What's happening is that the Governor of Wisconsin is doing that upon which he was elected. Notice that the average citizens of Wisconsin aren't enraged or upset. The Governor will win this one and the "teachers" will enter the real world. On, Wisconsin!

Deborah D| 2.18.11 @ 11:08AM

You know what Gov. Walker should say to them? "I won!" Talk to the hand! :)

Richard Baker| 2.18.11 @ 10:28AM

At least the teachers haven't bombed the Math building at the University of Wisconsin, yet.

Russ| 2.18.11 @ 10:39AM

Well Bobby, you are misinformed. The "riots" are not about paying a share of retirement benefits and health insurance coverage, these issues are dead, they will be paid and public employees will not have to be forced to do so, this is voluntary. The issue here is the unilateral stripping of nearly all collective bargaining rights for state workers. Only salary (limited to CPI) is up for discussion. The "budget" bill also contains proposals aimed specifically at destroying public unions. Do your research!

Deborah D| 2.18.11 @ 11:11AM

Unions are taking taxpayer money and giving it to Democrats -- basically, forcing taxpayers to fund those they don't agree with. That's not a Democratic Republic.

Green Squared| 2.18.11 @ 10:13PM

heh. while the republicans take massive corporation kick backs.

Lester| 2.19.11 @ 12:59AM

Nonsense. Obama got more corporate money than anyone. Plus the New York Times Corporation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting back him to the hilt. You know this and lie, or are stupid.

Lester| 2.19.11 @ 1:00AM

You say "destroy public unions" as if that were a bad thing. It isn't.

SomeOtherSteve| 2.19.11 @ 8:19AM

It is bad if you depend upon campaign donations from said unions.

Robert Crowe| 2.18.11 @ 10:40AM

California, like Wisconsin, is controlled by unionites that use their huge dues to buy off legislators who view working taxpayers as nothing more than their personal cookie jar. The only way to save our country is to bring realism and responsibility into government. ON WISCONSIN!

Brian In MA| 2.18.11 @ 10:55AM

My biggest issue with all the public employee contracts is the retirement age. Why should I have to work and pay taxes until I am 67 so public employees can retire at 55 with 30 years of service? Fair, equal? not in my book. Increasing public employee retirement age to 65 would go a long way towards fixing the state budgets.

Chris Rockwood| 2.18.11 @ 11:01AM

> the basic bone of contention between them
> and Gov. Walker is his plan to make them
> contribute a larger share toward their pension
> and health benefits.

That's a lie--a BIG lie, just like Paul Ryan's statement that the "#1 problem facing our country" is the national debt (sorry, Paul, it's a lack of jobs). Today's conservatives, especially the boy-scout types such as Walker and Ryan who appear to be so sincere, are exceptionally adept at this sort of lying.

Most of the union members and leaders understand that there's a significant budget problem and are willing to contribute more toward their benefits and pensions. If this were primarily a fiscal issue, Gov. Walker would be negotiating the details with the unions--that's how things have worked in Wisconsin since 1959. What really happened is that Walker refused to even attempt to negotiate and his opening move was to strip most public-employee unions of nearly all their bargaining rights. The "bone of contention" here is union-busting, which is not only wrong but unnecessary. I couldn't be more proud of the workers and state senators who are doing everything they can to stop it.

Deborah D| 2.18.11 @ 11:15AM

Since 1959 unions and their friends in the Democratic Party have had their hands in the taxpayers' pockets. Now those pockets are empty, and Americans don't want to fund thugs and thieves who want to take the country over the cliff.

Ron in WI| 2.18.11 @ 11:16AM

Really Chris? What you fail to post is that the Unions and the Previous Govenor tried to ram through contracts after Walker was elected. They the union wanted the entire store..not just the products. The average state worker only pays $80 in annual contribution to their pension plans. How much does the average worker contribute towards their 401k? This is for a worker that earns 40k a year.

I keep hearing about how these workers are taxpayers...but in reality they pay nothing to the state income tax. They earn money paid by taxpayers, and they then pay those tax dollars towards their yearly income taxes.

Green Squared| 2.18.11 @ 10:16PM

yes, and republicans aren't guilty of doing things like this either? ramming through legislation before the next elected officials can be sworn into office? give me a break!

George True| 2.19.11 @ 2:24AM

Actually, no. I cannot remember a single time when a Republican controlled lame duck legislature rammed through bills. This is exclusively the M.O. of the Democrats.

tadcf| 2.18.11 @ 11:24AM

These sound like pretty common remunerative rates for middle class citizens. The problem is that Governor Walker is trying to take away their union right to collective bargaining in the future.

Ever since I've been alive--66 years now--it seems whenever politicians need to make cuts in their budget, teachers are the first to feel the knife. No wonder we rate so low in the world regarding education. We are now feeling the cumulative effects of this behavior. How can we expect to retain good teachers when we remunerate them in this way? Actually, we need to reduce politicians pay and benefits--we can always get second rate politicians--like we have in abundance--but cannot always get first rate teachers--like we need.

Deborah D| 2.18.11 @ 11:27AM

Unions don't care about the students, that's the problem with education. And, government jobs are eternal, aren't they? So, why do they need a union? Unions are in it for their own power -- they don't even care about the "workers." Power.

mere citizen| 2.19.11 @ 7:46AM

Tell me how the current system of tenure and protection for some clearly incapable teachers bring first rate educators to the field?

Unions are afraid that without forced membership, those who do not favor their money going to support second and third rate bozos who should lose their jobs, won't continue membership. Unions are afraid that without forced membership those who favor true educational reform won't continue membership.

Last, but not least, unions fear that without forced membership those who don't support the same political goals but who have their money used for those goals, won't continue membership.

Unions do not bring first rate teachers, or first rate use of resources. They may bring top pay for members, but eventually that does not seem to be a sustainable model without some ability to moderate themselves, and so far unions have not proved they are able to do this. Those at the top are more than willing to throw their less senior members out of a job in order to keep theirs, or to increase theirs.

To pretend this has anything to do with getting and keeping first rate anything is to buy into dreamland, not reality.

FormerWIRepublican| 2.18.11 @ 11:51AM

You compare teachers salaries + benefits to other workers salaries only. This is typical political ingnorance from either side. If you are going to discuss the "facts" then at least put more than 2 minutes into Googling some salary stats that are not representative of the truth. You may be correct about teachers salaries being greater than the average worker in WI, but how are you defining the "average worker". And did you include their average benefits? What workers did you exclude to get the number you wanted? At least have the courage to do your job thoroughly instead of just adding to the rhetoric of accusations and false "facts".

