Bashing Unions Didn't Help Scott Walker This Time

It was just one week ago that Scott Walker released his "I will destroy unions" plan to little fanfare and mostly yawns.

Since then he had another lackluster debate performance, the latest national poll showed him getting one half of one percent support in a Republican primary, and his fundraisers were calling for him to shake up his campaign.

Today he announced he was dropping out of the race for president.

So much for the union bashing card, eh?

No one is happier than organized labor to see Scott Walker drop out of the 2016 contest.

In July, when the Wisconsin governor announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination, AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka issued a one-sentence statement: "Scott Walker is a national disgrace." On Monday, after hearing that Walker's candidacy had ended, Trumka said in a written statement: "Scott Walker is still a disgrace, just no longer national."

For labor, Walker's failure as a presidential candidate is especially sweet given the twin humiliations it's suffered from Walker in Wisconsin. A labor-backed effort to recall Walker failed in 2012 after Walker pushed through a bill drastically reducing public employees' bargaining rights. Then, in 2014, Walker won re-election after Trumka declared Walker's defeat organized labor's top priority. Earlier this year, Walker had made Wisconsin the country's 25th right-to-work state, freeing public and private workers from any legal requirement to pay dues or their equivalent to a union that bargains collectively on their behalf.

But Walker was never able to gain traction with his anti-union message in the pre-primary contest for the White House — in part, possibly, because unions have been gaining greater public approval in recent years, even among Republicans. Since 2009, Gallup found, union approval has risen from 48 percent to 58 percent for all voters, and from 29 percent to 42 percent for Republican voters.

There have been a lot of surprises in the presidential race already, but this may be the biggest one.

Scott Walker, once the frontrunner for Iowa, is out four months before the caucus is held.

Buh-bye, Scott.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving demagogue.

Scott Walker Drops To Less Than 1% In Latest CNN/ORC National Presidential Poll

Looks like that plan to destroy unions Scott Walker released recently isn't leading to the resurgence in polling he was looking for - a new national CNN/ORC poll found him getting less than one-half of one percent support.

Less than one-half of one percent.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

Scott Walker Proposes Making Entire Country Right-To-Work, Outlawing Unions For Federal Workers

Scott Walker's political fortunes are plummeting - he's fallen sharply in Iowa polls (a must win for him), in national polls and in the estimation of GOP political insiders (he's been called the "biggest loser of the summer.")

That may explain this gambit:

Highlights of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposed changes to federal labor law affecting unions, which the Republican presidential hopeful plans to lay out on Monday in a town hall meeting in Las Vegas:

-Make it illegal for federal workers to form unions. That would take an act of Congress, but Walker said he's for it because "big-government unions should have no place in the federal workplace." 

-Eliminate the National Labor Relations Board, transferring some of its powers to the National Mediation Board and leaving what Walker calls its "quasi-judicial functions" to the federal court system.

-Impose right-to-work laws, under which workers can't be forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment, nationwide. Twenty-five states, including Wisconsin, already have such laws. Walker's proposal, if passed by Congress, would require states to vote to opt out of the right-to-work requirement.

-Prohibit unions from automatically deducting dues from state public employees that are used to pay for political activity. Walker said if the Supreme Court does not address the issue in a pending case, he will send a bill to Congress to change the law.

-Require federal employee unions to disclose and certify the portion of dues used for political activity and prohibit withholding that amount.

-Prohibit union organizers from having access to employees' personal information and require union recertification votes "on a periodic basis."

-Repeal any regulations proposed by President Barack Obama's administration that require employers to pay overtime rates to salaried workers and provide paid sick leave. "These rules will only reduce wages and deprive workers of the flexibility to balance work and life commitments," Walker said. 

-Require online disclosure of union expenditures, including total pay of union officers, additional reporting for local affiliates of government employee unions and more conflict-of-interest reporting requirements.

-Change federal law to ensure unions can't fire, discriminate or otherwise retaliate against a whistleblower who reports wrongdoing.

-Repeal wage controls and project labor agreements for federal highway projects.

The chances of this agenda getting enacted by Scott Walker are zero.

Barring a miracle, he's not getting elected president, let alone enacting this agenda and getting it through Congress.

