Sunday, November 6, 2011

Hulsey Is On To Something

When I heard the news that the state legislature wanted to make a teacher's whole career based on other people's test scores, I was livid with this idiotic attack on some of Wisconsin's finest and most caring people.  This stunt is just another maneuver to make the job as unattractive as possible to drive off the good teachers that would and should be paid a respectable wage.

I then imagined what this would be like for other lines of work. Should doctors be paid based on how many patients that live or die or develop chronic conditions?  Should cops be fined every time a crime happens?  Should road builders be penalized for every car accident?

Of course not.  Yet the Republicans, who would scream the loudest if anyone would even suggest these actions believe that the teachers should be held responsible for things that aren't even in their control.

But what if we held these politicians to the same standards?  After all, the Republicans had not one, but two "special jobs sessions" in which not one damn thing related to creating jobs was done. What if we held their pay  and disciplinary issues based on the number of jobs they created or the lack thereof?
Coincidentally, I'm not the only one with that thought.  State Representative Brett Hulsey issued a press release last week with a similar train of thought:
In this evening’s floor session, State Representative Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) will introduce the Governor Accountability Measure, which would set the Governor’s salary at three times the average Wisconsin’s worker’s salary. This is an amendment to Senate Bill 95, which would set teacher salaries based on test scores.

“This session is supposed to be about jobs, but has created no jobs, and the Governor should be held liable for that. Governor Walker should link his pay to the average Wisconsin worker because he and his fellow Republicans have not created jobs as promised,” said Hulsey. “Rather than link teachers’ pay to test scores, we should link the Governor’s pay to the real score—how much Wisconsin workers make.”

The amendment sets the Governor’s salary at three times the pay of an average Wisconsin worker, which is $40,980 annually according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That would be $121,162 instead of the $144,423 he makes today.  
This year, the Governor received a $7,331 pay raise over his predecessor, a 5 percent increase, while he gave state workers an 8 percent average reduction in benefit pay. This comes as new figures reveal a significant decline in real income statewide.

“Governor Walker should lead by example and link his pay to worker’s pay, like he wants to link teacher pay to student test scores,” Hulsey said.

Since Governor Walker signed the state budget, Wisconsin has lost nearly 23,000 jobs. Meanwhile, a sobering new poll shows that the people of Wisconsin are unhappy with Governor Walker and legislative Republicans for failing to create jobs
Of course, if we held Walker responsible for all of the mayhem he and his cohorts have already caused, he would need all of the Koch Brothers' riches to pay his fines. Unfortunately, this is just a warming thought and would never happen.

But we are not without recourse. Recalls start on November 15. I am so ready for it.

1 comment:

  1. An inspiring idea. The state senators and assembly representatives would also need to be held responsible along with the governor. The governor can screw the poor and middle class as much as he wants and take any pay cut that the State would give him as long as he has a deal with supporters, guys like the Koch brothers, with a back room deal that there will be a payoff in the end, some cushy job that has no responsibilities (something more suited to our current governor). Representatives in the legislature may not have the backing of such supporters like the governor would, that could get too expensive even for a bunch of billionaires (well, they do have the money, but they probably don't want to give it up). State representatives may feel more of the income cut if their salary were tied to performance.
    Does anyone know if the Fitzgerald brothers have any other jobs besides leaders in screwing the poor and middle class?
    It would be a shame to punish representatives that actually do care about the citizens that they represent but it may encourage those corporate puppets to do what is right for Wisconsin, its citizens, the people that they were elected to represent instead of a few campaign donors that do not even live in this state.

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