Jeff Kohl| 2.18.11 @ 4:27PM

But - can't compare average total teacher benefit packages with the median household income - for one, you DO KNOW the difference between median and average, right? Even if compare median with median or average with average, to fairly compare, you have to adjust for (1) education level, (2)years of experience and (3) add in the non-salary benefits for those other Wisconsin households - which unfortunately are hard to find out for most private employees. Besides, is the whole comparison fair to begin with - do we really want teachers who are only as good as the average worker in the state? That's the only type of person you'll attract to teaching if that's your standard. Mediocre, average, uninspiring. The other idea that's been floated for a cuple years now of some sort of master teacher program to reward the best teachers makes sense, but you'll never even get the people who have that potential to become starting teachers if they'll be penalized from the get go.

Jamie| 2.18.11 @ 6:45PM

Please. What don't you understand about the fact that Wisconson is broke? Stop demonizing a Governor who is trying to fix the problem liberals created.

Besides, our childrens' test scores stink!! Teachers should take their share of the responsibility for that unfortunate reality.

Green Squared| 2.18.11 @ 10:19PM

i don't think that wisconsin was broke because of the liberals. in fact, we were going to have a SURPLUS of over $100 million! that was until Gov. Walker came in and spent all of that would be surplus with his first TWO BILLS, and now says we are in a budget crisis. Budget Crisis my butt.

George True| 2.19.11 @ 2:27AM

The day he was sworn in, Walker inherited a budget deficit in excess of three BILLION dollars. That is a matter of public record. Look it up.

John| 2.19.11 @ 7:48AM

Well, if results are any indicator (which they are by the ay) your much vaunted teachers are a miserable failure. It strikes me that hiring "mediocre, average, uninspiring couldn't be any worse and might actually turn out better -- your children would be taught by average citizens instead of a bunch of highly educated, but not very smart, leftists.

mere citizen| 2.19.11 @ 8:02AM

I agree as long as you are also willing to compare to those who have every weekend off, all the holidays plus the three months of summer.

Can't find private sector jobs like that?

Hmmm. You want comparisons, make sure you do it ALL.

Blue Collar Todd| 2.19.11 @ 1:09AM

How quickly the national news has turned from the protests in Egypt to the protests in Wisconsin. Just recently Liberal and Anarchist thinkers were pondering, even hoping for such protests and or riots (depending on one’s definition) in America. It does not really matter what we call them: Liberal, Progressive or Marxist, they are all in favor of the same things. Now we seem to have them with loyal Democrats leading the charge with union shock troops leading the way, even with the support of President Obama. To what end does the Left hope to achieve by this? The answer should be clear: power, total and absolute power over every aspect of our lives.

http://www.bluecollarphilosoph.....aos-2.html

Liberalism is a Totalitarian world view whether you think of it as a political or religious belief system, the end goal is the same. There will be an attempt to enforce their dogma on society, on the universities, on the political process, and even on our churches. If it takes mass protests in the streets to achieve this, then it will be done regardless of it requiring violent or non-violent means. The Democrats love for bureaucracy to enforce their ever encroaching regulations ought to tip us off as to their true desire and lust. A free and open society is not compatible with this Party’s aspiration to dictate what are and are not acceptable expressions of religion and thought. When they appeal to justice in order to gain support for their cause, remember such speak is a cover for their desire get power. To get power over your wealth in order to redistribute it, to get power over health care in order to redistribute it, to get power over your carbon footprint in order to dictate how you live. I suspect that what is happening in Wisconsin will soon spread to other states and if it does we may finally see what the Democratic Party is all about: power and control.

mere citizen| 2.19.11 @ 8:08AM

We should also be asking if compulsory education is compatible with a free and open society as well.

The present model of education is obsolete, we just haven't figured that out yet.

Henry B| 2.19.11 @ 4:23AM

"Median income is the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount. Mean income (average) is the amount obtained by dividing the total aggregate income of a group by the number of units in that group. Overall, the mean household income in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau 2004 Economic Survey, was $60,528, or $17,210 (39.73%) higher than the median household income."

Also, saying that the "working people" are paying for teacher's salaries and won't stand for it is also misleading. The top 5% of earners in this country pay about 60% of the taxes. THESE are the people who will benefit from lowering taxes and killing the unions, not working people.

RYan| 2.19.11 @ 7:32AM

Yup. That top five percent does NOTHING. THey don't work a day in their lives to earn the money, it just fall on them from the sy with no prompting whatsoever! Only work that makes you weat is real work! MEntal work doesn't count!!!! Unless you are a democratic politician or a university professor, THEN it counts!!!!
Love the democratic mindset. . . .

John| 2.19.11 @ 7:45AM

The governor ought to declare the Senate seats vacant and order special elections to fill them. Then he ought to fire any public employee not on the job on Monday morning and order the hiring of replacements --- on his new employment terms.

megapotamus| 2.19.11 @ 12:50PM

Subjectively the most terrifying phrase here is "last month". Is it really only last month that the civility seminar commenced? It didn't last long. Anyone else experiencing extreme time compression?

Brother Nitals| 2.19.11 @ 4:46PM

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s Proposal to Effectively Eliminate Collective Bargaining in Wisconsin, or Who’s the Radical Now, Reince?
By Brother Nitals

UNITED WISCONSIN

When all is said
and all is done
one thing is never least
It is in how we make the law
that show us from the beast.

Though may we vie and thunder
And cast our rules away
We may awaken then, to know
The beast hath chose to stay.

