Read the linked story in conjunction with the following comments and answer the question: Are the Dems blowing it?

Just a couple days ago a story surfaced about Wis. Dems ticked off at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for failing to provide $500,000 in funds for the recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker.

Now...this poll. 

For weeks, Scott Walker has been running all over the country raising millions of dollars from billionaire benefectors who now have the blessing of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision to contribute unlimited funds to political campaigns, and even anonymously if done through PACs.  With some $25 million collected, according to one report, Walker's been able to blanket the airwaves with little response from Democrats. 

Walker has something like 10-20 times more funds than Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who emerged as the successful Democratic nominee in the May primary.

As for organized labor, some of the larger union expended substantial energy and money promoting Barrett's leading challenger in the primary, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.  Those unions came out early for Falk before knowing who all the other candidates would be, which has been a bone of contenton among some union members. 

According the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, union PACs spent $4 million supporting Falk. Now Barret's campaign is hurting for cash... and Walker is running rampant...and the DNC is sitting on its money.

What's going on?  Join the discussion below...

There are no plans to force a right-to-work bill through the state Legislature, Republican leaders said Friday, a day after a video was released that showed Gov. Scott Walker discussing his strategy for weakening unions.

Wis. GOP Gov. Scott Walker has been riding high with about $25 million collected (mostly from out of state) to fend off his recall.  For weeks he had the luxury of blanketing the state with TV ads that have gone pretty much unchallenged.  But now that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has won the Democratic primary, the race is on.  He came out swinging in his May 8 primary election speech, and he's calling Walker out on everything from union busting to job losses.  

The smackdown was just the beginning of what's shaping up to be a really bad time for our Imperial Walker, which could culminate in his Total Recall on June 5.  MSNBC's Ed Schultz will be broadcasting live from Madison on election night.  Watch this breathtaking example of democracy in action.

In the News...............................

 Wisconsin turns against Scott Walker

In the new Marquette University Law School Poll, disapproval of the governor’s performance had moved up to 51 percent. Indeed, his approval rating has now declined to 47 percent, the lowest point so far this year. And one of the prospective Democratic challengers, Tom Barrett, has now moved ahead of Walker in head-to-head matchups run by the Marquette pollsters.

In film, Walker talks of 'divide and conquer' union strategy

"Any chance we'll ever get to be a completely red state and work on these unions -"

"Oh, yeah," Walker broke in.

"- and become a right-to-work?" Hendricks continued. "What can we do to help you?"

"Well, we're going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill," Walker said. "The first step is we're going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer."  

Scott Walker Using $100 Million Of Taxpayer Money To Fight Off Recall?

In the effort to move withering public opinion in his direction, the Governor has embarked on a campaign strategy highly dependent upon finding someone else to blame for the poor economic performance of his state. In the process, Walker has resorted to committing a huge amount of taxpayer money to aid in his political survival, while mounting a campaign that—to anyone paying attention—only serves to highlight his own failures over the past decade.

 Walker's War Against Workers Spreads to the Private Sector

The machinists' St. Peters sees the anti-union campaign of Walker infiltrating the private sector. "It's definitely a playbook that's going on in Wiscon

sin right now," he said. "They have a new playbook and they're ready to use it.

"Scott Walker used some of the same rhetoric against unions and for 'free choice' that you're hearing now from company negotiators," said St. Peters.

Hard-hitting new spot highlights Walkergate scandal

The ad highlights the widening scope of the investigation and Walker's role in personally  hiring two of the key figures.

Before Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), who is facing a recall election, introduced legislation to strip some public employees of collective bargaining rights, he promised a billionaire donor that he would use a “divide and conquer” strategy to bust unions, a newly released video reveals.

Madison - A filmmaker released a video Thursday that shows Gov. Scott Walker saying he would use "divide and conquer" as a strategy against unions.

Walker made the comments to Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, who has since given $510,000 to the governor's campaign - making her Walker's single-largest donor and the largest known donor to a candidate in state history.

The filmmaker has done work on Democratic campaigns and gave $100 in 2010 to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Walker's challenger in the June 5 recall election.

In the video shot on Jan. 18, 2011 - shortly before Walker's controversial budget-repair bill was introduced and spawned mass protests - Hendricks asked the governor whether he could make Wisconsin a "completely red state, and work on these unions, and become a right-to-work" state. The Republican donor was referring to right-to-work laws, which prohibit private-sector unions from compelling workers to pay union dues if the workers choose not to belong to the union.

Most Americans would agree that the only thing worse than a pathological liar is a thief, and although thieves lie to avoid prosecution and the possibility of conviction, only criminals like embezzlers and swindlers use lies to commit a theft.

Driving west from Madison, through the small towns and dairy farm country of western Wisconsin, it quickly becomes clear that the Wisconsin recall election is a statewide phenomenon.

A top political appointee at the state Department of Natural Resources chose not to send a complaint against an Oconomowoc waste hauler to the Department of Justice for prosecution despite findings by agency staff that the company was treating fields with so much human waste from septic tanks it risked poisoning nearby wells, DNR records show.

Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker has received at least $1.3 million in recall campaign contributions from donors who attended secretive right-wing fundraisers organized by Charles and David Koch, a Center for Media and Democracy analysis shows. 

As if a successful recall of Scott Walker was not enough reason to celebrate, there could be an added bonus.  To hear Jenny Beth Martin, of the Tea Party Patriots tell it if Wisconsites succeed in the recall effort it would mean the end of her liberty loving organization. 

Some of the most dangerous words in politics today are, “I’m a businessman, and I’m here to help.”I don’t have to introduce you to “businessman” and “business friendly” Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin; his reputation precedes him. 

