Union-Busting Payback in Wisconsin

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From Bloomberg:

Union-Busting Payback Comes Four Years Early:

Margaret Carlson
April 06, 2011, 7:07 PM EDT

The sweet hereafter made an early appearance in Wisconsin on Tuesday. A Democrat, Chris Abele, cruised to victory in the race to fill Walker?s former post, Milwaukee County executive. And state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, part of a 4-3 conservative majority seen as likely to support Walker?s assault on unions, ended up in a too-close-to-call election that may result in a recount. Just six weeks ago, Prosser was expected to coast to victory over JoAnne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general. Only five incumbent Supreme Court judges have been defeated since 1852.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...-comes-four-years-early-margaret-carlson.html

 

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An excellent article from the Appleton Post-Crescent...

An excellent article from the Appleton Post-Crescent...

Tom Clementi column:

All workers have benefited from unions

I?m reminded of my grandfather?s warning about taking things for granted. He arrived in America at age 13 and went to work in a Milwaukee factory, six days a week, maybe 15 cents per hour. No vacations. No overtime pay. Not much in terms of workplace safety. No fringe benefits.

That was 1912, and we?ve come a long way since. But exactly how did we get here? Those improvements in workers? lives didn?t just happen. They were part of a long, arduous struggle that began in the 1870s with that word ? ?union? ? that factory owners and other businessmen so strongly opposed. Union organizers were called un-American socialists and anarchists.

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20110407/APC06/110407012/Tom-Clementi-column-All-workers-benefited-from-unions?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

The bolded statement sounds a lot like today, doesn't it?

 

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Once again, the Waukesha County Clerk's office rears its ugly head. Widely recognized as the most inept and possibly corrupt County Clerks's office in the State, a story broke yesterday reporting that the Waukesha County Clerk "forgot to hit save" while counting votes and the "discovery" of these uncounted votes conveniently resulted in another 7500 votes for Prosser.

The Waukesha County Clerk says she "forgot to hit save"... :142smilie

I suspect this thing's gonna get ugly before it's over. The outcome of this race will likely determine whether Scott Walker's so-called budget reforms, particularly the stripping of collective bargaining rights, are overturned.

 

[yyz]

Prosser will win out in the end, but he was supposed to be a landslide runaway. "The Bitch", never stood a chance.

Randy Hopper's recall papers went to Madison yesterday with 8,000 more sigs than needed.

The Republicans seriously underesitimated the threat that Walker created for their party with all of this collective bargaining bullshit.

 

[Mags]

Actually, I think these events are a very positive sign for the GOP in WI.

I doubt that you'll find an election where the liberal/union side is as energized as they were for the Prosser election. And, certainly, the Repubs did not have the same level of enthusiasm.

Yet the Republicans (Prosser) won, albeit a close victory. In 2012, Obama's election will be very interesting. He may not win WI - and if he doesn't win here, it makes re-election that much more difficult.

It is certainly clear that there is a large, at least equal, if not larger than equal, group of people that back Walker. If the Libs/Dane County couldn't win THIS election, when all the momentum was in their favor, what chance do they really have?

Don't be fooled about what you saw at the Capitol and the protests. Yes, those folks were very loud, committed to their cause, and demonstrative. They were also supplemented by a large number of college students. BUT, Dane county is in no way reflective of the rest of the state. It is its own little weird republic - much more San Francisco like that WI like (and that ain't a good thing) - think Nancy Pelosi.

Recall elections - I think the Dems will likely be able to flip 1, maybe 2 Republican seats to Dems in the recalls. But I also think that 1-2 Dems will get flipped to Republican since the Dem Senators fled the state and ignored their responsibility. At best, there will be a net 1 pickup for the Dems. Remember, Dane county won't be able to go vote in those recall efforts. It will be much tougher in those elections.