The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XXXIX

Long before Scott Walker even got into politics, Big Businesses were chipping away at workers rights and at the power of the unions.  By the time Walker arrived into a position of authority, the private sector unions were greatly weakened and the propaganda against them were well embedded into many people's way of thinking.

This made it easier for Walker to attack the public sector workers, furthering the agenda of putting more and more of the costs of running a country, a state or a local government on the poor and the working families and off of the rich and the big businesses.

Now we are seeing the next phase of this vicious downward cycle:

A Boilermakers Union Local 443 official said Wednesday that 156 members would be laid off Friday from Manitowoc Cranes at the South 30th Street manufacturing plant.

The official said Boilermakers members received a letter Wednesday from Larry Weyers, executive vice president for Manitowoc Cranes in the Americas region, indicating workers should not show up for work, effective with Monday's shifts, due to the company's ongoing dispute with International Association of Machinists Local 516.

[...]

Leaders of the IAM union said Wednesday company management was pursuing a "union busting" strategy in the rejected contract proposal.

"The company proposed eliminating long-standing contract language requiring any employee who benefits from negotiated wages and benefits to become a member of the union that negotiated those benefits," said Ben Elizondo, IAM business representative.

"This proposal is nothing more than union busting," Elizondo said. "It provides no economic value or added productivity for the company and virtually guaranteed the contract would be rejected and the strike would take place."

Elizondo said company officials are seeking to implement union representation changes adopted earlier this year by Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature that now affect municipal and state public employee unions.

Wisconsin is not open for business.

And it's damn sure not open for working families.

The only thing Walker has opened Wisconsin for is profiteering.

Not The Results He Was Looking For

When Scott Walker changed the rules regarding union certification, he was sure that he had set the unions up for failure.  He couldn't have been more wrong.

The larger unions chose just not to play his game, knowing that even if they spent all the money necessary to hold a recertification vote, Walker would only change the rules again, like they've been doing with voters' rights.   The smaller unions chose the other path and have beaten Walker at his own game.

From the inbox:

The 1,033 members of the SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin Professional Patient Care Unit (PPCU) voted “Union Yes!” in the state’s first recertification election, winning the election with 97% of ballots cast.

SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin filed a recertification petition with the State of Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission in September. Under Governor Walker’s Budget Repair Bill, all public employee unions must hold annual elections and win 51% of the bargaining unit electorate, not just those who vote, to maintain their bargaining rights and status. Unions have been held to a higher standard for these elections than the Governor or the legislature in their elections. Over 64% of the bargaining unit voted during over a twenty-day period that ended on November 16, 2011.

“This election proves what we’ve been saying all along – that public healthcare employees want a labor union,” said Dian Palmer, RN and president of SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin. “Nurses and healthcare professionals understand that a collective voice is not just about wages and benefits – this is about quality care for all Wisconsinites. Our most vulnerable citizens rely on our state centers for mental health and developmental disabilities for the affordable, quality healthcare that can’t be found elsewhere.”

“We have shown that we are on the ground and we are mobilized. We are organized and we are stronger than ever. Solidarity is the force of people standing together, not merely to survive but to thrive. With his attack on collective bargaining, Scott Walker has united the labor movement. As a union we will move forward, and as a union we will succeed!”

Gee, do you think this might show why the recall movement is going so strong? Walker and his puppet masters have grossly underestimated the will of the people.

Esenberg Fails To Make His Case

Rick Esenberg - MU law professor, GOP operative and Bradley Foundation employee - tries to defend Walker against the recall and fails miserably.

He starts out with the tired, old routine of "it's because the union bosses want the ease of having dues automatically deducted from the workers' checks."  This, of course, fails to account for the hundreds of thousands of non-union members who are also very much involved in the recall process.

I guess he just is afraid of taking on the right versus wrong argument.

But then he comes up with this paragraph (emphasis mine):

Jim Rowen complains that Walker did not campaign on collective bargaining reform but it is unclear how that supports a recall. As George Mitchell asks, would Jim have thought it appropriate to recall Governor Doyle for not campaigning on a tax increase? Do we want a principle that says that public officials cannot implement any policy that they did not mention during their campaign?