That said, it's instructive to see Walker fall back on union-busting and union-bashing as his poll numbers fall and his chances to president fade.

Just as Chris Christie tried to turn around his flagging fortunes and falling poll numbers by reliving his "glory days" (teacher-bashing!!!), Walker's gone back to his "glory days" taking on the unions in Wisconsin to try and gain some campaign momentum.

We shouldn't be surprised by this, of course - this is a guy who, when asked how he would deal with Al Qaeda and ISIS given that he has no foreign policy experience or expertise, said terrorists would be quaking in their boots at dealing with him because he took on Wisconsin's unions.

Today's Walker union-busting gambit is a sign that he knows he's done as a candidate unless he can quickly turn things around in a race where all the oxygen has been taken up by outsiders like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina.

Scott Walker Fades In Polls

Politico:

Scott Walker's summer plunge was put in stark relief on Friday, with a new Quinnipiac University survey showing the Republican presidential candidate polling near the bottom of the heap in Iowa.

Walker, the governor of neighboring Wisconsin, dropped 15 points in the state in the last two months in Qunnipiac's poll. In July, Walker led the pack at 18 percent. This time, he's near the bottom of the field of 17, at 3 percent. He earned similar support in last weekend's NBC News/Marist poll, at 5 percent.

The latest numbers underscore the cruel turn of events for Walker, who caught fire earlier this year with his plainspoken style and his track record of taking on and triumphing over the unions in Wisconsin. He has since tanked due to series of fumbles and a lackluster performance both on the campaign trail and in last month's first GOP debate.

I guess that "I stood up to the unions so I can stand up to Al Qaeda message he's running on isn't resonating with voters so much.

To see Chris Christie and Scott Walker, two pols who live off union bashing, plummet in the polling - well, that is enjoyable.

Wealthy Political Donors Are Sad Some Republican Candidates Are Running Away From Common Core

Some Common Core shills seem unaware that Common Core is about as popular as Ebola these days with a good segment of the population.

Take the editorial boards at the Washington Post and NY Times, both of whom recently wrote up glowing assessments (yeah, I'm using that word on purpose) to talk about the wonders of Common Core and the ancillary tests that go with them and tow warn about the dangers of opposition to the Core (and the tests).

In reading the Washington Post editorial, you'd think it was still 2011 and Common Core opposition was "fringe" instead of increasing by the year.

It's not just clueless newspaper editorial board shills who don't get what's happening with Common Core with the general populace.

The Wall Street Journal today has a piece that says wealthy GOP donors are getting bummed out that Republican presidential candidates are trashing the Common Core.

The Journal reports that wealthy donors are sticking by the Core and pulling support away from candidates like Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker who initially supported the Core but now oppose it.

Candidates who continue to support Common Core are getting love - and dollars - from the Wall Street Common Core-lovers:

Mr. Bush’s approach is drawing a section of donors who have previously backed education accountability efforts in New York and New Jersey. Daniel Loeb, a New York City hedge-fund manager who encouraged Mr. Christie to run for president in 2012, has given $2,700 to Mr. Bush’s campaign, according to the Bush campaign’s financial disclosure. New Jersey education-minded donors that have given to Mr. Bush include Rick Rieder, of BlackRock Capital, Joseph Amato of Neuberger Berman, and Richard Pechter, the past chairman of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the filing shows.

In July, a fundraiser for Mr. Bush was co-hosted by Mr. Lilley and David Tepper, a billionaire hedge-fund manager who helped cofound the Better Education for Kids organization in New Jersey. Members of the organization that advocates for high education standards have donated to Mr. Christie previously.

Alan Fournier, founder of Pennant Capital Management and co-founder of the New Jersey education organization, gave at least $14,400 to past Christie campaigns, records show. Mr. Fournier gave $50,000 to a super PAC supporting Mr. Bush, disclosure reports show. Mr. Tepper has also given $250,000 to the pro-Bush group, Right to Rise.

Mr. Lilley said his support for Mr. Bush is separate from his official role with Better Education for Kids. A spokesman for Mr. Tepper declined to comment. Mr. Fournier didn’t respond to a request for comment.

So even as opposition to Common Core continues to mount around the country, our "betters" - wealthy Wall Street and hedge fund donors, the newspaper editorial boards that shill for them, and at least two GOP presidential candidates - continue to support it.

