Buck,
Their contract does not allow them to call in sick?
Wisconsin law prohibits state employees from striking. Enough of them
called in 'sick' to force a work stoppage: schools closed, public
services dropped and the march on the capital building - combined with
the senators leaving for Illinois caused the legislature to shut down.
Civil disobedience is fine - and may well prove effective - they have
every right to do what they are doing. But their employers also have
every right to dock their pay and fine them for participating in an
illegal and wildcat strike action.
Governor Walker isn't talking about dissolving ALL of the state's
contracted debt. Only the contracts of his political enemies.
Why do you say that? the PSU changes are not the only things in this
bill or the rest of his legislative agenda. Are you speaking of his
sparing police and fire unions from the changes? They aren't his
political allies - they overwhelmingly supported his opponent. The
only two major unions that didn't support Barrett were the Milwaukee
city Police and Fire unions. Do you know why they supported Walker?
Because Barrett is mayor of Milwaukee and he long ago lost their
confidence. They worked with the man and couldn't support him.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/feb/21/donna-brazile/donna-brazile-says-unions-supported-scott-walker-a/
he's not talking about making ALL of the state share the burden of
making up of the prior years of unsound fiscal policy - he's cut taxes
for the wealthy.
The biggest tax break was for companies that relocate to Wisconsin -
no corporate taxes for two years if they bring jobs there. In other
words, not really a tax cut for current WI companies, and revenue they
wouldn't see anyway without the break.
There were also breaks for medium sized business - I suppose those
were "the wealthy" you refer to - but they are rather small 'per job
created' breaks that will be more than made up for in business growth.
This 'budget fix' bill, rammed through the legislature that caused all
this fuss, is not unlike the $1B tax hike bill on 'the wealthy' his
predecessor rammed through in 2009. Introduced, not debated and voted
on - in less than 24 hours. The republican minority didn't leave the
state then.
http://politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/23/scott-walker/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-says-democratic-senator/
He's not taking calls from his political enemies,
but he'll talk to David Koch http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045
A politician takes a call from a rich donor? I'm shocked! shocked I tell you!
Please, name me one single politician who wouldn't take that call?
Just one. AFL-CIO and SEIU have season passes to the White House and
Obama doesn't even talk to his own cabinet.
The governor can't balance the state budget on the backs of the public
unions, but that's a smoke screen.
Not by itself. But he's not blaming the deficit solely on public
service unions either, so that's a smoke screen too.
He isn't interested in balancing the budget any more than Mugabe was interested
in caring for the people of Zimbabwe. He's talking about taking the money the state
legally owes its employees and redistributing it to those who don't
have to work for a living.
All Walker cares about is rewarding his special friends - those who
will keep him in power. It's raw politics.
I dislike challenging you on issues you feel this strongly about - I
am sure you will reply with lots of documentation to back your claims,
but I have to ask - are you perhaps seeing this issue through the
prism of your strong union loyalties, prodded by the strong (and yes,
sometimes over the top) opinions of those you are replying to?
Yes, Walker is not and never has been a fan of unions, and this was
not a deep dark secret until last week. He won the election, his
party took both houses of the legislature and he's doing what he said
he would do when he was running.
Yes, he is trying to weaken the PSUs. Yes, he is playing hardball.
But your evidence that everything he's doing is nothing more than an
effort to enriching his pals is pretty thin gruel.