Mr. Esenberg's recall of recalls is quite faulty.

You see, my good buddies at the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government did try to recall Doyle because of the tax issue.

Twice, in fact.

So, according Mr. Esenberg's logic, this would show that the Republicans actually set the precedent of recalling everyone they don't like, for a mere policy decision, nonetheless.

How Much Trouble Is Walker In?

Two bad omens regarding Scott Walker's chance to finish even one term as governor came out yesterday.

One, the most recent poll shows that 58% of the people are in support of the recall and would vote against. him.

Two, and this is a bit more anecdotal, is that my ultra conservative father eagerly signed my recall petition.  (His neighbors, who also signed, nearly fell out of their chairs when they heard this news.  No one who knows my father would've expected this.)  His quote as he signed it was "A conservative tyrant is just as bad as a liberal tyrant."

Mr. Walker, you'd best start packing.  You only have the sheeples and the the people who invested a lot of money in buying you the governor's seat still supporting you.

Don't Call That Armored Truck For Your Tax Savings Quite Yet

The latest bit of propaganda to come out of Scott Walker's "Please don't fire me" camp is that his budget disrepair bill will be saving tax payers $47 million dollars next year.  This has been, of course, dutifully parroted by the unthinking echo chamber.

But don't call for that armored car to take all your savings to the credit union just yet.

As Jake points out, the savings turns out to be rather inconsequential:

If you look at 2010 Census figures, you'll see that we have just under 5.7 million people lucky enough to live in Wisconsin. So that $47 million in property taxes is all of $8.28 person. WOO-HOO!! But, to be fair, a lot of those people are kids who don't exactly pay property taxes or rent, so let's also use the 2.625 million state housing units and see what the average place got for a tax break.

$17.93. That's the reduction for each household. Not even $18. Keep that thought

But wait, there's more! Check out your individual school district here, then go to the end of the report and note the statewide numbers, which not only show the total levy, but the tax rate. Then compare the mill rate with 2011, and a hidden point comes up.

School mill rates 2011 vs. 2012
2010-2011- 9.76 overall, 9.80 K-12
2011-2012- 9.84 overall, 9.88 K-12

That's right, school property tax rates went up this year. So if your property's value stayed the same in Wisconsin, it's likely your school property taxes will go up, regardless of how the Sykes/Belling/Walker team try to spin it. And if they don't go up, it's probably because your home's value went DOWN, and not by a little. But hey, who cares if you're underwater on your house when you can save $1.50 a month in (deductible) property taxes, right?

There is one thing that Jake missed though.

Because of Walker's slashing of the school funding, 3,400 teachers, teacher's aides, administrators and other school staff members have lost their jobs.

Now, these poor people that lost their job for a meager buck and a half a month will be collecting unemployment benefits. And unlike when a private sector worker loses their job, there is no pool for the money to come from. The governmental body that laid off their personnel has to pay for it as they go along. Given that the average amount of unemployment insurance compensation is $300 a week, lets to the math:

3,400 laid off employees X $300 per week X 52 weeks = $53,040,000

Now, I'll admit that I'm not familiar with the fuzzy math that Republicans like to use, but as far as I can tell, $53 million is greater than $47 million.

So now we're $6 million in the red. Or to put it another way, instead of pocketing $1.50, we could be paying up $2.30 a month.

Whoa, that kind of sucks. We get poorer schools and have to pay more for it? Not a deal I'd take.

Oh, well, Walker the job creator will have those laid off teachers back to work in no time. Oh, wait, that's right. Under Walker's inept maladministration, we are losing jobs even as the rest of the nations is gaining.

And even if you dismiss my assertion regarding the unemployment as that much malarkey, you'd still be better off not calling for that armored truck yet.

From the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, we find another little inconvenient fact to put a stop to Walker's spin...the fees:

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).

You could double Walker's tax levy drops and still be losing money due to the greatly elevated fees.

Under Walker's budget, people are going to need to get a second and maybe even a third job to afford his tax savings. That is, if we had any jobs for them in the first place.

