Republicans In Madison Are Flailing, Fleeing, Failing
Reaping what they sowed, Republicans in the legislature doing Scott Walker's anti-union bidding are now scrambling to figure out how in the heck to pass a budget bill that will not make the political blowback against the once-Grand Old Party even worse.
Among the problems:
How can you exempt firefighters and police officers from the bigger pension contributions Walker wants from other public employees without screwing up the contribution equity that keeps the pension plan fair?
You can't have classes of pension donors and recipients. Those making larger mandated contributions are gonna sue and win.
Or how do you take away contracted benefits from bus drivers when the federal aid that flows to those transit systems requires collective that bargaining rights in place remain there ?
Are these right-wingers in the legislature and their paid staffs and think-tank enablers able to look more than 30 seconds ahead and grasp where their bill is headed?
This is what happens when you put ideologues who are used to talking to each other and listening to know-nothings on talk radio make policy, write quickie bills and rush them to votes.
A few private meetings in secret won't fix this problem - - caused when Walker decided to unilaterally wipe out decades of collective bargaining processes and rights - - but it did highlight that Scott Walker said during his campaign there ought to be a law against closed caucuses, so add that to his list of broken promises.
4 comments:
"Flailing" is right -- Vicki McKenna's reduced to making unsupported claims of EEEEK LIBERAL DEATH THREATS against Scott Walker: http://phoenixwoman.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/hey-vicki-mckenna-pics-or-it-didnt-happen/
To paraphrase Grover Norquist: I want to shrink the Walker agenda to the size that it can be drowned in a Brown County TIF-district wetland. Then watch it get swallowed by a frog.
I am not a union member, nor is any member of my large family (I have five siblings and two adult children).
But John, the guy that picks up my family's garbage, is a unionized public employee.
The guy that plows our snow is a unionized public employee.
The people that supply our clean water and sewer services are unionized public employees.
The police officers and firefighters that protect us and our homes are unionized public employees.
The teachers in my 15 year old's school, and the people that clean and maintain her school, are unionized public employees.
The workers who maintain our county parks are unionized public employees.
The people who maintain the city streets, and the county and state highways, are unionized public employees.
The people who teach at our fine University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the academic, administrative, security and support staff, are unionized public employees.
The men and women that drive the County buses through our neighborhood, providing public transportation (primarily) to the elderly, students, and the working poor, are unionized public employees.
The nurse, doctors, admistrative and other support staff of our City of Milwaukee Health Service and our State of Wisconsin Health Service - those responsible for disease control, clean water and air, food safety in restaurants, etc. - are unionized public employees.
Many, many of my neighbors are unionized public employees.
The list goes on and on.
So when Scotty Walker and his ilk attempt to unilaterally strip these people of their bargaining rights, and to decertify their unions, I take it very personally. It is nothing less than a cynical, mean spirited, political assault on the very people who help provide me, my family, and our entire community with a good quality of life by working for the common good, and I will not stand idly by and watch it happen.
Walker and his vicious band of political thugs MUST be stopped.
GoyitoMKE
Beautifully stated, Anonymous.
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