Brew City Brawler's Blog Post: GOP insider admits budget repair is about hobbling Dems

The Brawler has been somewhat surprised that the remarks in Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from Steve King, a member of the national GOP's executive committee from Wisconsin, have not received more attention than they have.
Because, rather than regurgitating platitudes about balancing the budget or giving people the right not to join a union (and instead be free riders -- "moochers," in Charlie Sykes' parlance), King gets to what the union busting provisions are all about.
Beating up on labor and beating up on the Democratic Party.

Get the rest of the story here!

The Brawler is commenting on what we knew all along. This isn't about budgets, but about hamstringing the Democratic party be defunding on of its stringest contributors. It won't work and here's why...

If the union does not collect the money directly, it won't matter. The individuals who just got smacked by Governor Walker's "Budget Defraud Bill" and by the Stalin-esque tactics of the Republicans in the Senate and the Assembly are not going to forget. Barack Obama's campaign made grassroots, individual funding viable and successful. Expect that those same machines will show up here in Wisconsin and Scott Walker will be completing his employment application at Koch Industries. At least there there will be a little bit of honesty... Walker's paycheck will be signed by David Koch directly instead being hidden as a campaign contribution!

Gov. Walker and the Cult of Insincerity: Collective Bargaining in Wisconsin

And in another shocking (not really) display of do as I tell you to not as I say, Governor Walker commended the Green Bay school district for passing a contract that handled all of the Governor's concerns without needing a dictate from Madison.

"They've recognized it's much better to have control of your own destiny. It's much better to have a handle on that so they protect jobs, they can prevent massive layoffs and they can ultimately protect the kids," Walker said.                                               Green Bay Press Gazette, March 10, 2011

It is touching and heartwarming for the Governor to recognize that people can actually govern themselves. Isn't that a Conservative plank? Local self-governance, self-determination, no overlords from afar?


How much less fighting screaming and anger would there be if the Governor had simply asked the unions for what he wanted and made it clear what the consequences would be? It would appear that Green Bay was able to figure it. No wonder Green Bay is the only city in the state with a national champion this year. Green Bay people are smarter (obviously, I live in Green Bay!)


According to the article in the Green Bay Press Gazette today, the contract "suspends" collective bargaining rights for the two year term of the contract. Suspension rather than outright elimination would seem to be an excellent way to solve what is in truth a temporary problem, the budget deficit.



Governor Walker is using his (temporary) power in Madison to permanently strip collective bargaining away from public sector employees. Meanwhile, there is very little serious evidence that the "benefits" that unionized public employees get have anything to do with the deficit in Wisconsin.

All of this is more perplexing since there was no deficit (according to the Legislative fiscal Bureau) until after Governor Walker extended tax cuts to businesses in his first few weeks.

Collective bargaining is not technically a right, but it is a privilege that workers spent years earning. Some people lost their lives to create unions and earn those rights.  Governor Walker, one of those dreaded 'career politicians', has never actually held a significant job since dropping out of Marquette University.

I agree with Governor Walker, people should control their own destinies. Madison, Washington, no one should decide the fate of the people of Wisconsin but the people of  Wisconsin.

Scott Walker's Latest "Not My Fault": The Emails

The New Smartest Guys 
in the Room?

Lest anyone think that tonight's actions by the Senate happened in a vacuum, a close reading of the emails between the Governor's staff and the Senate Democrats shows how calculated this move has been.

By releasing these emails, the governor can point to all of the effort he and his staff went to to compromise with the rogue Democrats.

However (you knew there had to be a however), the emails show little or no effort to actually change anything. From March 3 to March 8, the actual terms that the Governor's office is willing to compromise on don't actually change much.

March 3:

• Remove CPI clause
• Length of collective bargaining agreemnts
• Time frame for initial ceritification of collective bargaining agreements
• A change in the definition of 'workplace safety'
• Guidlines for changes to the Medical Assistance program

March 8:

• Remove CPI clause
• Allow some economic issues to be negotiated, none of them responsive to the Democrats emails and requests
• A change in the definition of 'workplace safety'
• Time frame for initial ceritification of collecitve bargaining agreemnts
• Length of collective bargaining agreements
• Guidelines for changes to the Medical Assistance program
• Allow collective bargaining for UW Hospital Clinics Authority (this was an item recommended by the Joint Fiscal Committee before the email exchange)

Another item worth noting is that it seems that the emails from the Governor's office are in response to a complete different conversation. The Democrats write that they would like "X" and the governor responds with "blue."