Of Walker's Hubris and Hypocrisy and Right Wing Hatred

This morning, instead of acting gubernatorial and doing things that would actually create jobs and fix our state's economy, Scott Walker fell into his old ways whenever he got into trouble as Milwaukee County Executive.  He went running to Charlie Sykes.

He whined and mewled to Sykes about how mean it was that the people wanted to take their state back from the special interests and the corporations that he sold it to.  

He also expressed indignant outrage that those very same people who had the audacity to want to be independent and free from corporate serfdom were going to have a protest at his personal home. He and Sykes kept trying to say it was "crossing the line."

Keep in mind that even the conservative Supreme Court of the United States said that it is perfectly fine for people to use the public streets and is "traditional public fora."

But there was no protest and the event that was in his neighborhood wasn't focused on his home.  The event was a petition signing rally which happened to be in his neighborhood because his very own neighbors are so disgusted with his overreach, his tyrannical ways and his attacks on the working people of Wisconsin, that they volunteered their yards, not Walker's, as a collection site.

And thousands of people took them up on their very generous offer.

It's shameful that Walker feels he somehow has the right to tell his neighbors what they can and cannot do in their own homes and their own yards.  That isn't the behavior of a responsible elected official.  That is the behavior of a petulant, insecure bully-boy petty despot.  It is also a show of undeserved hubris.

And not only his his faux outrage an act of great hubris, it is also a fine showing of hypocrisy.  He is whining because people are going near his house when his maleficent actions are causing many people to take staggering hits to their income, if not losing their jobs altogether, and putting their own homes at risk of being lost.

While I was not at the rally personally, I had many friend who were there, both as signature collectors and as petition signers.  

By all accounts, the recall rally-goers were peaceful and respectful.  Even though there was a strong presence by Wauwatosa's finest, it was the rally-goers who policed themselves.  If someone started to get too loud or too boisterous, others nearby would remind them of the expectations and they would quickly calm down.

And not only was it peaceful, it was very popular.  Reports from observers indicate that many people saw the rally at the five o'clock news and headed straight there to put their names on a petition.  Not only did these people spontaneously partake of the event, but many people who were simply driving by would stop their cars and quickly sign a petition before carrying on with their activities.

In fact, the only negative to the event, besides Walker's faux outrage, came from Walker supporters.  They were the ones shouting and jeering the rally-goers in hopes of getting a reaction that would make the ten o'clock news.  One small group of Walker-loving thugs went so far as telling an elderly man that they hoped he stroked out before he had a chance to sign a petition.  The man was reportedly fit to be tied and besides himself in rage at their cruel remarks, but with the support and love of his fellow rally-goers, calmed himself down and took his revenge by proudly signing a petition.

It's not very difficult to pick a side to stand with.  

On one hand, you have a group of people who, despite their great numbers, kept the respect for the local residents and kept the noise down.  Despite the Republicans continuous acts of gerrymandering and otherwise tampering with our democratic process, the recallers kept following the law of the day and expressed their smoldering anger at Walker's misdeeds in a proper manner and to reclaim their rights and their state back.

On the other hand, you have a handful of emotionally-stunted thugs who know no limits to their inappropriateness and were trying everything they could to intimidate and/or provoke the recallers to follow their disgusting and immature antics.  And the only reason they are doing this is a anger which stems from lack of understanding, their fear and their irrational hatred.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XXXVIII

Scott Walker said many times how he was going to use his laser sharp focus (read: weasel beady-eyed gaze) on creating jobs by taking our money and giving it to his campaign donors businesses.  So how's that working? Not so good, actually:

About 60 percent of Wisconsin businesses that completed tax credit programs tied to job creation during the past five years actually hired as many people as they expected, according to a Wausau Daily Herald analysis of state data.

Of the 191 other businesses still active in the programs, just 8 percent so far have created the required number of jobs to earn the credits, the review shows.

Nine of 15 businesses that completed state tax credit contracts since 2007 met the hiring goal, according to the records. Two of the 15 businesses in the programs did not create a single new job in five years, and four others fell short of the goal.

