More Thuggery From Walker Supporters

Yesterday, I reported about the Waukesha man who decided to go stalking and harassing petition canvassers from the comforts of his own home.

Now there's another report of a Stoughton man, Earl A. Gluth, who thought he'd try to intimidate some canvassers in Madison.  He went to where the canvassers were peacefully getting signatures and decided to take pictures not only of the people, but their license plates, so he could find out where they lived.

There is no reason for Gluth to know where they live unless he met to either go there and do some misdeed himself or to publicize their addresses for others to harass these people or even worse.

If Scott Walker is doing such a great job, why do his supporters feel the need to take things beyond legal behaviors?

And why hasn't Scott Walker condemned these behaviors and called for them to knock it off? Does he support this kind of thuggery?

Based on my personal experiences with his crew, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he did.  Walker and his supporters are acting like nothing more than a bunch of cowardly bullies.

A Guide To All Things Recall - Milwaukee Style

If you're in the Milwaukee area and want to help with recalling Scott Walker, here is the website to go to, whether you want to help collect signatures, drop off some that you've already gathered or do some phone banking.  (I'd bet they'd appreciate anyone dropping off Christmas cookies as well!)

Corporate Fitzwalkerstan In Action!

An astute reader sent me an email with a link to this news story, which is reporting that Wisconsin Public Service Corp (WPSC) sent out lay off notices to some of its workers:

Wisconsin Public Service Corp. could lay off up to 74 workers at its Rothschild and Green Bay power plants a year from now because of increasing regulatory costs, the utility said Friday.

The utility is looking at ways to cut expenses tied to environmental regulations associated with running old, inefficient, coal-fired power plants, WPSC spokesman Kerry Spees said. It's possible no workers will be laid off, he said.

"It's not a specific regulation, but as plants get older, they're more expensive to modify to meet whatever changes there are," Spees said.

Of the 74 employees, 16 work at the Rothschild plant, Spees said. The plant currently employs 186 workers.

WPSC is required to give workers from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 310 a 12-month notice of possible layoffs as part of a collective bargaining agreement.

The workers who could be affected run some of the older, less-efficient units, he said. The workers make family-supporting wages, though Spees declined to provide a salary range.

So what we have so far is that the power company is threatening to lay off 74 workers for an unidentified regulation which might or might not happen, all because they are using some ancient power plants that they don't want to have to fix up.

So instead of spending any money and being responsible corporate citizens, they decided to gear up the fear machine by threatening "family-supporting" jobs, but won't verify that they are indeed family-supporting.

They got the desired reaction out of the union, which turned around and asked the EPA to delay these unidentified regulations to give the company time to comply with the mystery regulations.

Of course, this fits in nicely with Scott Walker's talking point about how "excessive" regulations is hampering the creation of the 250,000 jobs he promised but admits he can't deliver on.

Friendly members of Walker's
Economic Development Commission

To help promote this inane talking point, WPSC is a "silver corporate sponsor" of Walker's privatized economic development scam.  This is significant not only because they will be able to influence the state's environmental regulations but also towards other areas they would be interested in, like the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, which oversees the rates that WPSC can set.  In what I'm sure is just a simple coincidence, WPSC also had requested to raise electrical rates by 3.5%.

So now they are basically saying that they want no new regulations and a pay increase or the workers get it. Sounds like something you would expect to see in a movie about the mafia.  Except that in this case, not only are the gangsters holding up the people and calling the shots, they also are paying off the cops who basically go along with all the demands at the expense of the people being robbed.

It would not be hard to imagine, especially in the spiraling economy Walker has given us, that the folks at WPSC might be hard up and so are forced to take such drastic action.  But it would be still only imagination.

Integrys, the parent company of WPSC (as if they weren't big enough already), posted a $35 million dollar profit...in just three months time.  But we are supposed to believe they don't have enough money to fix up or replace their dilapidated power plants and so they want the people to pay for it both with their money and their health.

