Oh he’s squirming, baby. He’s squirming so hard and fast. He is sooo uncomfortable and nervous. Oh yeah baby! Yeah!
Interesting that none of the anti-Walker folks posting here seem at all concerned with the amount of money unions have poured into the anti-Walker campaign over the last several years. I know very little about Wisoconsin’s budgetary issues and Walker may be a dreadful governor but when something or someone gets this much union attention then that raises my eye brows.
Sure thing, bubbeleh.
The state elections board says over 930,000 signatures were turned in, of which only 26,000 have been struck. Scott Walker is not (so far) making any challenges. A recall needed a shade less than 550,000.
The voter ID law he signed last year has been barred by a second judge. The AG plans to appeal.
The protesters were back in the state Capitol building again, one year after the first protests.
I expect he’s squirming a bit just over those things. But he’s also created a legal defense fund to pay for expense relating to the ongoing fraud investigation related to his campaign for governor. He’s not indicted, but speculation is that creation of the fund indicates he’s being investigated.
(BigAppleBucky covered all this already, but hey, new stories.)
And, Lochdale, consider that a lot of Walker’s financial backing is coming from out of state. More specifically, Texas and the Koch brothers. No eyebrows raised for that? Why do they care so much about what happens in Wisconsin? Besides, the unions are exercising their first amendment rights.
Reading the Ecinomist archives on Walker Interesting
A question Morgyn, did you support Democratic legislators fleeing Wisconsin to avoid creating a forum and thus allowing Walker supported legislation to pass?
What it should have done is make you ask why this someone is getting this much union attention, then examine the issue critically and reach a conclusion based on the facts. Instead it seems that your mind is already made up (“unions bad”) without knowing much, if anything at all, about the situation in Wisconsin re: soon-to-be-former Gov. Walker.
Unions arent inherently bad but nor are they inherently good. It depends on the situation. It is, however, legitimate to ask why so much money is being poured into a state such as Wisconsin by national unions. It seems utterly disproportional.
I agree that it is legitimate to ask that question. That’s why I find it so strange that you don’t seem to have asked that question yourself, nor done any research into trying to answer it.
Why the hell wouldn’t they? The entire reelection hinges on the fact that Walker was trying to destroy a union by removing their collective bargaining rights, i.e., the sole reason they exist. Of course the unions are going to fight a guy who wants them to not exist.
And why the hell would any liberal think that money coming from unions was suspicious anyways? Unions exist to create a checks and balance on the exploitative nature of corporate employment. Their sole purpose is to make sure that workers are not being exploited by their employers. They serve the democratic purpose of making sure there is no rich ruling class. Why would the mere fact that they are sending money for a cause they support make us suspicious of them?
The original controversy that led to the recall elections was an anti-union bill. Were you not aware of this? If you were, I can’t really understand why you’d think there was a question of why unions are spending money to displace Walker.
In what world is collective bargaining for pay an entitlement? It’s a basic requirement to prevent there from becoming a rich ruling class. It’s even a part of the free market itself. Heck, you’d think Republicans would be for it in government jobs, as it limits the power of the government.
And, anyways, in no way did removing their ability to collectively bargain help the state’s deficit. It was a political move clearly intended to try and limit the power of unions, and nothing more. It was about removing a freedom from government workers that all private workers enjoy. If anything, it was Walker giving himself more power: the power to decrease government wages without them having any way to combat that.
And for his entitlement, he’s very likely going to be kicked out of office.
You might have misunderstood, but that was to prevent Walker-supported legislation from passing, not to allow it.
And I for one don’t mind it. The problem with the procedural filibuster (since I presume that’s the false equivalence you were about to draw) is that it’s quiet. There’s nothing at stake. With a real filibuster, or a quorum-denial maneuver, you’re making it clear that you’re so serious about this issue that you can’t let government proceed without addressing it. It’s not just something you can mark down in the minutes and then go on to the next bullet point.
Only if you think unions are a bad thing.