As a sidenote, some of those donors backing Bush also back Andrew Cuomo, another lover of Common Core and Common Core testing.

Until the politicians who support the Core are made to pay a political price for that support, we're going to continue to see the political establishment push it.

Christie, Jindal and Walker made political calculations that they would pay a political price for continued support of the Core in a GOP presidential primary race and dropped their support it, with Jindal the strongest in opposition.

There are a whole host of reasons why Christie is losing the backing of donors that have nothing to do with education - he has plummeted in polls (indeed, he may not even qualify for the top ten in the next GOP debate), Bridgegate and other scandals hang around his neck further weighing him down and New Jersey's poor financial health and quality of life have made him a target of barbs from other candidates.

But as the money starts to dry up from CCSS-supporting donors, Christie may start to wonder if he made the wrong calculation in turning rhetorically against the Common Core.

Ironic thing is, since New Jersey still gives the Common Core tests, even though Christie claims he's against the Core, the practical effect is that CCSS will still be taught in schools to ready students for the state tests.

So Christie has the worst of both worlds with the Core - he's really not dropped support for Common Core in effect, since the state tests are still CCSS-tied and schools will have to teach it, but since he's talking trash about CCSS, he's losing some wealthy donors over it.

Jindal was never really a top tier candidate, so I'm not sure his opposition to the Core matters in the GOP money race one way or the other.

Walker, on the other hand, was top tier but has seen his brand and poll numbers drop since Donald Trump entered the race.

He's the guy to watch to see what happens as a result of his "turning" against the Core (I put "turning" in quotes because like Christie, his opposition is more rhetorical than practical in consequence.)

Does Walker pay a political consequence - i.e., have trouble raising money from wealthy donors - because of his turning on the Core?

I'm skeptical that Common Core will be a big reason why Walker has potential money problems, given how the rest of his politics cohabits quite well with the GOP donor base.

If Walker has money problems in the future, it will more likely be due to his poor debate performances and rote campaign stump appearances that give him the reputation of being overly calculated and unable to generate real excitement for his candidacy.

In any case, the Journal piece goes to show that the politics around Common Core remain dicey even for Republicans, where opposition to Common Core is strongest.

The base hates Common Core but the moneyed classes love it and that dichotomy has got even Jeb Bush twisting himself in circles trying to please both.

Senate Dem: Cuomo Is Like Scott Walker, Out To Destroy Public Schools And Teachers

From State of Politics:

Queens Democratic Sen. Michael Gianaris in an interview on Monday compared Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s education reform policies to anti-labor measures being enacted under Republican Scott Walker in Wisconsin.

“Resources are being diverted out of the public school system to private schools, an attack on the teachers who sacrifice so much to work in our schools,” Gianaris said on NY1’s Inside City Hall. “If I wanted Scott Walker to be the governor, I’d move to Wisconsin. But we’re here in New York. I think we should be a progressive champion that stands up for working people who stand up for public schools first and foremost and then we should help the entire school system.”

The comment underscores the deepening level of antipathy from Senate Democrats in the mainline conference toward Cuomo.

Many of us in the education blogosphere and twitterverse have compared Cuomo to Walker before.

Now a member of the mainstream Democratic conference in the State Senate is doing it.

If I were NYSUT, I would take the clip of Gianaris comparing Cuomo to Walker, bundle it into an ad and run it all across the state.

Cuomo's at his lowest approval rating ever in the last Siena poll, but that number will be bounce back up after his minimum wage political ploy (and make no mistake, that's what it is - albeit, some good will come from it) and news his consort Sandra Lee has cancer.

But overall we want the trend to be downward.

It's imortant to keep Cuomo's numbers down - the unions should be running ads to do just that.

This Gianaris clip seems tailor made for that task.

NY Post Calls For Cuomo To Override Union Contracts In School Districts

Adam Brodksy at the NY Post has some advice for Governor Cuomo - become more like Scott Walker:

This year, Cuomo’s even pushing reforms the union hates: a tougher teacher-evaluation regime, raising the charter-school cap, taking over failing schools. If his agenda passes, opportunities for kids will likely improve.