My dear brothers and sisters, if you would know one thing more than any other it is this:
Know thine enemy.
And this:
Our strength lies in our fundamental faith in what is right and what is wrong. And what Walker is doing is wrong. It is not the way civilized people govern themselves. It is, in many respects, simply a Tea Party-orchestrated negation of the notion of self-government. Our Founders did us many favors, but they did us the disservice of bequeathing a “Republican” form of government (sorry, but that’s what they said) without defining it. So we must redefine it each generation, in a manner approximating, to the degree that we can, what John Commons called the “winnowing and sifting” of facts, opinions, trends, and simple prejudices, to come up with something called laws. And they are to be made not in haste and distemper, but all in good time, in the broad light of day. There was a time when it was known as the Wisconsin idea. It meant that we sent our sons and daughters, to the extent that we could, to schools that we knew were among the best in the country, not because they were elitist and narrow, but for precisely the opposite reason: that they were open and thorough, and invited thoughtful debate and the triumph of reason over passion. Collective bargaining was won by workers through an impassioned defense of what was ultimately a pretty humble idea: that keeping political patronage and the corruption it bred out of the halls of government, by allowing unions to represent those who had earned the privilege of serving in it, simply seemed to be the least worst way to doing things. The general idea was no more, and no less, than that.
And if we fail now, and fail here, with the whole country watching us, what will we tell our children and grandchildren? First off, we must stand strong and call a spade a spade: this is a willful, coldly calculated attempt to abrogate worker rights, with virtually no genuine public discussion, under the patently absurd pretense that somehow we are so “broke” as a state and disillusioned as a society that we cannot take the time to make laws like civilized people. The public knows full well that WMC and WEAC are the two most powerful interest groups in the state, and almost no one voted for Walker because they thought he was going to outlaw the latter a month after taking office. That much is clear. As far as the concessions in the contract are concerned, we must show the public that we are reasonable people. After all, we work in government. Most Wisconsinites see our political system as flawed, but not so flawed that it will somehow be improved by yanking the rug out from under one of the two political parties, and creating an inordinately unlevel playing field over night, which is precisely what Walker and his allies hope to accomplish by this.
We will be reasonable, and make clear to the public that we will sacrifice, by paying more toward pensions and health care, to help the state along with its budget woes, but the public must also do its part by recognizing the obvious: this is not about money. It is not about government efficiency.
It is about raw political power. More precisely, it is about how you take away effective political power from people without formally denying them such things as votes.
If you need to know anything about Walker’s plan, know this: left to its own devices, shorn of the support of organized public sector labor, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin will simply be a shadow of its former self. If you don’t believe it, jump on board with Walker and help save the state some money. But don’t complain if you don’t happen to see genuine two-party competition in Wisconsin next time around, or for some time to come. Like it or not, that is what is at stake here. If Walker succeeds in undermining WEAC, AFT-Wisconsin, and the rest, forget about things like the public interest and free and fair elections. Hope as you will, you won’t have them anymore, and if it comes to pass, don’t blame us. We told you so, right here and now. Like it or not, my dear fellow electors of Wisconsin, if this goes through as planned, WMC will be laughing all the way to the ballot box, because they will rule, like corporatist oligarchs in South America, and you will not have the Wisconsin you once knew. Trust me. I know them all too well to think that they would let the opposition survive this. Most have had privileges that you have not 0 think they’re going to pass this one up?
Still think that this is not what is at stake? Guess again. No one will stop them. The Republicans will walk all over them in elections for years, and they know it. The unions are the only thing keeping things reasonably competitive now, and they will be gone my friends, and no group of investment bankers or other union-friendly CEO’s is going to step up to bat in their place. Barack didn’t move here when he left Harvard, he moved to Illinois. It’s a different state. And we’re not New York or California either. We’re Wisconsin. We don’t have enough of those kind of people to build a newly reinvigorated Democratic party. It won’t happen. The unions are the only thing keeping things reasonably competitive now, and they will be gone my friend. And you will see changes you thought you would never see. And remember, you won’t be able to take your case to state agency administrators, because they will all be political appointees as well. It will be the same state seal, but now it will be privately owned, rather than part of a public trust. Think of it as Mississippi with snow, with Packer players as the paradigmatic example of modern unionists.
The Walker gambit is about allowing one political party to establish long-term dominance in the electoral realm by undermining the other. That is why Ellis and Olson and Schultz and Harsdotf are so torn over this. They are loyal Wisconsinites all, and good people, but they are loyal party members as well. It cannot be easy for them. Luther is probably the most publicly conflicted, and to his credit, he seems willing to acknowledge that maybe people who work for unions are lacking horns and tails. But the pressure being brought to bear is incredible. Part with us on this, and you may never be invited back. It is that serious. That is why we must be strong and fight.
And to do this, one needs to use a pretext. Believe what you may from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (once a great newspaper) or Fox, but the truth is plain to see: if the closest political allies of one political party are thoroughly undermined by act of law, the other will gain immensely. What that means for Wisconsin is entirely unclear, and we should not presume to really be able to prophesy the full ramifications. No one really can. But to the extent that Wisconsinites believe in fair play and at least some semblance of competition in the electoral arena, they should be gravely concerned about Gov. Walker’s approach here. For the simple reason that as far as state and local government is concerned, you will not have any of this anymore. WMC will decide who runs for office, and gets to make the laws, not the voters.
That, my dear fellow citizens, whether you like it or not, is what this battle is about.
Know thine enemy, but remember that you must also serve him as well. The Tea Partiers detest government, in part, for a reason deeply rooted in human nature – there is a natural, and immutable, human tendency to fear that which one only sees from the outside. They think government is to blame for a declining economy, and to some extent it is. But the true culprit is not the world of American government – federal, state and local – but governments in the world around America. Scott Walker can’t ramrod a bill through the Legislature outlawing China and Brazil from developing economies that lift millions out of poverty, and into the middle class, as America had done for our parents and grandparents. So he must look elsewhere to place the blame, and it has unfortunately fallen upon us. Will we be strong enough to show our fellow Wisconsinites that this blame is largely misplaced, and do so in a fashion that allows us to maintain their respect? That is the question we face, and I know that we have it within us to rise above the pettiness and the ignorance, and show the people of Wisconsin that the election last November was about rebuilding an economy, not rebuilding an electoral process.
We have been around government too long to believe unions can be thrown upside down, and out, in a week and the effects on Wisconsin society and culture will be minimal. That’s what Walker wants you to believe. That’s why it’s so modest. Remember the last time we tossed 48 years of accumulated case law defining the rights and responsibilities of public workers out the window overnight? What happened then? That’s Walker’s biggest PR problem. For the record, Scott, and just so you know, most people don’t think that something that has never happened before, in this state or any other, and affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in fundamental, life-altering ways, is modest. You went to quite a number of cities, villages and towns across our state over the past two years, telling us a lot about yourself (yes, we know about the cheese sandwiches), but nothing about last week’s plan. Did you happen to notice that the school district was the largest employer in many of the smaller places you visited? Do you honestly believe that turning hundreds and hundreds of towns where the largest employer is unionized into ones in which it is non-union is modest? People live in these towns. There lives will be changed in fundamental and far-reaching ways, regardless of how much they can fall back on the other legal protections they might enjoy under the law. Bloated and greedy though some might be, throwing them out the window is not modest.
We are not such fools as this. We know, because we have the insight that comes with not only pushing paper, but dealing with the people whose names are on the paper that we push, that government is about real human beings in the real world, and sometimes they get real mad. Like now. Because we are government workers, and labor unionists, we must take the high road. We must show the people of Wisconsin that we will not stand for the abuse of government power that Walker and his ilk represent, and that we will do so as people who, more than anything else, recognize that serving in government is a vocation and a privilege. And some of our colleagues do not work as hard as they should, or at all, and the civil service protects them, and that is wrong. We know it. There are more people willing to look at this than you think. But do it the right way. Work with people, don’t outlaw them. Refusing to negotiate with state workers and the unions that represent them, as other governors have for most of the past century or so, is not demonstrating political courage and being “bold.” It’s being short-sighted, and demonstrating some degree of genuine fear. Did you ever bother to mention when you were running that you weren’t going to do any negotiating? It would have helped.
And one other thing: did Walker miss the political science course at UW-Milwaukee that covered the part about Wisconsin being a model of representative government for decades (along with Iowa and New Hamshire, which would never dream of doing what he is doing now? Try as he might, he cannot rewrite history, and the notion that the Wisconsin Idea was a superior way to go about making laws and governing is not some left-wing contrivance – it is a matter of historical fact. And it is this more than anything else that we are losing in this, at times, truly bizarre battle over whether we can muster enough troopers to bring a half-century of public unionism to its knees in a week.
And yet one other thing to keep in mind. There is a difference between heading a government and operating one. We’ve been doing the latter for quite a long time, and he started his new job last month. On January 3, 2011, to be precise, or a year before January 3, 2012, a date you may want to highlight now for the sake of convenience.
Clearly, one of the main problems with the Walker proposal to end collective bargaining in Wisconsin is simply procedural. The public knows this. We know are neighbors and friends. They are simply not going to believe that it is fair or proper for a half-century of worker rights to be stolen away, like some thief in the night. We must believe, more than anything else, in the common wisdom here. They know a serious deliberative body when they see one, and they know that we they are seeing now is anything but. And it matters little which brother you ask.
Only the foolish are being fooled (just watch the thoughtful analysis spew forth from the Tea Partiers on Saturday), and Corporate Wisconsin and the Koch brothers are doing the fooling.
We must never forget this: this is a state where changes of far less magnitude take considerably longer to review and understand. Consider the workings of the Legislative Council, composed of legislators and citizens, who meet literally for months to examine complex issues of public policy. This is the Wisconsin tradition, or at least it was, for decades. To say that we have abandoned this in February 2011 is an understatement. Has anyone reflected on the fact that in a state that happens to have an internationally-recognized public university known, for better or ill, as having a considerable knowledge base in the realm of labor relations, virtually no testimony from an expert on either side has been brought to bear on the question? For that matter, hardly anything of considerable depth was discussed at the Joint Finance Committee public hearing on the bill. And another thing to keep in mind is that, aside from the procedural problems we keep finding out unpleasant things, such as the issue of the prospective loss of federal transportation funding. On the surface, going ahead without further substantive public debate on the possibility of losing considerable sums of federal funding for services that ultimately, could affect job creation, does not appear to be the wisest course of public policy. If it does, then it means that we have become a state government that hauls people in from all around the state to spend hours and hours going over nanotechnology and single-use plastics, generating hundreds of documents, but if we’re talking about negating a half-century of accumulated case law in state labor relations, and affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of middle-class people, let’s rely on what a large group of frustrated state workers and students tell us over a period of 17 hours. From the standpoint of wisely governing a society, that would not appear to be the most meritorious approach. Some might think the latter topic of greater importance than the former topics, and therefore worthy of more detailed study. In fact, it is safe to say that most Wisconsinites would agree.
