Senator Darling: You've Failed Us!

I'm damn glad to see this as for two reasons:



One, it's about time they counter the false Wisconsin Club for Growth of Koch's Bank Account's false accusations on who's really to blame.

Two, that's one of my little #wiunion sisters in there. Way to go, Kati!

Walker's Union Busting Taking Economic Toll Already

Just call me Nostrodamus.

In a rant about the negative impact that Scott Walker's union busting would have on the economy, I had written:

The people that get hurt by this are the owners and employees of the small stores, restaurants and taverns, since those are the areas people first cut in their personal budgets. Then bigger companies will feel the pinch, like cable companies, as people realize that they'll need to cut back on luxuries. Also, big ticket purchases will drop, which will lead to things like more real estate problems and less cars being sold. And you know the companies aren't going to allow a hit to their profit margins, so that means they raise rates and/or lay off workers.

The estimates of people in the private sector that are going to lose their jobs just from this one bill is continuously being added to, but the latest I've seen is 31,000 people around the state will lose their jobs because of this decrease in flow of money. To be honest, even that number seems low to me.

Lo and behold, I was proven correct as usual as the first casualties of Walkernomics are being reported:

Kathy Spada said the opportunity with Kocourek was the main reason for closing, but that the economy had also affected business. When asked if the opening of Olive Garden in Rib Mountain affected business, she said any new restaurant can take a “piece of the pie.”

“The economy has made it tough for everyone,” she said.

And this is only the beginning, folks. It's about to get a whole lot worse.

This Is The Republicans' Best?

In the usual game of tit-for-tat that the Republicans love to play, they tried to match the Democrats by starting their own recall campaigns against eight Democratic senators.

But they could not meet the Democrats intensity and only managed to get three recalls mounted.  To make matters even more laughable, they apparently can't find a worthwhile candidate. In Green Bay, their "real" candidate, John Nygren, couldn't even find enough people to sign his petition to get on the ballot.

That leaves the Republicans with their fake candidate, David Vanderleest, to go up against the incumbent, Senator Dave Hansen.  Except, Vanderleest has a criminal history that makes him the least likely to win.  And the left is not going to let the voters forget it, as this ad shows:



Is it any wonder why the Republicans are throwing any piece of dirt or mud they can find? They have nothing else to go with anymore.

The Kaukauna Lie Gains National Attention

On Monday, I pointed out an article by Jake in which he dissected Scott Walker's lie about the Kaukauna School District.

The story apparently has gotten the attention of Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, who skewers Walker yet again.

I'd say that young Jake has a reason to crow. Job well done, my friend. Job well done.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Takes Up Writing Creative Fiction

When Patrick McIlheran completed the ultimate hypocrisy of leaving the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to become a part of the big government bureaucracy he spent years raling against, I thought that might be the end of the paper's venture into producing creative fiction.

Wow! I could never have been any more wrong!

Their county reporter, Steve Schultze, teams up with some county officials and does quite the admirable job of picking up where PaddyMac left off. His article is such a convoluted mess of opinion, unexplained facts, half-truths and unchallenged lies, it boggles the mind and makes one wonder where to even start addressing such a miasma of misinformation. It's enough to make C. S. Lewis jealous.

Schultze starts out with saying that Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele (pronounced: Walker Lite) hasn't ruled out pay cuts or lay offs to balance a $51 million deficit.  But nowhere does he say when this deficit was discovered, if it's actual or merely projected, or what caused this alleged deficit. Considering this is the first time it's being mentioned, a little background would be nice. Journalistic even.

Then Schultze forgets he's a reporter and gives us an op-ed paragraph:

The new state law, which took effect Wednesday, paves the way for changes that in the past would have been difficult if not impossible to achieve. The county's largest union, District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, made an unsuccessful 11th-hour push to get a new contract before the legal cloud blocking implementation of the bargaining measure was lifted.

Schultze forgets to mention a few things with that opinion. Things such as:

• The unions have a federal lawsuit that is still very much in play.
• There's already been a federal ruling in favor of collective bargaining rights, whether they be public or private unions.
• There is growing evidence that Walker's "tools" aren't all Walker tried to pretend they were.

Schultze then delves into the various things that Walker's bill will allow the county to do to protect the special interests, with a surprising accuracy, but then mentions the furloughs.  What he doesn't mention about the furloughs is that they have been found to be illegal and that the county needed to cease and desist immediately and reimburse the employees with back pay for the disallowed forced time off without pay.  Nor does he mention that this finding was sustained when the County went back to WERC to appeal the ruling.