Yet even this won’t transform education in New York — or give Cuomo a real legacy.

Remember, in districts like the city’s, it isn’t just a few schools failing. It’s most of them.
Cuomo needs a bolder approach. He’ll need to find a way to bypass the union — or limit its power, perhaps in much the way governors like Bruce Rauner of Illinois and Scott Walker of Wisconsin are dealing with unions in their states.

Yes, Cuomo’s a Democrat, and those two are Republicans. No one expects him to “break” a union, end collective bargaining or shutter schools en masse.

But to see big gains, Cuomo will have to move in that direction. Along with bumping the charter cap, how about creating an environment that lures charter operators?

Overriding contracts with legislation? OKing alternatives — vouchers, private-school tax credits, traditional schools with all-new work rules and management — that foster competition among schools?

Cuomo may think this is too much for bluer-than-blue New York. But if he hopes to make himself viable nationally, he has to prove he can lead his base — not just appease it.

Actually Cuomo is pushing for "failing" schools and even "failing" school districts to be taken over by the state and put into receivership where the teachers contracts can be broken and whole swaths of teachers fired.

Cuomo's also pushing for vouchers for private schools via an education tax credit, an increase to the charter cap, and more accountability measures for pubic schools (but not for charter schools.)

Alas, those privatization Cuomo policies aren't enough Scott Walker for the NY Post - they want even more.

Well, they just need to wait a year or two - I'm sure Cuomo will give it them.

Every year he grows more anti-union and anti-pubic school.

Give him a couple more years and he'll complete his transformation into Scott Walker.

In fact, he's more than half way there now.

Daily News: Cuomo Not Much National Stature For White House Run

From Ken Lovett at the Daily News:

While Cuomo publicly dismisses talk of a candidacy, his people have hardly discouraged such speculation. A 2016 scenario goes like this: Hillary Clinton chooses not to run, blowing the Democratic field open.

The problem for Cuomo, party activists and Democratic insiders say, is that he has done little to put himself in a position to be a national candidate, while other Democrats, like Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and even Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), have.

“I just don’t think people can, unless they’re extremely well-positioned, just decide to jump in and run,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

Cuomo’s focus on New York during his first term, including his reluctance to travel out of state or appear on Sunday chat shows, might be helping him with state voters, but it has left him with virtually no national profile.

“In my experience with volunteers, he’s typically not one of the names that they think of when it comes to early 2016 folks,” said Kevin Geiken, deputy executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party.

No visits to Iowa or New Hampshire, no network built for a national campaign, and then there's the animosity from certain segments of the New York population:

Cuomo’s problems with key unions in New York would also likely create obstacles in Iowa and New Hampshire. As in many parts of the country, the labor movement plays a big role in Democratic Party politics in both states.

New York’s public worker unions are angry with Cuomo over his push to lower the cost of government, enact pension changes and limit pay raises.

The Public Employees Federation, New York State’s second-largest government workers union, endorsed Cuomo’s gubernatorial primary challenger, law school Prof. Zephyr Teachout.

The state teachers union, which has battled the governor on issues like teacher evaluations, school funding and charter schools, decided not to make an endorsement. The state AFL-CIO is also staying on the sidelines for now.

“It’s pretty hard for everyone to get behind someone when the home team isn’t supporting him,” said Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor. “That would certainly be an indication that he doesn’t support the best interests of workers and, frankly, that message plays out here with our people.”

Not mentioned in the article but also looming out there is the potential indictment of members of Cuomo's administration in the Moreland investigation or even his own indictment.

Although maybe an indictment helps these days - Rick Perry's already been indicted, Scott Walker and Chris Christie may still be indicted, and all three are said to be running for president.

Maybe since all the cool kids are getting investigated by federal prosecutors and/or indicted by district attorneys, Cuomo's Moreland mess actually helps him.

Of course, he still has that temperament problem, an inability to do any news media that isn't friendly to him, a reluctance to go out into public and that whole the left hates him thing.

Not exactly a winning combination for a presidential primary in the Democratic Party.

I'm hoping he runs eventually, if not in 2016, then inn 2020.

Nothing's better for the soul of a narcissist politician like Cuomo than running for president and garnering little support.

Unless he's sporting prison stripes and can't run for president.