In response to criticism from the left, the state Republican Party has in effect tried to turn the protests on their head, and ask that the citizens of the state somehow believe that protestors preventing legislators from “preforming” their duties (one of a disturbing pattern of GOP mis-spellings, along with Walker’s penchant for starting sentences in his State of the State with numbers, like ) means ramming a bill through in a week. Consider the grand old party’s erudite take on the matter, as set forth in its “Security Threat Shuts Down Democracy” press release, an extraordinary contribution to the world of Orwellianism:
“After successfully chasing Senate Democrats out-of-state in order to circumvent the democratic process, unruly union protesters in the Capitol shut down debate by intimidation again on Friday at the State Capitol. The Political web site WisPolitics reported this evening that Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald adjourned floor proceedings because the safety of legislators and staff could no longer be assured in the State Capitol building. According to Mark Jefferson, Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, union attempts to shut down the democratic process by mob rule are a deplorable insult to voters, taxpayers, and democracy itself. “To willfully prevent elected officials from preforming their official duties in order to circumvent the legislative process flies in the face of democracy and is an insult to the citizens of this state,” Jefferson said. As their reckless behavior, threats to elected officials, and crass language have demonstrated over the course of the past few days, union leaders on strike to shut down democracy have once again put their own best interests over the interests of Wisconsin taxpayers. “Governor Walker was elected to fix a broken system,” Jefferson said. “Walker and Republicans campaigned and won on that platform, and the will of the people will not be suppressed by intimidation. State government is broken and the time for reform is now.”
Here is the party’s argument, and it is worth examining in some detail:
“In 2010, the Republican Party of Wisconsin endorsed principled conservatives who would reform government and dramatically change the direction of the state of Wisconsin. We elected a leader true to his word. It’s clear that many of our opponents still do not understand the details of Governor Walker’s responsible budget repair plan. Use these facts below to send in letters to the editor, update your Facebook page, and get the message out to your networks. Stand with Scott Walker.
The FACTS about Governor Walker’s Responsible Budget Repair Plan
The current state of affairs is not a sustainable one for maxed-out taxpayers footing the bill. The average Wisconsin state employee compensation (salary and fringe benefits) in 2010-11 was $76,500. Employee salary and fringe benefits comprises more than 60% of state government general fund operating costs. The average Wisconsin teacher compensation (salary and fringe benefits) in 2009-10 was $74,844. (Source: Department of Public Instruction website)
But the cost to taxpayers keeps growing. Wisconsin taxpayers pay over $1 billion per year for state government employee health insurance; more than double what was paid only 10 years ago. But employees themselves pay only 6% of that amount.
Big savings are needed to fill a big hole this fiscal year. Governor Walker’s Budget Repair Bill contains more than $30 million in savings over a three month period by requiring state employees to contribute to their pension and health care benefits.
Public protections for state employees will remain. Wisconsin’s statutory civil service laws, among the strongest in the nation, will remain in force to ensure Wisconsin can maintain a professional and experienced state workforce. In addition, employee sick leave, vacation, and retirement benefits will remain unchanged.
Fundamental reforms are needed for a sustainable path forward. While pension and health care contributions are a vital part of solving our current deficit problems, the long-term structural problems facing the state and local governments cannot be solved without a fundamental reform of Wisconsin’s labor relations. As Governor Walker said today in a national press conference, in the past public union contracts have taken an average of 15 months to pass. With a $3 billion budget deficit, we don’t have that much time.
Simply requiring pension and health care contributions does nothing to solve crushing problems such as the Department of Corrections out-of-control overtime costs, the Madison bus driver making more than $150,000 per year, or the outstanding first year teacher who was laid off by MPS because she lacked seniority. The time is now to put Wisconsin on a sustainable path, and Governor Walker is the conservative leader to do it.
During tough times, Walker is protecting our most vulnerable citizens. As Department of Health Services Secretary Smith outlined in a memo on February 8, 2011, alternative plans to achieve the type of savings needed to balance the books would be dire.
Other alternatives would require:
o Eliminating services for 194,539 children on Medical Assistance; or
o Eliminating services for 92,599 adults on Medical Assistance; or
o Eliminating services for 16,284 elderly, blind or disabled persons.
Walker is saving thousands of public employee jobs. To achieve similar savings in the state’s general fund over three months would require laying off more than 1,500 state employees. Governor Walker knows there have been enough layoffs across the state already – 250,000 Wisconsin jobs have been lost since the beginning of the recession.
No wage cuts, layoffs, or furloughs. Governor Walker said in an email to state employees that both the Budget Repair Bill and the 2011-13 Biennial Budget will contain no wage cuts, no layoffs, and no furloughs for state employees.
That’s right, no more furloughs. Walker’s sensible solutions effectively mean the 3% of state employee wages lost through Jim Doyle’s unpopular furloughs will offset the increased pension and health care contributions Governor Walker is asking of public employees to help balance the state’s budget.”
WMC Defense
Here it is, right from the horse’s mouth – and make no mistake about it - they are the number one instigator (see list of Walker contributors below). WMC is well aware that corporate contributions to their coffers are down, so they want to put WEAC out of business, once and for all. Look on the bright side: WMC is not strong-arming because it is strong, but because it knows that as the state’s manufacturing competitiveness falls to international competitive pressure, it is becoming weaker. Bullying people like Luther Olson and Dale Schultz is not a sign of power, but of weakness and declining influence, and they know it. For this more than any other reason, we must remain strong. And vigilant.
Let us give WMC its chance to set forth its detailed rationale for achieving “fiscal fairness” by gutting public unionism in a week, all eight paragraphs worth:
WMC Hails Fiscal Fairness Proposal
Governor Walker Unveils Fiscal Reform Bill
MADISON – Governor Scott Walker Friday unveiled his fiscal reform plan that will allow the state budget to be balanced without tax increases. His proposal also gives local governments and schools the tools they need to balance their budgets without property tax hikes.
WMC issued the following statement:
“These proposed changes will allow government at all levels to better manage costs, increase efficiency and ultimately improve the quality of government services. In the long run they will make government more affordable and provide long overdue relief to taxpayers.”
“These are modest changes and are consistent with changes made at private businesses.”
The proposal is consistent with the WMC policy agenda promoting limiting government spending and taxing.
The plan calls for public employees at all levels to contribute 50 percent of their annual pension payment and cover 12.6 percent of the average cost of their annual health insurance premium. These levels are consistent with the average employee contribution for public sector employees nationwide and are still below average compared to the private sector.
The bill would also limit collective bargaining for most public employees to wages only and place a cap on any increases based on the consumer price index. Any increases exceeding the cap would have to be approved by voters at referendum.
The proposal also calls for debt restructuring, the sale of state owned heating plants, and lapses various unspent amounts to the general fund while increasing certain appropriations to cover shortfalls in Medicaid and Corrections.”
Another point to keep in mind is that Scott cannot ramrod through a bill outlawing the courts, or at least he has yet to try. Just exactly who is going to be mediating the many workplace disputes that are inevitably part of a large, complex set of organizations like state and local governments if not the unions and WERC? That’s right, the circuit courts, as well as the federal courts. Last time we checked, they were not exactly looking for additional work. How are they going to feel about now handling hundreds of disputes that formerly were resolved through the unions and WERC? Try as he might, Scott cannot legislate away litigiousness, and if collective bargaining is gutted, the lawsuits will come forth. Try convincing business leaders in other states that they should relocate here under those circumstances.
To understand what is going on, we need to understand Scott Walker. He is the son of a pastor. He left college because he already had a good job. He is a good husband and father to his sons. He is, from the standpoint of personal morality, quite probably doing better than you and I. And most importantly, as citizens of this state, we all owe him a debt of gratitude that, quite frankly, almost no one on either side has bothered to mention in the course of this debate, or for that matter a very long time. Let us not forget that when our state’s largest county uncovered a tale of inordinate corruption, by Wisconsin standards – that of a pension deal that literally was so generous that it violated IRS rules – Walker was the guy who had the guts to stand up to it. Call it opportunism if you will, but in the early stages in particular, that took guts. And believe me, he’s got’em. But regrettably, he sees the state’s current fiscal situation in similar, moralistic terms. Scott Walker knew it was wrong for Tom Ament to pay his secretary, who like Scott had only a high school diploma, a $106,000 a year salary, and he did something about it. And he frugally ate his two cheese sandwiches a day, and people generally thought well of him. And whether you lived there or not, what he did helped the state. He did turn things around over there, and that takes a lot of doing. But it took a great deal of zeal to do so, and unfortunately that zeal is now being used to clean up a state government that needs far less cleaning than Milwaukeee County’s did. In his zealousness, Walker has succumbed to the temptations of WMC, the Club of Rome, Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party Nation, and a general sense among some that the time to strike is now, when the iron is hot. Mark Jefferson and the inimitable Reince Priebus were genuinely surprised at the extent of their new majorities, and they had a certain debt to pay to their WMC and Tea Party associates. This, my brothers, is but the first installment.
But make no mistake about it. They are not conservatives. To conservatives, long-standing laws, institutions and customs are things that one respects, out of a Burkean notion that they are entitled to such respect because of the mere fact of their longevity itself. This is how true conservatives think, and because that’s how they think, we never needed to worry about Tommy outlawing us in the course of a week. He didn’t do things like that. He was, more than anything else, a small-town lawyer, and he wanted, more than anything else, to get things done (“I’m a builder”). And to do that, you need help from the people who actually do the work. Thus Act 11.
The problem is that in a modern society, with its many changes in law and custom, true conservatives are no longer in charge over at the GOP, and we must accept the reality that the new breed has shown itself capable of displaying utter contempt for the conventional practices of self-government, democratic processes, deliberation and law-making. The real lawbreakers are not hiding out in Illinois, but are, as they regularly remind us, hard at work. Men are not the flies of a summer, Burke taught, and neither are an accumulated half-century of rights won through the hard-fought battles of those who preceded us: battles fought not only in the Legislature and the courts, but in the blood of our forefathers. It shall not have been shed in vain to please the Fitzgerald brothers, or for that matter, Glenn Beck.
And that lead us to gentleman Jim. Doesn’t look quite so bad now, does he? Raiding the segregated funds may not have been the wisest course of action, but no one camped out at the Capitol over it. Maybe he was more harsh than he needed to be, but in retrospect he did what he had to do. Say what you will, he was a decent and honorable man, and an extraordinarily skilled politician. If there is one person who is benefitting from this public mayhem that Walker has caused, it is him. Whatever else you may think, he treated people with decency, respect and fairness. I don’t know about you, but if I were to see him at the rallies, my first inclination would be to bow, as one should in the presence of a great man. Think back on how Priebus and Jefferson complained so bitterly of Jim’s “radical” agenda. Who’s the radical now, Reince?