Economic development experts and business leaders -- including some who received the incentives -- said the state tax credits alone don't spur new jobs. Instead, job creation still boils down to a simple premise: Increased demand for a strong company's product or service drives hiring.

Yeah. And the only way you can create demand is if the people have the money to buy said product or service. Walker made sure that didn't happen when he took our money away.

Have you signed a recall petition yet?

Cowardly Attack Shows Right's Lack of Confidence in Walker

Monday, as the state was waiting in eager anticipation for midnight to strike and the recall of Scott Walker to start, some yet unknown cowardly miscreants used a Denial of Service attack on the United Wisconsin website, causing the site to fall..  United Wisconsin is the grassroots group that is organizing the recall efforts.

While the identities of the criminals are not known yet, there is no doubt that it was done in an effort to deny the people from reclaiming their state back.

Yet, just as with Walker's budget disrepair bill failed to break our wills, the hackers' attack failed to slow people down.  Thousands of people gathered at various stations around the state for their chance to be among the first to sign the recall petitions.

Not only that, but the United Wisconsin site is back up and operating!  There is also the Recall HQ website, which is another place that one can download their own recall petitions to get the signatures of one's family, friends and neighbors. (I'm printing my copies out even as I'm typing this.)  At the Recall HQ site, one can also download the petitions for Senators Van Wanggaard, Terry Moulton and Pam Galloway.

But not only did the act of these brigands fail, it also showed their hand.  And that hand was shaking in terror, since they have obviously have no confidence that Walker will be able to win a recall election without them resorting to illegal means.

And that's something that I can finally agree with them about.

Walker Comes Out Whiffing

On the eve of his recall, Scott Walker comes out swinging.  And ends up whiffing enough to cause a steady breeze.

Courtesy of TPM, we see that Walker came put an ad up during Monday Night Football:



The woman in the video is Karin Rajnicek of the Waukesha School Board. In the video, she says this (emphasis mine):

“We were worried when the state budget was gonna mean less money for our school district. And we have 25 schools,” says Rajnicek. “But Governor Walker — he gave us options that reduced our biggest costs, so that we could put more money back into our classrooms.”

Maybe she should have been more worried, because according to the Waukesha School District website, they must have lost five schools (again, emphasis mine):

The School District of Waukesha is located fifteen miles west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the rolling hills of Waukesha County. With over 12,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students served in our 20 schools, we are the seventh largest school district in the State of Wisconsin. Our schools include three comprehensive high schools, three middle schools, and 14 elementary schools. In addition, we serve students in six charter schools: Waukesha STEM Academy which has two campuses - Randall for Grades K-5 and Saratoga for Grades 6 and 7, Harvey Philip Alternative Charter School, Charter Recovery School, Waukesha Academy of Health Professions, Waukesha Engineering Preparatory Academy, and iQ Academy Wisconsin.

Or if you count the charter schools, she is short one. (Then again, does anyone really consider charter schools to be real schools?) Either way, it's rather scary that she is in charge of educating children when her math skills are as poor as Walker's. Maybe that's why she thinks that his slashing funding to her district was a good thing.

But that's just the beginning of the gaffes, folks.

Walker then comes on screen as says this:

“I’m committed to working together, to create more jobs, to improve our schools, and to protect our seniors. You know, Wisconsin’s best days are yet to come. It won’t happen overnight, but we are on our way.”

By creating jobs, he means, of course, chasing them out of the state by the hundreds.

And the DPI, in their annual survey, show that by improving schools, he means making sure the kids get less and less of education with less teachers, less schools and less programs.

And Walker feels that the best way to protect seniors is to cut their health care and deny them Family Care services.  And if the senior somehow manages to keep their health care coverage and/or get into Family Care, he'll make sure they don't make it to their medical appointments.

Can you believe he spent $300,000 of the Koch Brothers' money on this?  If this is the best he can do, this will be a cakewalk.

But Walker was correct on one thing.

Wisconsin's best days are yet to come.  And no, they will not happen overnight.  It will take 60 days just to get the recall signatures.

And yes, we are on our way...to recall this corrupt, inept bully and reclaim Wisconsin!