Cuomo Is A "Right-Wing Douchebag"

Andrew Cuomo and his courtiers at the unions have spent the past couple of days threatening Working Families Party members if the WFP convention does not give Cuomo their endorsement.

The union heads have threatened to pull back funds from the party and Buzzfeed reported that Cuomo is trying to convince other Democratic Party politicians from taking their endorsement to try and starve WFP of votes.

In that Buzzfeed article, one unnamed New York Dem puts the whole thing into perspective:

People close to the party say Cuomo may find it hard to win at the convention.

“They’ve actually built a part that is full of true believers — and nobody in the rank and file believes the government promises,” said one person close to the WFP.

“The core activists are asking, ‘How can we endorse this guy? He’s a right-wing douchebag,’” said a New York Democrat.

Cuomo's been damaged by this fight already by having to come out into the open and threaten WFP with destruction if they don't bow to him:

Cuomo is fighting for the endorsement — but the legendarily brass-knuckles governor’s new move is going further, and attempting to do deep damage to a party that has become one of the most powerful progressive institutions in the country.

Cuomo already has a reputation for being a "right-wing douchbag" among the Daily Kossack class.

After this showdown with the WFP rank-and-file, his chances of winning the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 or 2020 become as good as Scott Walker's.

I suspect in the end, the union leader threats and Cuomo's hardball tactics will win the day for him and he'll get the WFP nod.

But even if that happens, he comes out of that "victory" diminished and wounded.

And there's still a good chance that enough WFP rank-and-file get pissed off at the hardball tactics, say "Screw it!" and put Zephyr Teachout on the WFP line.

Scott Walker To Fund Raise For Rob Astorino

For teachers flirting with the idea of voting for Rob Astorino, the GOP candidate for governor, as a protest against Andrew Cuomo, take note of this:

Gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino is getting a boost from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at a fundraiser next month, the Republican candidate’s campaign confirmed.

Tickets for the June 9 event at Manhattan’s Union League Club start at $500 and run as high as $2,500.

The fundraiser with Walker is one of the more high-profile events for Astorino since he announced his candidacy this year.

And Walker, a potential Republican candidate for president, is one of the more prominent political figures to come to New York on Astorino’s behalf.

Walker has been blasted by the left for his policies toward unions in his state, but he survived a recall campaign in 2012.

If Working Families Party ends up endorsing Andrew Cuomo for governor, teachers looking to protest Cuomo's corporatist education policies can back Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins for governor.

If WFP nominates their own candidate to take on Cuomo, people can vote on the WFP line.

I don't care how much Astorino claims to be opposed to Common Core.

His stances on so many other issues are too right-wing - and Scott Walker's raising funds for Astorino puts an exclamation point on that.

Progressive should not vote for Astorino under any circumstances.

Andrew Cuomo Took More Than Double The Koch Money That Scott Walker Took

Buried in this National Journal piece on why progressives are starting to revolt against Tea Party Governor Cuomo is this doozy:

Several Democrats who spoke privately to National Journal lamented that Cuomo accepted $87,000 in campaign contributions from David Koch and his wife during the 2010 cycle—more than double the $34,000 that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took. Cuomo has also accepted donations from John Catsimatidis, de Blasio's Republican opponent. And he earned praise and money from Home Depot cofounder Ken Langone, a major GOP donor who started the group Republicans for Cuomo. (Langone recently caught flak for comparing progressives to Nazis.)

The Langone connection and the friendliness with Catsimatidis I knew about - the $87,000 in Koch cash in 2010 I did not know about.

A while back I used to call Cuomo "Tea Party Governor Cuomo" before I changed it to "Sheriff Andy" when he started the Moreland Commission to allegedly "clean up Albany" (and we've seen how far that's gone, with Preet Bharara having to take over the Moreland Commission investigations because Andy shut the whole thing down in a move of political expediency.)

But with the news that Cuomo took more than double the Koch money that Tea Party Governor Scott Walker took, I think I may have to go back to calling Sheriff Andy 'Tea Party Governor Cuomo" - not as a pejorative so much as an accurate description of who he is, where he gets his money from and why he pushes the policies he does.