And just to make sure that no one missed his Nixonist dimension, Scott set forth yet another bold, rationale for overlooking the views of 25,000 of those annoying little “pro-labor” people in his midst – he had received e-mails from over three-quarters as many people – presumably many of them from people who, like himself, were too busy working to do anything else. Someone remember to request that he release these to make sure they are all there, assuming that the open records law in still in place next week.
Walker says 'quiet majority' behind him
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he believes a "quiet majority" of Wisconsin residents are behind his plan to force public employees to pay more for health care and pension benefits. His plan would also remove nearly all their collective bargaining rights.
Walker spoke Friday on the fourth day in which thousands of pro-labor protesters converged on the Capitol building to oppose his proposal. Police estimated 40,000 people were at the Statehouse on Friday.
But Walker says he's received 19,000 supportive e-mails this week.
Walker says he expected there to be a passionate response to his plan, but he stands by his position and believes it will pass the Legislature.
Senate Democrats skipped town Thursday to delay action there indefinitely.
Consider this, addressed to a somewhat more narrowly “targeted” group:
Dear Republican Legislator:
For half a century, Wisconsin governors have been elected to negotiate with unions, not eliminate them. Although Governor Walker claims that people who did not realize that collective bargaining would be largely eliminated under his administration were asleep, I have yet to find anyone who was awake when he said it, at least prior to unveiling his “budget repair” bill.
You know as well as we do that this is not the way that we make law in Wisconsin. Bullying legislators into voting for a bill following the public hearing equivalent of a college all-nighter is not the way that we expect elected officials to do things in this state. You are a lawmaker. You should know this. It reminds some of a 3:00 a.m. vote to impose a sales tax to build a baseball stadium, and as you recall, that did not go over real well.
Wisconsin’s public employees are willing to negotiate concessions to achieve savings to help address the state’s fiscal condition. We have already done this, and the furloughs have already hurt us financially. But if you think that Scott Walker can campaign without a hint of gutting collective bargaining, and then do it overnight without a reasonable public discussion and review, then you are shaming the institution in which you serve.
Say what you will about the Democrats, they are not complicit in this stunt. Until you demonstrate otherwise, you are, and you may rest assured that the electors of this state will hold you accountable at the polls at the very next opportunity. Three out of five state residents oppose the idea already, and with losses in federal mass transit funding and other negative effects looming, the remaining support for gutting collective bargaining may be waning. Cast your lot with the Tea Partiers, and we will not forget. By their deeds ye shall know them.
Please try to understand that we are willing to compromise. We are not willing to have our working lives completely disrupted in the name of “fiscal fairness.” You know perfectly well there is nothing fair going on here.
Sincerely,
When all is said and done, we must be strong. We must be vigilant. We can do it. If he shapes up and comes to his senses, we will try to work with him. If he continues to augment the State Trooper contingent around him (the Fitzgerald brothers must have people in their extended family other than their father who have
And let us not forget another recent effort to expand the state’s business climate, undertaken in response to, among other things, an annoying issue in which the state Department of Commerce apparently went beyond the scope of its authority in adopting regulations regarding, of all things, sprinkler systems in condominiums and townhouses.
WMC Hails Swift Legislative Approval of Regulation Reform
Job Creation Climate Improves With Limits on New Red Tape
MADISON – Wisconsin’s job creation prospects will improve with the passage of a comprehensive regulation reform bill approved by the Legislature, WMC said Friday.