The Walker Budget Is Working Already! Part XXXVII

With less money in their pocket thanks to Scott Walker's budget, people eat at home and bag lunch it at work. It's cheaper than eating out.

As a result, there's "No soup for you!"

A popular Sheboygan-based soup takeout business that's been quickly expanding into neighboring counties has abruptly shut down.

The downtown Sheboygan Soup A Go-Go restaurant, which was approaching its one-year anniversary, closed for good Monday, as did locations in Manitowoc and Fond du Lac, according to the restaurant's website. A fourth location was slated to open later this month in Oshkosh but wasn't mentioned.

A message at soupago-go.com from husband-and-wife owners Mary and Topher Jacobson thanked customers for their support and said, "The bank has said, 'no soup for you,'" in reference to an oft-quoted "Seinfeld" episode.

The couple also owns the M.T. Wine Glass and Grotto restaurant in Sheboygan — where the soup sold at all Soup A Go-Go locations is made — though the website for the Grotto gave no indication as to whether or not it was closing too.

The Grotto was closed Tuesday night, when it's normally open, and the Jacobsons could not be reached for comment. The restaurant is only open during the evening.

Needless to say, all the people that worked at these eateries, including the owners, are now without income and so will be scrimping to save what money they have and thus will be spending less. This in turn will hurt other businesses and other workers and so the cycle will continue until we put a stop to it by replacing the broken part - Scott Walker.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XXXVI

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until Scott Walker is gone, but when you cut workers' salaries, they obviously have less to spend.  And when the workers have less to spend, it's the businesses that count on their spending that suffers.

Sadly, not even former Packer players are immune to Walker's avarice:

Former Green Bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler compares closing his Ford dealership to losing the Super Bowl.

"The two saddest days in my life were the day we didn't win the Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos and the day I closed my dealership," Butler said. "No question, this is as sad as losing the Super Bowl. I'm heartbroken for my employees. That's tearing me apart."

LeRoy Butler Ford's last day in business was Thursday. The dealership at 1620 Royalton St. had 15 employees.

Now that's about as anti-Wisconsin as you can get. He's got to go.

Recall starts November 15.

Be ready, Walker. We're coming!

Three Must Read Koch Stories

It's always wise to know your enemy:

Koch Brothers to launch vast database for 2012

Koch Brothers poised to raise influence with conservative database

And just more confirmation of what I've been telling you all along:

Koch Brothers funding right wing "news agencies" through Franklin Center

Milwaukee County To Get An Emergency Financial Manager

But they call it a comptroller instead.

Recall them all and the ones that can't be recalled need to be voted out.

Mountains Out Of Molehills And Molehills Out Of Mountains

Charlie Sykes touts another "breaking story" from the crack reporters propagandists at Media Trackers and at the MacGuyver Institute.  This time the story has to deal with some knucklehead who made a stupid off-the-cuff comment on Facebook about killing Scott Walker.

Keep in mind that there is no specific plan on how the alleged assassin-wannabe would go about the deed, strengthening the point that it was more of a vent than an actual threat.

Now compare that to the story at Mother Jones, where a group of thugs have actual plans on how they are going to try to tamper the recall effort by committing fraud in misrepresenting themselves and then destroying the ballots they have signed.

So how serious is this threat?  The article explains:

Michael Maistelman, a Wisconsin attorney and election law expert who reviewed screenshots of the comments, says the postings could raise serious legal issues if the plan is to tamper with official recall petitions. "If a person fraudulently solicits recall petitions and then destroys those petitions, they will probably go to jail," Maistelman says. "The law is very clear on this."

[UDPATE]: Reid Magney, a spokesman from Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board, says destroying or defacing an official recall petition would violate state law. (Here's the relevant statute.) Such a violation, he adds, would be a class I felony in Wisconsin, which carries a maximum fine of $10,000 and up to three-and-a-half years in jail.

Somehow, I don't think it pays to wait for Media Trackers or MacGuyver to cover this story. They simply don't deal with reality.

Cross posted at Whallah!

Two More Marks Of Shame For Walker Regime

Alleged sexual harassment and related cover up.

And that wouldn't be the first time that's happened in a Walker administration.