We didn't elect a new governor or legislature last year after all.  We were the victims of a racketeering bunch of corporate gangsters.

Which all leads to a pointed question or two: Have you signed a recall petition? And if not, what the hell are you waiting for, Christmas?

What Did Liberals Do That Was So Offensive To The Republican Party?

Just sayin'.

Star Peace

For a break with a lot of humor, the talented George Takei warns us of a great threat:



Classic!

RecallFitz Is Calling For Volunteers

Hey, good people of #wiunion and #wirecall-

I received word from Lori Compas, the person leading the movement to recall Scott Fitzgerald.

She told me that they are looking to make a big push on the recall effort of Fitzie, which has not been getting the attention it deserves.

Lori is asking for 30 volunteers a day for 30 days to make sure they make this a sure deal.

If you can at all help, you can more information and sign on to help at the RecallFitz website.

Was Stalker Inspired By Media Trackkkers?

A few weeks ago, Media Trackkkers put out one of their propaganda hit pieces in which they tried to scare people from signing recall petitions, claiming that there was no protection for the people that signed it. They later had to admit that the recall petitions would become public record when they were filed, which negated their scare tactic.

Now, just a few days ago, it appears a deranged man might have been inspired by their suggestion:

A Dane County resident named Michelle, who asked that her identity be kept private because Stoll had already obtained some of her personal information, characterized a call she received from him Nov. 25 as harassing.

“It’s 10:30 at night and there’s apparently somebody who knows where you live. It’s just a very unnerving and frightening feeling.”

Michelle said Stoll was a stranger to her, refused to identify himself and challenged her to defend her decision to sign a recall petition.

“When this person seemed to be getting a little bit hostile, I ended the phone call and immediately contacted the authorities.”

Stoll told 27 News he used video from a 27 News story on the recall effort to get identifying information on people who signed petitions. The story was ninety seconds in length and included less than ten seconds of names, numbers and signatures on recall petitions, but that videotape was in motion and not highlighted.

Another Dane County resident, who also requested anonymity, said Stoll called her home three times shortly after the 27 News broadcast. The resident said she refused to answer Stoll’s final call, but an answering machine recorded it.

“You can’t even defend your position, now you won’t answer the phone,” the caller said in the recorded message reviewed by 27 News.

“You’ve signed a petition, where they put your name and number up on TV and you’re behaving like a (expletive) coward.”

Now, there is nothing to indicate a causal relationship between the Media Trackkker's false report and the stalker's action, but one must admit, the coincidence is rather eerie.

And with all the video camera and phone cams that the RWNJs are using to try to intimidate petition canvassers, it makes one wonder what they are up to.

Scott Walker's Magic Card Trick

Leading up to and during the beginning of the recall of Scott Walker, Walker and his supporters would parrot the same meme, which was basically that he wished the recall organizers would have waited longer because he thought people would have a different mindset once they received their taxes in December ans saw that they stayed the same or went down, while the schools were just as good or better than before.  (They carefully steered away from other services, like BadgerCare, which even they couldn't spin in a positive way for them.)

This was Walker's ace up his sleeve - or so he thought.

We already know that the schools systems have suffered greatly - regardless of how hard they try to spin things - losing 3,400 educators, growing class sizes and diminished programming.

Well, it's December and the property tax bills our hitting our mailboxes. And, for once, Walker might be right.  People's mindsets will probably be changing.  But not the way he was hoping.

We received our tax bill for the castle on Saturday.  I opened it eagerly, anxious to see the big savings that Walker promised us.

I'm glad I didn't hold my breath for it.

Overall, our property tax went up 4.5%, the highest I can remember it jumping in one year.

And the breakdown of it is even more appalling.

Even though Walker and his Republican allies have thoroughly screwed over the state workers, taking thousands of dollars out of each worker's check, the state portion of the tax bill went up 4.4%.