“Wisconsin’s business climate and job creation will improve with the passage of these regulation reforms,” said James A. Buchen, WMC vice president of government relations. “Time and time again, business executives in Wisconsin say that regulations are among their top business problems.”
The reforms were introduced at the request of Governor Scott Walker as part of the special session on job creation. “Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald deserve tremendous credit for guiding this critical bill through the Legislature,” Buchen said. “The authors and supporters of the bill have taken an important step to keep Wisconsin workers employed.”
Under the proposal passed by the Senate Thursday, new regulations could not be created by state agencies without the approval of Wisconsin’s governor.

As I bring this missive to a close, and extend my thanks to all brothers and sisters who have taken the time to read it, as well as my fellow Wisconsinites who have read it, I would ask one other to consider it as well.

Scott, my friend, listen to me. If there is one thing for you to know, it is this: you are too good of a person to let those around you lead you down this road. Setting up a transition office takes a lot of work. You don’t always have time to think things through. You have a year to show the people of this state that you can remember how to govern fair and square. This is not the way. Talk to us and we will meet you halfway. Throwing people you don’t agree with out on the street, emasculated and frightened for the future is not the way to rebuild an economy. It’s the way of WMC and the Fitzgeralds, but not the fair or right way. They get business, and law enforcement, respectively, but they don’t get government.