There must be missing emails. There appears to be a great deal of missing conversation here. In the five days covered by these emails, there seem to be gaps in the progression of the conversation. In particular, there is a great deal of activity on the 3rd, one from the 6th and then the 8th. It seems odd that there are no emails in between. In fact, the first email from the Democrats to the Governor's office was written on February 28th with no recorded response until the 3rd of March. With something this controversial and important, one would expect a quicker response.

The most important thing to note about the emails and their very well-timed release is that Governor Walker can now say, "Well, I tried. Look at these emails... I really tried." 

This action and the related actions in the Assembly will be the focus of the recall votes and future elections.

Ronald Reagan and Scott Walker

Ronald Reagan on the importance of political compromise(in his own words)
An American Life (his autobiography) | 8/7/03 | Ronald Reagan

Posted on 08/07/2003 2:05:04 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
"When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn't like it.
"Compromise" was a dirty word to them and they wouldn't face the fact that we couldn't get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don't get it all, some said, don't take anything.
"I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: 'I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.'
"If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.  http://goo.gl/Lu3XZ

Scott Walker is not a Reagan Republican.

Walker, Republicans Bypass Dems and Bully the System

Well, they did it.

Scott Walker and the Republicans in the Senate have stripped away all of bargaining rights of public workers, without the Democrats being in the chamber.

In a sleaze tactic more worthy of Stalinist Russia than a broad-shouldered Mid-Western state, the Republicans separated out the collective bargaining clauses of the "budget repair bill," held a private meeting to discuss the bill, called the Senate into session and passed this newly chopped up bill.

After weeks of protests, wrangling and millions of dollars spent on trying to sway elected officials, the Republican majority in the Senate simply ignored the spirit of the Wisconsin Constitution and rammed through the most contentious part of this bill.

So what does it mean?

A. We are in a new era of politics where the majority party will ramrod anything through without regard to public sentiment or respect for the body they have been honored with.

B. Politically motivated bills will be passed at all costs. In this case, most probably the careers of the Senators who passed this bill.

C. Legal loopholes should and will become the target of the majority party's ire. Getting loopholes like this one and the "anonymous filibuster" in the US Senate closed should become American priority one.

Our elected officials are elected from different parties so that they can find a middle path in the differing philosophies of our nation. This act makes it clear that there will be no tolerance for that in Scott Walker's Wisconsin.

Repost: Wispolitics.com - Budget Blog

Paycheck mailed to Erpenbach

With the paychecks for Senate Democrats cut off until they return from their boycott, Sen. Jon Erpenbach got creative.

Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, appointed two of his staff members his power of attorney, which would allow them to collect his pay.

On Feb. 22, GOP leaders voted to require members pick up their paychecks in person on the Senate floor.

Erpenbach, who like his 13 Dem colleagues fled the state to stall a vote on the budget repair bill, is in Chicago.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald put the check in the mail instead of turning it over to the staffers.

"We confirmed with our attorneys and with the chief clerk that was proper," said Fitzgerald spokesman Andrew Welhouse.

-- By Greg Bump

Thanks to Wispolitics.com for this article

Open Letter to My Republican Legislator

Dear Mr. Lasee,

I am writing to ask you to remain independent during this time of extremely partisan battling.

In Governor Walker's Budget Repair Bill was a provision to sell Wisconsin's energy assets, not to the highest bidder, but to whomever the Governor and/or his appointees decide. That is not a Conservative value nor a Wisconsin way of doing business.

The Senators who have left the state have left using the closest thing to a filibuster we have in Wisconsin. They should be acknowledged for their tenacity and for standing up for what they believe is right.

The budget proposal is over-reaching and, Mr. Lasee, I know that you know that. The budget cuts to local governments makes sense, but the state should not then restrict local governments from doing what they feel is necessary to keep services available. If the federal government were to do the same thing, they would protests throughout Madison and the state.

We are in the fiscal mess we are in because too many people pandered to the loudest donor. They literally sold our state for the easy road. There is, however, difference between correcting course and running aground on your principles.

Mr. Lasee, please consider what is truly right for the people of Wisconsin, not just what is politically expedient for the moment. I am asking that you review this new budget objectively and honestly. That is a conservative ethic and the Wisconsin Way.

Thank you and God bless the great state of Wisconsin.

Bob Peryea

How Does It Really Compare?: Local Gov't. Wages v. Service Industry

In reading through the Governor's budget, I began to think: What percentage do other similar businesses pay for labor?

The business that came to mind was a hospital. They have a large labor force, don't actually make anything and provide a service with minimal materials.

Here's how they stack up:

From page 38 of the Governor's budget:

From "Trends in the Use of Contract Labor in Hospital" by American Hospital Directory, Inc:

The winner is LOCAL GOVERNMENT! Local government pays 43%, hospitals pay 52.4%! Apparently we are getting a deal! And, oh yeah, hospitals are mostly profitable.