Yes, Interesting. When the Koch brothers and other well-heeled folks send their hefty contributions to Wisconsin to help defend Gov. Walker, the response seems to be, “Well, that’s just good American job creators taking their hard-earned cash and using it for free speech purposes, just like God and the Bush Supreme Court intended.” But when unions send money into Wisconsin to support the other side … “that raises my eye brows.”
You sound ignorant, help us help you fight that ignorance.
So all those social security recipients that don’t pay taxes shouldn’t get to vote?
If we 're going to start putting monetary requirements on voting (its a form of poll tax (the sort of thing the KKK put into place to prevent black people from voting) but lets ignore that for now), then lets only let states that are net tax contributors send senators to the senate. Yeah, this could work out well.
Are you aware of the millions of dollars of out of state money pouring in from folks like the koch brothers? Are you more concerned about a union representing millions of voters exerting political influence than two rich guys the same amount if not more political influence or are you just finding out about it?
The entire recall is based on Walker’s attacks on union rights.
This whole “national unions” thing is a cute talking point. The unions that are fighting for their lives in Wisconsin? All their members live in Wisconsin. Do these unions have locals and councils in other states? Yes, so that does make them “national,” but I can assure you that, for example, AFSCME Councils 24, 40 and 48 are all 100% local to Wisconsin and they are fighting for their very existence right now. Are they asking for help from other parts of the country? Yes, but so is Scott Walker. And he’s asking for help from people with much deeper pockets and a much different view of the middle class.
And here’s the other reason money is coming from unions across the country: Scott Walker’s union-busting law basically broke the unions in Wisconsin. They have no easy way to collect dues. You try asking someone for their bank account info or credit card info; that’s how union staff has to try and collect dues from its members right now. Impossible.
Union members across the country pay their dues, and their duly-elected leadership have right now decided to spend some of it helping the workers in Wisconsin fight back anti-worker legislation. Nothing shady or scary about that. And you’re having a hard time understanding why unions are spending money to help union members?
And you say it’s disproportional? To what? The millions of dollars that nameless and faceless billionaires are funding Walker’s fight with? *That *seems disproportional. Why would billionaires spend so much defending a rube governor in a relatively low-population and rural state in the northern midwest?
I’m gonna steal this idea. I’ve brought up the net tax taker states issue before but this sums up the situation quite nicely.
No it isn’t. Partly, yes, but it’s also about Walker’s gutting of state infrastructure and public programs such as public/mass transportation and health care for the elderly/poor/children/disabled, killing of environmental programs, suppressing First Amendment rights, enactment of voter ID, violation of open meetings laws, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t be arsed to list. If it doesn’t benefit his rich buddies, out it goes. Our job/employment numbers are in the toilet, despite what his cronies would tell you. He spends most of his time out of state at fund-raisers, not in Madison doing his job (but Republicans love to harp on the Democratic senators who left the state for a few weeks in order to prevent and call attention to the Act 10 shenanigans).
He’d love to have everyone think it’s just about public unions, because everyone loves to hate lazy union thugs (one of whom is my husband, who takes care of elderly veterans with dementia who curse and threaten him with physical violence every day, and who hasn’t had two days off in a row for a month). But it’s about much more than that. There’s almost no program that doesn’t make rich people richer that he hasn’t tried to kill.
(About a week ago I saw an article that had a good summary of all the ways that Walker is flushing Wisconsin down the toilet, but damned if I can find it now.)
I’m generally OK with places like California and New York subsidizing places like South Carolina and Mississippi as long as they don’t run around accusing everyone else of taking their tax money.
Very concerned since it’s only a fraction of the amount given to Walker by the Koch and their gang.
Walker ad that reminds me of Michael Dukakis on the tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQIMDTjHB6A&feature=player_embedded
(Has been running since December, I believe.)
And the Democratic response that came out several months later:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5SsHGZjT0gI
(Skip ahead to 2:14, if you must. Ad started about 10 days ago.)
Walker visited Palm Beach today, complimented the town council on cutting employee benefits and pensions (eliminating them is more like it), and walked out with $200,000. And that doesn’t include the pledges of more.
I hope every penny of it goes to waste. I’m willing to bet few of the donors have ever even been to Wisconsin outside of a business trip. But at least you know who he’s beholden to.