I know Tom Barrett, and he did not want the job as much as you did. The great tragedy of all of this, and there are indeed those in union circles, whether you know it or not, who have literally sung your praises as county executive, is that it didn’t have to be this way. If you had some bad experiences with the unions in Milwaukee, so be it. We are not county government. We are state government. We are the big boys. And you truly did have a tremendous potential to govern this state well. And you still do. It is not too late. The problem is that Rience is very good at what he does, so he became national chair, and things started to escalate, and get out of hand, and all of a sudden the hubristic nonsense that WMC had been prattling about for years became a plan, and then that became a fiscal plan, and that became a “bold” yet “modest” fiscal plan. But at the end of the day, the people will see that it is unfair and dumb.

Things like this happen in government. But you don’t want to be remembered as the guy who ripped the heart out of Wisconsin unionism, and in the process, Wisconsin itself. If you love this state and its people as much as I do, admit you’re wrong. You made a mistake. We all have, even your father. Nobody’s perfect. Throwing collective bargaining out the window is not the solution to the state’s fiscal or economic problems. If people stop taking federally-funded buses to work, maybe so. But for now, the road ahead with this proposal looks mighty damn dim. And loud. If you truly do refuse to back down, and go ahead with your plan, those damn liberals will be in the Capitol straight through to next January 3. They need 580,206 signatures and they’ll get a million. Trust me. You cannot do this and avoid the consequences. You grew up knowing what it was like to go without. So did a lot of us. Take away this much of what remains and they will not forgive or forget. You are asking too much. Buchen and Jefferson, and your other “friends” will return to their respective agendas, and guess who will be left holding the bag?

It’s not about us and them. It is about being fair and taking the time to figure it all the hell out. The Tea Party crowd doesn’t think in these terms because they couldn’t figure a way out of the state’s fiscal crisis if you gave them a million years. Tommy would have never done something like this.

Brother Nitals| 2.19.11 @ 11:42PM

Most Wisconsinites see our political system as flawed, but not so flawed that it will somehow be improved by yanking the rug out from under one of the two political parties, and creating an inordinately unlevel playing field overnight, which is precisely what Walker and his allies hope to accomplish by this.
The two-faced policy of justifying cuts in aid by legislating away the unions, and their demands, must be seen for what it is: part of a larger plan to use the state as a test ground for similar efforts elsewhere. In Ohio. In New Jersey. In Florida. And on and on.
Let the unions fall to the wayside here, and it will continue to spread like contagion, transforming a once-proud middle class into a lower middle class and beyond, with those at the top gaining at the margin. That’s the plan.
Perhaps the government workers and teachers have had it too good for too long. Perhaps they have not shared in the pain to the degree they should have. But coming in like a thief in the night, with nary a word of warning, and breaking their unions is not the answer. There is a fiscal crisis, but we have time to think this through.
This is about busting the unions altogether, an unspoken but cherished conservative goal for decades. Scapegoats are being made of hard-working people who contribute no less than their private sector counterparts to the economy simply because they are employed in the public sector.
Remember this:
When all is said
and all is done
one thing is never least
It is in how we make the law
that show us from the beast.
Though may we vie and thunder
And cast our rules away
We may awaken then, to know
The beast hath chose to stay.