Corporate Fascist Control Comes To Michigan And New Jersey

Via Queens Teacher, here's the Rachel Maddow Show on what the future will look like when the autocratic corporate managers take over cities:



Maddow reports that the Michigan governor plans to have corporate managers take over 23 school districts in the state in addition to the one that has already been taken over.

Here's the rationale:

Mayor Virg Benero: "Billions of dollars at stake, billions of dollars being spent and Wall Street can't wait to sink their fangs into it. They couldn't get a hold of Social Security but by gosh they've got a way to get in. And even with a president and secretary of Education under the guise of "Waiting for Superman", they can come in and look like a savior but dig right into those piles of cash and at the same time help wipe out the public unions that are a part of the public school system."

Meanwhile Schools Matter points out that Governor Chris Christie plans to abolish school boards in New Jersey.

Another part of the corporatization plan for schools.

Take away any vestige of democratic control.

Give one man the power - whether it's the Mayor of Money in NYC or Christie in Jersey or a corporate manager in one of 24 school districts in Michigan.

One man, no democratic say from the community, no democratic say from voters.

This is fascism pure and simple.

Glad to see Maddow taking on this issue.

I WISH she had taken it on when it was Obama and Duncan laying the groundwork for this by demonizing teachers and schools and schools districts as "failing."

You think that the firing of all those teachers in Central Falls, Rhode Island and the codified teacher demonization that is the Obama Race to the Top policy (not to mention his No Child Left Behind blueprint) didn't lay the rationale for all this corporatization and privatization?

I think it absolutely did.

Unfortunately Maddow only seems to care when it's Repubs doing the privatizing.

Until "progressives" like Maddow become willing to take on corporate pols no matter the party, I am afraid the corporate fascism is going to continue.

Yes, Rick Snyder, Scott Walker, Michael Bloomberg and Chris Christie - Republicans all - are a big part of this problem.

But so are "Democrats" like Barack Obama, Andrew Cuomo, Rahm Emanuel, and Arne Duncan.

Take on THEM too, Rachel.

Fifth Wisconsin Republican Faces Recall

It is starting to look like there WILL be a price paid by the politicians who voted for the union-busting bill in Wisconsin:

Dems will file a massive amount of signatures tomorrow to trigger a recall election against a fifth Wisconsin GOP state senator, I’m told.

Graeme Zielinski, the spokesman for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, confirms to me that Democrats will submit approximately 30,000 signatures for the recall of Alberta Darling — nearly 150 percent of the 20,343 required.

This is the fifth time Dems have collected far more signatures than necessary for a recall — all but ensuring that all five recall elections will actually happen.

This comes as there are signs that Republicans may be able to trigger two recall elections against Dems, though in one case Republicans have apparently only collected a couple of thousand more signatures than required, which isn’t much of a cushion. Republicans have less than a week until their deadline, and they still haven’t filed anything, though that appears ready to change tomorrow.

Darling is in a district that gave Scott Walker 54% of the vote, but also gave Obama 51% in 2008, so while she is less vulnerable than the other Republicans facing recall, there might be a chance to oust her.

Given that Republicans plan to recall two Dems, I think it is important that EVERY Republican who voted for the Walker bill who CAN be recalled BE recalled.

Yes, ultimately this kind of politics of destruction is probably harmful to the union as a whole, but given that Republicans (and their corporate brothers in the Democratic Party Like Little Andy Cuomo, Michael Bennet, et al.) will continue to push this union-busting class warfare until they are MADE TO PAY A POLITICAL PRICE, I think it is important that we have this fight.

Fascism Comes To Wisconsin

Fascist dictator Scott Walker isn't done with his assault on democracy in Wisconsin:

Following the lead of Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder, Walker is said to be preparing a plan that would allow him to force local governments to submit to a financial stress test with an eye towards permitting the governor to take over municipalities that fail to meet with Walker’s approval.

According to the reports, should a locality’s financial position come up short, the Walker legislation would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so.

Such a law would additionally give Walker unchallenged power to end municipal services of which he disapproves, including safety net assistance to those in need.

According to my sources, the plan is being written by the legal offices of Foley & Lardner, the largest law firm in the state, and is scheduled to be introduced to the legislature in May of this year.

...