Schultze then brings Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo into this land of make-believe and quotes him as saying:

Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo, the chairman of the County Board's Personnel Committee, said he didn't expect the state law to usher in drastic changes for workers, though he acknowledged workers view the pension and health care payments as significant.

A twenty percent cut in pay is not significant? Would someone let Sanfelippo know that we don't all own taxi cab companies for which we can vote an increase in taxi funding for every time things get a little tight.

Schultze then starts talking about the possibility of privatization. He specifically mentions the security guards being privatized. Brilliant move there by Abele and company. After all, it worked so well last time they tried it, with the less than zero savings and the convicts the private agency hired.

What Schultze doesn't mention is that Abele and company are also looking at privatizing the entire Child Support Enforcement program. This won't help much, considering that child support enforcement actually brings in more money for the county tax payers than it uses, giving the county to support other programs or help pay off some of the debt. Now that extra money will be going to some CEO or board as profit instead of giving the tax payers some relief.

To round off this fiction comes Chairman Lee Holloway with this line:

County Board Chairman Lee Holloway sought to reassure employees they'll be treated fairly without union contracts. He said he wants to appoint a special committee that includes workers to review county work rules to see what changes might be needed. Holloway also wants the rules to apply to all workers. Under the previous system, unions sometimes had different rules than nonunion employees.

"I won't let anybody beat up on union people," Holloway said.

Do I really have to point out that Holloway has not voted in the unions favor in years and with the aid of his new pal, Sanfelippo, chose to screw over not only the unions but also the tax payers just a couple of weeks ago?

Having Holloway say that he's going to take care of the workers is probably about as comforting as when he says he's going to take care of his rental properties.

About the only truthful thing in the article comes from Kurt Zunker, president of Local 882, who pointed out that people aren't feeling very safe right now (emphasis mine):

The prospect has demoralized many of those workers, and several hurriedly retired last week, said Kurt Zunker, president of the AFSCME local that represents the guards, as well as parks and highway workers.

"They're panicking," he said. "You get jerked around so many ways, what do you believe anymore?" Many of the guards fear losing their jobs next year, as well as benefits this year, Zunker said.

Indeed, the route Abele is taking will lead him to greater problems than trying to balancing a spreadsheet. Then again, it may be what he wants, considering that he is part of a group that is trying to "blow up" Milwaukee County, or at least put it under state receivership, like they're doing in Michigan.

I think the only group that might be happy with the course of events lately are the trial lawyers as people's rights continue to get trampled on and as people start suffering real harm from the faulty policies the county is taking on.

Wisconsin: Open for (Campaign Donating) Businesses

You might remember one of the bipartisan concerns (actually, the only one) leading up to Walker's economy killing budget was the issue regarding microbreweries.  Walker spent the week after signing the budget into law, trying to calm people's fears saying it would not harm them but actually offer more protections.  The microbrewers aren't buying it:

Despite an outcry from Wisconsin's craft brewers, Gov. Scott Walker did not veto the provision, and small beer makers say the law could change the way they distribute beer and hamper their ability to expand.

Don Zamzow, who owns Bull Falls Brewery in Wausau with his son Mike Zamzow, said the biggest concern is what will happen to small breweries' wholesale operations.

With the changes, Bull Falls and other brewers won't be able to hold wholesale licenses. Instead, they will have to use special selling permits, Zamzow said.

With the wholesale license, small brewers ultimately could sell that part of their businesses and make money once they grow too large to handle distribution. With the new permit, that option is taken away, meaning the distribution component has no value for possible buyers, Zamzow said.

That's a problem for craft brewers' business models. Typically, they start small and distribute their own beer, so they don't have to pay large distributors. Then, as sales increase, brewers sell off the distribution rights, which gives them more money to invest in the brewery, Zamzow said.

Of course, Walker's tendency to favor campaign contributors over every day people is having it's now expected result, where the people are joining in rising up against his oligarchy and tyranny. This time, they're not just marching, they're taking it out on the enemy.

I don't know how he can even entertain the thought of national office when he is on the verge of collapse and civil unrest here. People don't like people who set off chaos.

Timing Is Everything

One of the memes I've seen being repeated on the right wing of the Cheddarsphere can be summed up by saying:

"See? Walker's budget and the union busting bill have gone into effect and the world did not end."

