Local Officials Fight Back as Nation Joins the Battle

Update: Scott Walker admits objective on collective bargaining: Weakening unions

- Live Coverage from Madison and AFLCIO Coverage and Not My Wisconsin -

"Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and more than 160 local officials from La Crosse to Milwaukee on Tuesday sent a letter to the governor and Legislature arguing that severe restrictions on collective bargaining undercut local control and the ability to deliver cost-effective, quality services," reports Dean Mosiman.

Democratic state senators say they are not giving up on Wisconsin families. They demand Walker halts the anti-collective bargaining vote until Gov. Walker says he'll negotiate.

Supporters are still coming to Madison from across the United States to what Rev. Jesse Jackson calls the "epicenter of the battle for America's democracy, and it is as American as Lexington, Concord, Gettysburg, Montgomery and Selma."

As Walker stays on target on Wisconsin families, it's worth noting that Finance, Insurance and Real Estate is the number one sector which contributed to Walker's campaign, according to the site, Follow the Money.

Jack E. Lohman has a new piece out. Writes Lohman:

Like, how about giving the governor the authority to sell off state assets (power plants), without bids, at any price they choose, even for pennies on the dollar, to private interests, even to those that fund Walker’s campaign???

As in Senate Bill 11: ...

So a no-bid contract to sell off the state power plants to the (4th highest Walker contributor) oil-tycoon Koch Brothers (see also here) will very likely occur, and consumer energy rates and corporate product prices will increase.

There is no other reasonable scenario. The taxpayers have no say in it, and the unions don’t yet realize that this isn’t an issue about worker rights.

Remember when Walker also wanted to sell off the Milwaukee airport when he was county executive.

Walker's Problems in High-Stakes Battle

Update: See Live Coverage from Madison Wisconsin.

The problems with Gov. Walker and the GOP are their own.

In good-faith negotiations, you recognize your opponents' position and sit down and hash out a compromise.

Not Gov. Walker.

• Not only does he refuse to negotiate, he refuses to recognize the public unions' right to exist and organize, out of vengeance for their opposing him in the last election.“If they succeed in Wisconsin, the birthplace of A.F.S.C.M.E., they will be emboldened to attack workers’ rights in every state,” Mr. Gerald McEntee, president of A.F.S.C.M.E said. “Instead of trying to work with public employees at the bargaining table, they’ve decided to throw away the table.” (Cooper, Seelye; NYT) 
• Walker is also attempting to suppress and obstruct Democratically leaning voters, such as college students, in the Voter ID and end-same-day registration bills, for those opposing him in the last election.
• And, I have been told, Walker is seeking to see that his allies redraw the Congressional, state Assembly and Senate districts for Democrats' opposing him in the last election. Specifically, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) is being targeted.

These are not the actions of a governor of all Wisconsin citizens. These are the anti-democratic assaults of a vindictive partisan.

WEAU reports a recall of Walker would need to begin on January 2012: "Organizers would need signatures totaling 25 percent of the votes case in the last gubernatorial election. In Walker's case, that translates to about 540,200 names." (AP. Feb. 18. 2011)

Walker is desperate now, and he would be wise to heed the voice of Wisconsin today. When you hurt some one's family, memories die hard.