Should these reports prove accurate, Walker’s plan would resemble-if not directly mirror- the legislation signed into law by Gov. Snyder of Michigan which gives Snyder extraordinary powers to take over municipalities when he determines them to be in financial trouble, further permitting him to actually fire locally elected public officials when he deems it desirable.

Gov. Snyder’s extraordinary law became all too real this week when Emergency Financial Manager, Joseph Harris, appointed by the Governor to take charge of Benton Harbor, Michigan, issued an order which took away all powers of the city’s elected officials.

Yes, this has really happened right here in the United States of America.

Walker’s plans give further credence to the notion that the efforts of the GOP governors with Republican majorities in their state legislative bodies are part of a coordinated plan to enforce a right-wing agenda designed to not only destroy state, county and municipal employee unions, but to take control of local governments by replacing elected officials with appointees, both corporate and individual, of the state’s highest executive officer.

Walker has denied this story, but we know what Scott Walker's word is worth, don't we?

The assault on democracy and freedom by the forces of corporatism continues unabated.

Four Republicans In Wisconsin Now Face Recall Over Anti-Union Bill

This is, quite literally, historic:

More than enough signatures have been collected in an effort to recall the fourth Republican state senator in Wisconsin, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Republicans just under a week for their signatures to trigger recall elections against Democratic senators. They have not yet submitted any.

Greg Sargent: "Here's what this means. Presuming all four elections take place -- which they all but certainly will, given the massive amounts of sigantures gathered in all four cases -- Dems will have matched the amount of recalls triggered in the state's whole previous history in less than a year."

Scott Walker, the Koch Brothers and their allies in both the Republican and Democratic Parties (and there are Dems on the payroll too - see Cuomo, Little Andy, for example) think they've won the union-busting battle.

We'll see.

When the recall effort garners four recall elections, matching the number of recalls in the state's history, in less than a year, there's clearly a lot of anger out there.

Republican Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Loses Seat In Walker Fall-Out

This was supposed to be a blowout for the Republican:

Madison — Unofficial results Wednesday showed Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg with a paper-thin lead over Justice David Prosser after a race marked by massive voter turnout, Gov. Scott Walker's union bargaining plan and record spending by outside interest groups.

As of 2:15 p.m., The Associated Press had tallied results for all of the state's 3,630 precincts and Kloppenburg had taken a 204-vote lead after Prosser had been ahead most of the night by less than 1,000 votes.

Kloppenburg declared victory based on the AP's results.

"Wisconsin voters have spoken and I am grateful for, and humbled by, their confidence and trust," she said in a statement.

...

Even with the precinct reported, the tally is not final. The Associated Press said that it was rechecking all of the totals in all 72 counties to make sure it has an accurate count in each county. The wire service said it anticipated getting the final numbers later Wednesday.

That close margin had political insiders from both sides talking about the possibility of the first statewide recount in more than two decades. Any recount could be followed by lawsuits - litigation that potentially would be decided by the high court.

...

he slim margin in the race was the latest twist in Wisconsin's ongoing political turmoil. The state has drawn the attention of the nation in recent weeks because of the fight over Walker's controversial law repealing most collective bargaining by public employees, which caused massive weeks-long protests in the Capitol, a boycott of the Senate by Democrats and attempts to recall senators from both parties.

Interest groups on both sides had portrayed the judicial election as a referendum on Walker and his collective bargaining law. Conservatives backed Prosser, and liberals supported Kloppenburg, even though the candidates themselves insisted they were politically neutral.

Legal challenges to the new law - which would eliminate most collective bargaining for most public employees - are expected to reach the high court, but it's not clear if the justices would take up the case before this race's winner is scheduled to be sworn in Aug. 1.

In the contest for a 10-year term, Kloppenburg is trying to accomplish the rare feat of unseating a sitting justice. Michael Gableman defeated then-Justice Louis Butler in 2008, but before that it had been 41 years since an incumbent lost a race for a high court seat. Unlike Butler, who was appointed to the post, Prosser was elected to his current term.

If these results hold up, this is a big help when the anti-union bill cases go before the highest court.

Ian Murphy Runs For Congress

Ian Murphy, the man who punked Wisconsin governor Scott Walker on the phone and revealed Walker's evil plans to bust public unions in Wisconsin is now running for the Congressional seat that Chris Lee, Republican and transsexual devotee, abdicated when he resigned in disgrace.