That's true. It would be difficult even for unethical and incompetent people, like our current governor and Republican-controlled legislature to make up one that could cause that much damage immediately.  It takes time for the full force of their malice to be felt.

I know that Milwaukee County isn't able to plug in the programming to reduce checks for a couple of time periods.  The first reduced check comes in the beginning of August, just days before the recall elections. I would presume that it would be the same for most levels of governments around the state.

I don't know, but people seeing their checks cut by some $200 to $400 per month just might be enough to motivate them to get out and vote against those that took the money from them.

Impeccable timing for the Republicans who are apparently making every effort to give us even more reasons to recall the lot of them.

But sometimes it baffles me how a group as incompetent as the Republicans have been even got elected in the first place.

Charlie Sykes And Friends Go Beyond The Pale

It's no secret that the right wing in this state as set the bar pretty freakin' low as far as behavioral expectations.

But Charlie Sykes and couple of others have gone beyond the pale when they start mocking a disabled man.

Just when you thought they couldn't sink any lower, they prove you wrong.

Is it any wonder why I've stopped caring what they think of me?  I don't need or want the approval of the likes of those.

The Kaukauna Is A Lie!

Yesterday, I shredded the lie being echoed among right wingers like Owen Robinson (not a new thing for Owen, sadly) that Scott Walker's budget busting bill is "awesome" or "a positive impact for tax payers," by pointing out the fact that people will be paying a heckuva lot more but receiving less for their money.

Today, Jake in his Economic TA Funhouse take his turn by showing that the Kaukauna School District, which Walker has been using as a talking point, is nothing but a lie:

So this wasn't a "union costs exploded for 2011-2012" problem. This was a "budget cuts from Scott Walker and WisGOP in Madison are screwing us on the local level" problem. In fact, the original budget proposal from the guv resulted in a drop of Kaukauna's available revenues of $2.16 million (a bit under 5% of their total), and $2.75 million from the state (check out your favorite district's cut here, Kaukauna's on Page 5). The unions responded by proposing $1.8 million in concessions, which combined with the district $345,000 in surplus funds from 2010-11, would have taken care off all of the state cuts put into Kaukauna's budget. The Kaukauna School Board turned them down and asked for layoffs of 14.5 full-time positions instead, and decided to wait on the Legislature and State Supreme Court to do the dirty work of putting the screws on the teachers, and hope for large numbers of teacher retirements.

Which is exactly what happened. The Kaukauna teachers will now have to chip in over 18% of their pay in health care and pension contributions, with no corresponding increase in salary. And for all the talk about "Kaukauna class sizes going down," even Kaukauna School Board President Todd Arnoldussen admits it's projected class sizes being reduced, and those are reductions from huge INCREASES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY PROJECTED. In other words, little to no change will result from what students would have seen this year. Class sizes DID NOT GO DOWN, as much as the deceptive press releases may indicate.

And I'm not even bringing up the fact that I wish Kaukauna good luck in attracting and retaining quality teachers when they're getting a huge cut in their take-home pay. Strangely, those "free-market" types that are always bashing public educators leaves out the free market reality of lower pay = lower quality. (But when has consistency and reality ever been part of the equation for those haters, anyway?)

In other words, like the supposed budget crisis when Walker took over, he "fixed" a problem that didn't even exist until he created it.

Just like when he was county executive, he is selling snake oil and false promises based on a house of cards.  Unfortunately, the corporate press just echoes his false talking points without actually looking into them and the gullible and/or the dishonest buy into them, not realizing their mistake until it's too late.

As Jake points out at the end of his piece, let's see how things are in a year's time. Heck, let's see how things are in two months time. That's when the pain really starts.

Happy (Belated) Blogbirthversary To Me!

With all the sturm und drang of fighting to regain our independence from the dark corporate overlords, I done completely forgot that Saturday was by blogbirthversary.

I've been a part of the Cheddarsphere for four years now and Cognitive Dissidence has been battling against the forces of evil for three years now.

The whole sordid history is here.

But I have to admit, this past year has been a bit more...interesting.

Long story short: If you don't like what I do, blame folkbum.

If you like what I do, please send money.

Loots And Slobbers

Owen Robinson, rabid anti-union blogger at Boots and Sabers, really put his army boot in his mouth while jumping on Scott Walker's union busting agenda.