Unfinished Business is the Linchpin to Gov. Walker's Budget

During his address to a joint session of the State Legislature, Governor Scott Walker repeated several times that the "tools" provided by the Budget Repair Bill will be necessary for local governments to balance out the cuts proposed in his biennial budget.

The problem is that the Budget Repair Bill has not passed and soon will be a moot point.

According to Governor Walker, the changes to collective bargaining provided by the Budget Repair Bill would allow local governments to not only compensate for the cuts in state aid, but allow them a surplus that they can apply to other parts of our childrens' education.

At the same time, he proposes freeing the UW Madison and UW Milwaukee from the constraints of answering to the state. He also proposes the creation of charter schools all over the state and parents' choice in the Milwaukee area as well.

In this one man's opinion today, that is a lot to promise while cutting the budget significantly.

It remains to read in the budget what parts will work and which ones won't.

Scott Walker is a Socialist (in Reverse)

"Typically, socialism is concerned with both the social and economic system in a country. Property and wealth are shared, and their distribution are subject to the control of the people, who exert equal control of the government. The community or state owns all the things used for work production, called the means of production, and thus may also decide what is produced and how to distribute as evenly as possible the moneys paid for things produced."  Link here.

Governor Scott Walker is a reverse socialist. Socialism can be denied as taking from the status quo (right now, in America, the rich) and giving to everyone. It involves leveling the playing field, using the community resources for the entire community. What Gov. Walker and the new far-right of the Republican party want to do is take from those who have fought for, bargained for, or asked for and been given and bring them down to 'the rest of us.'

The collective bargaining agreement that was made between the State of Wisconsin and its public workers unions were negotiated agreements. It was an agreement, signed and certified. Governor Walker simply wants to take away their gains.

He is like a kid in high school who comes home from school complaining that everyone else has a car. Rather than working for his own car (dealing with a public sector job where you are vilified), negotiating his own price (collective bargaining) and pay his own auto loan ($100,000+ in education loans for a $25,000 a year job), Scotty wants to slash the tires on everyone else's car.

There is a simple solution to the idea that the public workers get too much through their collective bargaining, join a union. If everyone made as much as (people claim) public sector workers make, then we would be able to eliminate the deficit through an increase in tax revenues.

The next argument is that this would be bad for business. A couple of things to note: 1) In a down economy, thousands of companies are posting record profits (including Walker's paymasters, the Koch Brothers). 2) Most of the world is unionized (and the parts that aren't are starting to - notice the workers' rights movements in China and India).

By Governor Walker's logic, the next bill will be to restrict Wisconsin wages to $2,200 a year, the average wage in Shanghai in 2009. We must be competitive after all.

The American Way is not to take from those who have so they don't have any more. It is to try to give more opportunity to earn to everyone.

Isn't that the American Dream, the hope of every Horatio Alger, Jr. reader?

The sneaky part of this movement by the governor and other far-right Republicans is that the want to do it the old-fashioned way, on the backs of the working man and woman. Any student of history knows that that is how most of the great wealth was made in America prior to the idyllic 1950's (when America had the highest percentage of unionized workers).

Stay tuned for an observation of the abuses of the unions and where they went wrong.



Really? Welcome to the New Face of American Governance

In a body notorious for taking forever to get anything done, the Republican controlled Assembly in the Great State of Wisconsin set a new national record for passage of a bill. From calling for the vote to adjourning the assembly the entire episode takes 44 seconds.

Apparently, somebody, I don't know who, is looking at whether this is legal. Whatever they decide, this is not moral.

A quick note to the Republican officials of Wisconsin:

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

The actions of the Wisconsin Assembly were morally reprehensible. Similar to the attempt on the 18th of February to pass this same bill without the minority party even in the room, this action shows a deperation to avoid debate and compromise.

Please note: You, as the Republican Party in Wisconsin, have no officially vacated the moral high ground. These actions are cowardly and immature. Worse, what you did was a blot on the Great State of Wisconsin and the kind, considerate folks of this state. Any action like this from your opponents would be equally disgusting.

America is nation founded by people with opposing views. It was their constant conversation and compromise that made this the greatest govermental experiment of all time. Your actions last night at 1:00 am was patently un-American.

Sincerely yours,

Bob Peryea
One American who Believes We Must Live by a Higher Standard

Dear Reader: Please watch this and consider that this is what our government is becoming.

Governor Walker's Budget Repair Bill: Items a Reading

In the bill:

"16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b). "

No bids on multimillion dollar power and energy plants! Does this concern anyone else?

Is this truly fiscal responsibilityresponsiblity or is this cronyism to the Koch brothers and their energy company (Walker's 4th largest contributor)?