Here is Murphy's first political ad:



Boy, that sounds like a pretty good platform to me.

UPDATE: For some reason, I can only get half the file onto the blog. Go to the You Tubes and watch the ad there.

And then vote for Murphy!

Wisconsin Republicans: Screw The Constitution

Fascism, pure and simple:

CHICAGO — A law to limit collective bargaining rights for public workers in Wisconsin was unexpectedly published by a state agency on Friday despite a temporary restraining order barring publication, sparking confusion and more animosity among legislators who have fiercely debated the issue for weeks.

State officials disagreed over whether publication of the law — a procedural requirement — would allow it to be in force on Saturday. The state’s Legislative Reference Bureau said it is required to publish all laws within 10 days after they are enacted. Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, signed the bill on March 11, but a county judge issued an order last week blocking the secretary of state from publishing it. The order did not bar the legislative bureau from publishing the law.

Democrats argued on Friday that the law would not go into effect on Saturday because it still required official publication by the secretary of state.

“This bill has been under a cloud of suspicion since Day 1,” Peter Barca, a Democrat and minority leader of the General Assembly, said in a statement. “Today’s actions and statements are only perpetuating the problem.”

...

Governor Walker’s administration said it had been notified that the agency published the bill as required by law. “The administration will carry out the law as required,” the administration said in a statement.

The law limits bargaining to matters of wages and limits raises to changes in the Consumer Price Index. It ends the state’s collection of union dues from paychecks and requires most unions to hold annual votes to determine whether workers still wish to be members.

Judge Maryann Sumi of Dane County Circuit Court in Madison had issued the temporary restraining order barring publication of the law last week after the county’s Democratic district attorney filed a lawsuit saying that Republican lawmakers violated open meeting requirements when they pushed the bill through the Legislature. Judge Sumi had planned to hold a full hearing this month.

On Thursday, a state appeals court declined to weigh in on the issue and suggested the Supreme Court take up the case.

It will be interesting to see if Republicans pay a political price for defying a court order.

Until these criminals are made to pay a political and a criminal price for their actions, they will continue to pull this kind of thing.

Sherrod Brown

I like Sherrod Brown, he's usually one of the good guys on labor issues, so this is nice to see:

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds there's been a fundamental shift in the Ohio political landscape over the last three months and it looks like the biggest beneficiary of that could be Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

In December Brown looked extremely vulnerable for reelection, now his leads against six different Republicans range from 15 to 19 points.

We'll have to see how many other labor-friendly pols get helped by the corporate fascism of Scott Walker, John Kasich, et al.

Even Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal Finds Strong Support For Union Collective Bargaining Rights

The minions who work for Murdoch and Zuckerman like to say that Americans are sick and tired of the "gold-plated benefits" union members have and are ready to strip collective bargaining rights from public employees unions.

Today, the Wall Street Journal releases its own poll showing that is not so:

Americans strongly oppose efforts to strip unionized government workers of their rights to collectively bargain, even as they want public employees to contribute more money to their retirement and health-care benefits, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.

Eliminating collective bargaining rights for public-sector workers over health care, pensions or other benefits would be either “mostly unacceptable” or “totally unacceptable,” 62% of those surveyed said. Only 33% support such limits.

The results don’t bode well for Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican governor, Scott Walker, who is locked in a standoff with statehouse Democrats and unionized state workers over these rights. Many of the Republicans gearing up to take on President Barack Obama in 2012 have seized on the budget battle in Wisconsin, a crucial swing state, as evidence the country wants to dramatically scale back government spending.

...

Similarly, 77% of the 1,000 adults interviewed for the poll think unionized state and municipal employees should have the same rights as those union members who work for private companies.

Those are very strong numbers in support of the right of unionized workers in the public sector to collectively bargain and have the same rights as unionized workers in the private sector.

It's interesting how this fight in Wisconsin seems to be clarifying so much on union issues.

The CW from the asshats in the Beltway on the TV is that Americans hate unions and are ready to dispense with them.

But like most CW, it is bullshit through and through.

When even the Wall Street Journal poll shows this, I think you can say that we have incontrovertible data showing this is true.