And as for Walker's "tools," the county portion of the tax bill went up a whopping 9%.  And keep in mind that this Waupaca County, one of the more conservative counties in the state.  Apparently, Walker's "tools" are as broken as his moral compass is.

And remember how Walker slashed funding to the technical schools, even though business leaders are loudly complaining of the dearth of trained workers? Well, the Fox Valley VTAE portion of the bill went up as well, by 5.1%

Walker might have thought he had an ace up his sleeve, but when he played it, it turned out to be a joker with his face on it.  I can't wait to go up north again. I bet it will be a lot easier to find signers there now.

Better (Without You)

A new video produced by Michael Matheson and performed by Silk & Olive:



Solidarity!

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XLIV

And the hits just keep on coming:

Trane Co. plans to lay off about 100 workers this month, though labor analysts say the regional manufacturing sector is stronger now that it was a year ago.

The company will let go 48 hourly production workers Dec.12 and 50 more Dec. 19.

Merry Christmas!

OK, OK, to be honest, this batch might not be Walker's fault.

But this isn't the first time they've laid off people either:

Coupled with 87 layoffs in April, Trane will have laid off at least 185 workers by the end of this year.

Christmas is going to stink for a lot of people this year.

I wonder if Scott Walker will use the holiday break to jet off to Cali to visit his buddy, David Koch, so he doesn't have to be bothered with us.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XLIII Version 2

Yesterday, I told you about the closing of a paper mill in Wausau, which will lead to 450 people losing their jobs.  Now there is an analysis of the impact of the mill closing and it's not pretty:

The shutdown of Wausau Paper's Brokaw facility could kill 650 local jobs indirectly, in addition to the 450 positions that will be eliminated at the mill.

That estimate is based on an economic impact analysis of the mill's closure, which is expected to hurt a range of central Wisconsin businesses, from grocers to truckers.

Mosinee-based Wausau Paper plans to close the Brokaw mill by March 31. The company announced Wednesday it is selling several paper brands produced at the mill to Neenah Paper, which chose not to buy the factory itself.

The loss of those jobs will drain roughly $27 million from central Wisconsin's economy every year and could spark the additional 650 layoffs in industries that depend upon the mill and its employees to spend money, according to the economic impact report from Marathon County Development Corp., or MCDEVCO.

This is going to be devastating to the community.

And as I have pointed out before, this is on top of the money Scott Walker has already taken out of the economy when he took money away from workers to give to his rich campaign donors and cronies. His attack on the working families of Wisconsin has to be stopped!

If you haven't signed a recall petition yet, what the heck are you waiting for?

Which Scott Walker Will You Believe?

Even before the recall started, Scott Walker and his allies have been in high defense status, trying to take the offense against the juggernaut known as the people of Wisconsin.

The Koch Brother front groups MacIver Institute and Americans for Prosperity have joined together to create a pitiful webpage and laughable TV Commercial to say how Walker's union busting is "working" and is supposed to have made Wisconsin all better.

Since then, Team Walker has run three ads in his defense.  The first involved a Waukesha School Board member who violated her own school district's policy by doing the commercial in the first place, and then didn't even know how may schools were in her district.  The second ad was a charter school teacher who's claim to fame was to attend and cheer at a white supremacist rally.  The third starred another teacher who, according to his superintendent, doesn't know what the heck he's talking about.

All told, Walker and his allies have spent at least three million dollars on just the television ads.

And that doesn't include the campaign web page that Walker set up on the state's web site, using taxpayers' dollars.

The gist of all of the ads, whether directly from Team Walker or from one of his supporters, is that Walker's union busting and attack on working families worked to save people lots of money.

With Walker willing to spend so much money saying he save the state from imminent disaster, surely it's got to be true, right? Would Walker lie to us?

Well, one person who would call Walker a liar is Scott Walker.

Remember last April, when Walker appeared, under oath, in front of a congressional panel and Representative Dennis Kucinich not only took away Walker's sammiches, but ate them in front of him by grilling Walker and getting him to admit, again, under oath, that the union busting bill didn't save any money:



So which Walker are you going to believe? The one that is fighting to preserve his political career and has been found to be lying time and time again or the Walker that was force to tell the truth for once in his life?