Robinson links to a story, one of several that Walker and his acolytes are trying to foist on the unsuspecting public, showing "all the wonderful savings" which stem from Walker's assault on the working class. In this specific example, it's the Hartford School District.

Robinson sounds off with pride, first calling it "Awesome!" and then adding this:

Walker’s collective bargaining changes continue to have a positive impact for taxpayers across the state.

Considering that the "savings" from Walker's union busting is about $300 million out of a $66 billion budget, that's like cheering on the guy using a teaspoon to bail out the Titanic.

But is it really having a positive impact?

Consider this: In Milwaukee County alone, there are somewhere around 48,000 government workers, including state, county and all the municipal employees.  Walker's union busting will remove $155 million from the local economy, because that's the money that these workers won't have any longer to spend.

The people that get hurt by this are the owners and employees of the small stores, restaurants and taverns, since those are the areas people first cut in their personal budgets.  Then bigger companies will feel the pinch, like cable companies, as people realize that they'll need to cut back on luxuries.  Also, big ticket purchases will drop, which will lead to things like more real estate problems and less cars being sold.  And you know the companies aren't going to allow a hit to their profit margins, so that means they raise rates and/or lay off workers.

The estimates of people in the private sector that are going to lose their jobs just from this one bill is continuously being added to, but the latest I've seen is 31,000 people around the state will lose their jobs because of this decrease in flow of money.  To be honest, even that number seems low to me.

So, now we have teachers and other public employees making even less money (even though they already were making less than their private sector counterparts). This, in turn, has a negative impact on local businesses, causing further job losses, a further drop in spending and so the downward cycle continues.  Not exactly what I call "a positive impact," but that's the whole problem with the right's trickle down economics theory, isn't it?  Something's trickling down, but it sure as hell ain't money, much less enough to keep the economy going or growing.

Now, any conservatives that bothered reading this far are probably screaming at their monitors, "[Redacted] you, capper, you damn union thug. At least Walker's lowered our taxes, you dumb [redacted]!" or something akin to that.

Well, technically, that's a true statement.  But before they celebrate, they need to open their myopic eyes and look at the whole picture, which is provided by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau:

In summary, the changes included in the Joint Finance Committee's budget would decrease net taxes by $23,572,000 ($5,135,000 in 2011-12 and -$28,707,000 in 2012-13) and would increase net fees by $111,340,800 ($37,248,900 in 2011-12 and $74,091,900 in 2012-13).

As the gentle reader can see, the increase in fees the first year alone is greater than all of the tax cuts for both years combined.  And then the fees double again in the second year.

Now, in summary, we will have even less of money circulating in the state, causing higher unemployment and some businesses to close down altogether.  Compounding the pain, we also will have exponentially higher fees to pay each consecutive year of Walker's regime.

If that's a positive thing for the tax payers, I'd hate to see what the hell a negative impact would be.

Rep. Husley Blasts Walker on Bridge Boondoggle

Representative Brett Husley issued this press release pointing out Scott Walker's hypocrisy and the lie behind Walker's claim that the state is broke:

Walker Signs Pork Barrel Bridge Boondoggle Act, SB 26--

Bill would pave the way for $633 million new bridge when 1,100 are in jeopardy

Madison, WI—State Representative Brett Hulsey today blasted Governor Scott Walker for signing
a pork barrel Bridge Boondoggle Act, Senate Bill 26, near the site of an existing land bridge that is a few miles away from the proposed site. The Bridge Boondoggle bill would lead to spending another $633 million bridge over the St. Croix Scenic Riverway between Minnesota and Wisconsin while ignoring more than 1,100 deficient Wisconsin bridges as well as our schools and the elderly.

“The Governor says we are broke so we should not build this new $633 million bridge when 3.5
million Wisconsin citizens have to cross 1,100 deficient bridges every day,” said Representative
Brett Hulsey (D-Madison), a member of the Assembly Transportation Committee and longtime
transportation expert.

“This bill will pave the way for constructing a $633 million bridge just seven miles north of an eight lane bridge while ignoring more reasonable bridge upgrades,” said Shahla Werner, Director,
Sierra Club – John Muir Chapter (Wisconsin). “This massive project unnecessarily jeopardizes the
federally protected St. Croix Scenic Riverway.”

A recent Transportation for America study, “The Fix We are in For,” shows there are 1,142
deficient Wisconsin bridges, 8.2% of the state’s bridges carrying almost 3.5 million people per day. Minnesota also has more than 1,100 deficient bridges also. See the report at:
http://t4america.org/docs/bridgereport/bridgereport-national.pdf.