Brother Nitals| 2.19.11 @ 11:43PM

Not here, nor there, nor anywhere
Will we see a world all fair
They came for those who worked and taught
And you had thought it all for naught
Until one day, too late to see
You found that they had come for thee!
Listen to me, my brothers and sisters. The wolf lies ar the door, and some are acting like newborn kittens, eager and excited, but blind because their eyes have yet to open.
Most public employees live comparatively modest lives. They are not the real culprits behind today's economic woes and fiscal problems. The true culprits are in other lands, far away, watching this story unfold in earnest.
Unions help provide stability and consistency in public service. They help preserve a middle class that would otherwise be plunged into the inexorable race to the bottom that now bedevils the private sector.
Under the governor’s plan, most government workers - excluding police, firefighters and state troopers would have to pay half their pension costs and at least 12 percent of their health-care costs and would lose bargaining rights for anything other than pay, and that would be limited to inflation.
The proposal would save $300 million over the next two years to help reduce a $3.6 billion budget deficit. And he wanted it done within a week, with only one, 17-hour public hearing. Like it or not, those are the facts.
Now is not the time to wander blindly in the wilderness of the utopian. Now is not the time to think: "For us the movement is everything—the final aim is nothing" is the way of the fool.
State governments face budget deficits of $175 billion through 2013. Many believe state tax revenue will not fully recover until the U.S. returns to full employment, which is not likely for quite some time, if ever.
Beyond their short-term fiscal problems, many states face pension and retiree health-care costs that some experts contend are unsustainable.
States are curtailing retirement benefits for new employees, although many say it will take much more to bring their long-term obligations in line.
Make no mistake about it. The unions are not simply an arm of the Democratic party. Without them, the party will fall.
We will not regret the judgment that the time has come to get serious.
This is about taking away rights won over decades, in a matter or days, with little or no formal public discussion.
The governor has already called a special session of the legislature and granted business tax breaks and created health-care savings accounts that lower levels of already problematic tax revenues. Public workers are being asked to pick up the tab. But there is more to the story.
The governor is proposing to sharply curtail the right to bargain collectively. An economic downturn that is not the workers’ fault, and a reversal in fiscal fortunes not their doing is being used to permanently end their ability to sit across the table from their employer and negotiate anything but pay, and then only at hold-harmless levels at best. This is what the long and very troubling recession has wrought. Almost everyone can see that capitalism has had better days.
We must never forget this: this is a state where changes of far less magnitude take considerably longer to review and understand. Consider the workings of the Legislative Council, composed of legislators and citizens, who meet literally for months to examine complex issues of public policy.
This is the Wisconsin tradition, or at least it was, for decades. Has anyone reflected on the fact that in a state that happens to have an internationally-recognized public university known, for better or ill, as having a considerable knowledge base in the realm of labor relations, virtually no testimony from an expert on either side has been brought to bear on the question? For that matter, hardly anything of considerable depth was discussed at the Joint Finance Committee public hearing on the bill.
And another thing to keep in mind is that, aside from the procedural problems we keep finding out unpleasant things, such as the issue of the prospective loss of federal transportation funding.
Not everyone is taking the bait, even on the other side. Republican State Senator Luther Olsen has called it a “radical” move that will hurt “a lot of good working people.”
This is about changing the rules of the game. This is about political power, and who will yield it for years to come. Take away the union dues check-off, and you largely take away a political party, leaving the Republicans to conspire with their Tea Party allies over how to divide the spoils. This is their plan. They will not admit it, but this is their plan.
No private employer can do what the governor proposes. For decades, Wisconsin has protected the rights of workers to collectively bargain with their employer on wages, benefits, workplace rules, and many other aspects of their employment.
Public workers are not responsible for the state’s budget woes. The problem lies in China and India and Brazil, where they have learned from America how to beat America at its own capitalist game. We have no one to blame but ourselves and a world made smaller by time.
Think it cannot happen here, but it can. If they can take away these rights, they can take away others. And the worst is yet to come. Billions in local aid will be slashed, which is why Walker is handing out the “tools” to his allies in fact and to be now.
Wisconsin state government doles out much more to its local partners than almost any other state. And that is coming to an end, soon.
The stick is the taking back the money. The carrot is breaking the unions.
You are wrong in thinking that the situation is hopeless. That is what they want you to think.
Most Wisconsinites see our political system as flawed, but not so flawed that it will somehow be improved by yanking the rug out from under one of the political parties, and creating an inordinately unlevel playing field over night, which is precisely what Walker and his allies hope to accomplish by this.
If you do nothing, don’t complain if you don’t happen to see genuine two-party competition in Wisconsin next time around, or for some time to come. Like it or not, that is what is at stake here.
If Walker succeeds in undermining WEAC, AFT-Wisconsin, and the rest, forget about things like the public interest and free and fair elections. Hope as you will, you won’t have them anymore, and if it comes to pass, don’t blame us.
State employees have the right to negotiate in good faith with the state. Without a willingness to even discuss what concessions need to be made with state employees, Walker is more like a dictator and less like a governor.
The “bold” yet “modest” plan will affect every public employee in the state. Every librarian. Every teacher. Every street department worker. Every public safety worker. Every bureaucrat, pointy-headed or not. It doesn’t matter, this time around, whether they can park their bicycles straight or not.
The good old days are over, friends and neighbors, and if you think that we are selfish and privileged, perhaps we are to some extent. But if they can do this to those who have what we have, what can and will they do to those who do not?
These are the very people who make our communities function, and they are willing to throw them to the wolves with a week’s notice.
Ask yourself: will they truly be more just, wise, tolerant and kind to those who have not these privileges?
Trust them for their magnanimity if you wish, but suffice it to say we have our doubts.
Stay home, blame the workers for your troubles, and you will discover just how benevolent they are after they have broken their chief political opposition. Put your faith in their kindness if you will, but some continue to hope and pray for spontaneous demonstrations and expressions of the popular will, however imperrfect. No student in a sleeping bag in the Capitol has ever tried to yank away rights in such a fashion.
Their real concern with the unions is what they can do in elections, not how much their employees cost. That’s what you have to see.
Times are tough, indeed, but will things truly be better and fairer and more prosperous with WEAC and the others gone, legislated out of existence, with all too few remaining to fill the void. Then, when winning three out of every five votes in a bad race, will they turn to you and ask what they can do for you, or will they turn to their friends?
Mark my words: their concern will be what they can do to you, not for you. If you cannot see this, take another look.
And the greatest irony of all is that this is being billed as part of a broader plan to create jobs. Imagine the struggling business leaders outside our fine state, reading of a newly fomented outbreak of worker demonstrations and animosity. Not quite a harmonious picture of labor relations.
And unless collective bargaining is retained, it will get worse, not better. Do you honestly believe hundreds of thousands will lose these hard-won rights, whether they are largely justified or not, and take it lying down?
If so, then the gambit will have worked, and we can move ahead with plans to drain other states of their businesses and their jobs, and nurture our budding entrepreneurs.
But what if this rosy scenario does not play out, and the unions work for recall? Then, the notion of businesses relocating here will become a cruel joke.
As far as the concessions in the contract are concerned, the unions must show the public that they are reasonable people. Others have had to sacrifice far more, losing homes and hope.
Does the process seem fair so far? If it does, then it means that we have become a state government that hauls people in from all around the state to spend hours and hours going over topics like nanotechnology and single-use plastics, generating hundreds of documents, but if we’re talking about negating a half-century of accumulated case law in state labor relations, and affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of middle-class people, then we rely on what a large group of frustrated state workers and students tell us over a period of 17 hours.
No detailed studies. No lengthy memoranda from lazy, overcompensated legislative analysts. From the standpoint of wisely governing a society, this would not appear to be the most meritorious approach.
Nothing from one the one of the world’s greatest universities, at least in the context of a public hearing. None of this. They want you to be so confident in the wisdom of their approach that you believe there simply is no longer any need to take the time to reflect and ponder opposing views in a public forum.
If this is such a good idea, then why all the rush? Good ideas can stand up to detailed criticism and thorough review.
Most Wisconsinites see our political system as flawed, but not so flawed that it will somehow be improved by yanking the rug out from under one of the two political parties, and creating an inordinately unlevel playing field overnight, which is precisely what Walker and his allies hope to accomplish by this.
The two-faced policy of justifying cuts in aid by legislating away the unions, and their demands, must be seen for what it is: part of a larger plan to use the state as a test ground for similar efforts elsewhere. In Ohio. In New Jersey. In Florida. And on and on.
Let the unions fall to the wayside here, and it will continue to spread like contagion, transforming a once-proud middle class into a lower middle class and beyond, with those at the top gaining at the margin. That’s the plan.
Perhaps the government workers and teachers have had it too good for too long. Perhaps they have not shared in the pain to the degree they should have. But coming in like a thief in the night, with nary a word of warning, and breaking their unions is not the answer. There is a fiscal crisis, but we have time to think this through.
This is about busting the unions altogether, an unspoken but cherished conservative goal for decades. Scapegoats are being made of hard-working people who contribute no less than their private sector counterparts to the economy simply because they are employed in the public sector.
Remember this:
When all is said
and all is done
one thing is never least
It is in how we make the law
that show us from the beast.
Though may we vie and thunder
And cast our rules away
We may awaken then, to know
The beast hath chose to stay.