After you realize that you cannot trust Walker and that he needs to be removed from office before he can do anymore damage, go to the nearest Recall Walker office and sign the petitions to recall him and his willing accomplice, Rebecca Kleefisch.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XLIII

As Scott Walker continues to undermine any economic recovery, the companies that have been struggling are starting to succumb, even the big ones(emphasis mine):

Wausau Paper early next year will close the historic Brokaw mill, where the company began more than 100 years ago, a move that will put hundreds of employees out of work.

The Mosinee-based papermaking company announced Wednesday that it will sell its premium print and color paper division -- located in Brokaw -- to Neenah Paper, which is buying paper brands but not the mill.

The decision, foreshadowed when Wausau Paper announced plans this fall to leave the printing- and writing-paper market, will eliminate jobs for 450 people by March 31, when the mill closes permanently, the company said.

Although the closure didn't come as a complete surprise to some residents, workers and industry officials, it likely will rattle the local economy, affecting not just the families who have relied upon the mill for years but also those communities where the workers shop and live.

This is the second time these other businesses will be taking a hit in just a few months. The first came when Walker took money away from the working men and women in order to benefit his campaign donors and cronies. Without that money, worth several thousands of dollars for each worker, it will be harder and harder for the businesses to stay in business when no one can afford to patronize them.

But again, the is something we've known all along.

And that is why we are recalling him and Becky Kleefisch from office.  It's for the good of the state.

Solidarity Rally This Saturday In Manitowoc

From the inbox:

Scott Walker’s anti-worker agenda seeps into private sector

Saturday rally in Manitowoc to send message: “An injury to one is an injury to all”

When Scott Walker attacked Wisconsin’s public employees, there was little question that his regressive policies would quickly bleed into the private sector. Now, a major Wisconsin manufacturer has taken a page directly from Walker’s playbook and attempted to silence the voice of its workers.

Stand with Manitowoc Crane workers this Saturday, and send a message that an injury to one is an injury to all!

Solidarity Rally for Machinists on strike at Manitowoc Cranes
Municipal Baseball Field, 2200 Grand Ave., Manitowoc
1:00 p.m., Saturday, December 10
Click here for more information and to RSVP

Manitowoc Crane has reversed course on over 60 years of a productive labor/management relationship by attempting to slip in contract language that would eliminate its workers’ voice on the job.

The language is the private sector equivalent to what Walker pushed in Act 10—requiring costly “recertification” votes of the union every year, and financially strangling the union by creating an “open shop” where employees can opt to enjoy the benefits of a union without ever paying dues.

On November 15, Manitowoc Crane workers voted 180-2 to reject this attack on their rights, and courageously went on strike.

All workers—public and private sector alike—deserve a voice in the workplace. By nearly unanimously voting down a contract intended to silence their voice, the workers of Manitowoc Crane have taken a bold stand not just for themselves, but for all working people in Wisconsin.

We knew that private sector employers would be emboldened by Walker’s attacks on workers’ rights. This Saturday, stand up for our Wisconsin by standing in solidarity with the workers at Manitowoc Crane.

Pot Demands Kettle To Apologize

This is worth a giggle:

“At best the wording of his letter was cumbersome and sloppy. At worst it was written with the purposeful intent to lead the readers of the letter (including journalists and the general public) into believing that Mr. Osmulski consulted and coordinated with Mr. Sikma and then provided the DA with the name of Media Trackers’ source.

“We can see how the wording of the Landgraf letter could lead some to question the vigor and professionalism of the entire investigation conducted by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.

“We are calling on Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf to issue a clarification forthwith and respectfully request that media outlets who reported incorrect information based on Landgraf’s letter issue a correction.”

Aw, that's OK MacGuyver - I'm still waiting for my correction as well.

Also see, Illy-T's take.