”In addition, Governor Walker’s budget gives $2.8 billion to corporations over 10 years that could make our roads and bridges safer, improve our schools, and protect seniors and working families,” Hulsey added. “Walker chose pavement over people, bridges over babies.”

"Expensive Entitlements"

Besides endorsing the recalls that the people of Wisconsin have launched against the corrupt Republicans, the Walker interview with the MJS editorial board has another tidbit of insight for us:

"They defined it as a rights issue," Walker said. "It's not a rights issue. It's an expensive entitlement."

So in Walker's world, we can deduce the following:

• Worker's rights are expensive entitlements
• A safe work place is an expensive entitlement
• A decent education for your child is an expensive entitlement
• A life-saving health care screening is an expensive entitlement
• A wage that can actually sustain your family with is an expensive entitlement
• Being treated with respect in the workplace is an expensive entitlement
• Getting promotions based on experience and qualifications besides how much your daddy the lobbyist donated is an expensive entitlement

The list could go on forever, all of which would basically show that Walker again had made one heckuva irresponsible and damning statement.

But it also requires me to make a few other points while I'm at it.

We already know that a federal judge already said that collective bargaining rights can't be overturned by governmental edict.

Most importantly, perhaps, is that when Walker was giving sworn testimony before Congress, he specifically stated that his union busting agenda had absolutely nothing to do with financial reasons:

“Your proposal would require unions to hold annual votes to continue representing their own members. Can you please explain to me and members of this committee how much money this provision saves for your state budget?” question Kucinich.

After an unresponsive answer by Governor Walker, Kucinich pressed, “Did you answer the questions? How much money does it save, Governor?”

“It doesn’t save any,” admitted Governor Walker.

Again, Walker comes out telling bald faced lies and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel lets it slide. Don't you think Walker should have to start including their paper as an in-kind contribution on his campaign finance forms?

Walker Endorses Recalls!

I know the MJS editorial where they interviewed Scott Walker is a bit dated, but I'm just catching up to it now.  What caught my eye is that Walker actually inadvertently supported the recalls:

He [Walker] said if there are going to be recalls, they should be about misconduct in office, not a particular vote. For that reason, he said he sees a stronger basis for recalling Democratic senators who left the state than for recalling Republicans for taking a vote on the bargaining measure.

Considering they took illegal votes, violated open meeting laws to take those illegal votes, broke the law regarding access to the Capitol, broke laws regarding the use of troopers, sent troopers after political opponents, abused the powers of their offices and a myriad of other illegal and unethical activities, I think that can be safely couched under the category of "misconduct in office."

I wonder if Walker will be endorsing his own recall in a few months...

Recall Names and Dates

It's getting so you can't tell the players without a scorecard, so for your convenience, taken straight from Facebook, is the names and the dates pertinent to the first step in salvaging Wisconsin:

2nd Senate District Republican Robert Cowles faces a recall: REAL DEMOCRAT:Nancy Nusbaum FAKE DEMOCRAT: Otto Junkermann Primary is July 12, General is August 9

8th Senate District Republican Alberta Darling faces a recall: REAL DEMOCRAT: Sandy Pasch FAKE DEMOCRAT: Gladys Huber Primary is July 12, General is August 9

10th Senate District Republican Sheila Harsdorf faces a recall: REAL DEMOCRAT: Shelly Moore FAKE DEMOCRAT: Isaac Weix Primary is July 12, General is August 9

14th Senate District Republican Luther Olsen faces a recall: REAL DEMOCRAT: Fred Clark FAKE DEMOCRAT: Rol Church Primary is July 12, General is August 9

18th Senate District Republican Randy Hopper faces a recall: REAL DEMOCRAT: Jess King FAKE DEMOCRAT: John Buckstaff Primary is July 12, General is August 9

32nd Senate District Republican Dan Kapanke faces a recall: REAL DEMOCRAT: Jennifer Shilling FAKE DEMOCRAT: James Smith Primary is July 12, General is August 9

For the Democratic recalls:

12th Senate District Democrat Jim Holperin faces a recall: Primary for two Republican candidates is July 19, General is August 16

22nd Senate District Democrat Bob Wirch faces a recall: Primary for two Republican candidates is July 19, General is August 16

30th Senate District Democrat Dave Hansen faces a recall: General is July 19 (no primary is needed)