An appeals court ruled Thursday that Wisconsin’s voter ID law would remained blocked during the state’s upcoming recall elections, according to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

There is a sign that has begun to be seen around Wisconsin. It reads: “My governor has a criminal defense fund.” It is not displayed with pride.

Politifact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning arbiter of truth in politics, has examined the statements of eight governors, including Walker, who were elected in 2010...

Of the 44 Walker statements Politifact analyzed, almost two of every three Walker statements were rated Pants-on-Fire False, False or Mostly False. Only six were rated True.

Walker was untruthful much more frequently than the other swing-state conservative governors Politifact examined. Rick Scott of Florida and John Kasich of Ohio made false statements 33 percent to 35 percent of the time, respectively...

Looking at pure numbers, Walker is by far the biggest falsifier among the eight governors, with 29 untrue statements, four of which were Pants-on-Fire False.

Cartoon by Mike Konopacki of Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

Wisconsin lost 23,900 jobs between March 2011 and March 2012, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also lost more private-sector jobs than any other state.

It seems that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) might have been overreaching when he promised to create 250,000 new jobs in his first term.

Yes, it's the first ad against Walker of the recall campaign.

He's been blanketing the state with ads paid for by a lot of out of state money.  Now the shoe is on the other foot. 

Read the CNN story, linked, and check out the ad on You Tube: 

Video: Scott Walker's Wisconsin, dead last in job creation

With the prices of gas, milk, cereal and other things continually increasing, but my take-home pay continually decreasing, I simply do not have any money to contribute to your campaign coffers. However, I did notice that according to the 2011-2013 Compensation Plan, the Office of Governor received a pay increase. Please consider the portion of my state income tax that was applied to your pay increase as my contribution to your re-election effort.

“I think when we win, it will not only reaffirm what we did. It will send a powerful message to every politician…in our state and even in our city governments who are trying to take on the tough issues and do the right thing,” Walker said [at a fundraiser in Chicago on Friday]. “It will send a powerful, powerful message that you can stick your neck out, you can make the tough choices and there will be voters helping you along the way.”

With several dozen union members demonstrating on a sidewalk outside, Walker touted the creation of 15,600 private sector jobs in the first three months of the year and the lowering of Wisconsin’s unemployment rate to 6.8 percent from 6.9 percent a month earlier.

Still, March saw a decline of 4,300 private-sector jobs in the state after two months of job growth. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday the largest year-over-year percentage decrease in employment in the nation occurred in Wisconsin. Walker had promised 250,000 new jobs in his first term.

Tennessee enacted a law this month intended to protect teachers who question the theory of evolution. Arizona moved to ban nearly all abortions after 20 weeks, and Mississippi imposed regulations that could close the state’s only abortion clinic. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin signed a law allowing the state’s public schools to teach about abstinence instead of contraception.

As Gov. Scott Walker tours the nation touting Wisconsin’s embrace of legislation backed by the American Legislative Exchange Council – including voter ID and the castle doctrine – some of the nation’s best-known companies are cutting ties with the conservative group.

As I've noted before, Republicans had a great deal of fun back in early 2011 taunting Illinois for (surprisingly) electing a Democratic governor, Pat Quinn. The theory was that Quinn's tax increases, designed to close a huge budget gap, would lead to a business exodus to Gov. Scott Walker's Wisconsin conservative utopia.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker quietly reinstated a program to give merit raises and bonuses to some state workers even as he preached cost-cutting and pushed through a law reducing most public workers' pay and eliminating their union rights.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) released ads against his top two Democratic rivals in his recall election, blaming them for job losses that are much more likely the fault of his own policies and the national policies of his party before Barack Obama came to office. During his tenure, Wisconsin has the worst record of job creation of any state

Happy Equal Pay Day! The Republican war on women isn’t contained in the healthcare realm. They also have it out for women in the work place.

These numbers show a drop for Democrats from PPP's last survey of the race, which of course makes you ask, why? What's changed?

-David Nir

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker asked members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) for “help” and “support” in his upcoming recall election in a speech at the organization’s annual meeting on April 13, where he received an award for signing into law two controversial bills: Concealed Carry legislation, which allows people to be armed with concealed guns almost anywhere in the state, and what the NRA calls the Castle Doctrine, but what is more widely known as Stand Your Ground or Shoot First or Kill at Will bills.

Wisconsin state senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) wants women to know that the whole concept of wage discrimination is all in their heads. “It’s an underreported problem,” Grothman told The Daily Beast, “but a huge number of discrimination claims are baseless.  Most of them are filed by fired employees, and really today almost anybody is a protected class.”

Republicans, including Mitt Romney, have been lining up to say they think the Augusta National Golf Club should admit women. Just days ago, in the run-up to the Wisconsin presidential primary, Scott Walker was pretty much Romney's hero. Has the Etch-A-Sketch already shaken and wiped that one clean, or would the dividing line between discrimination against women that Romney supports and discrimination against women that he doesn't support fall somewhere between membership rules in Augusta and paychecks in Kenosha? Walker didn't make discrimination against women legal, after all. He just took away the legal recourse women who have been discriminated against previously had.

With little fanfare, union-busting Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) yesterday signed a repeal of Wisconsin’s equal pay act, which gave people who discover they’ve been discriminated against more time to file suit and the right to do so outside of federal courts.

Gov. Scott Walker has signed bills putting new restrictions on abortion, requiring sex education courses to promote marriage and barring those who are discriminated against at work from suing for punitive damages in state court.

Six fake Democrats running in upcoming recall primaries to push back the election date in Wisconsin are violating the law, according to an election attorney.

“Among the requirements for running as a candidate in a partisan primary, one is required to file with the [Government Accountability Board] a ‘Declaration of Candidacy,’ form GAB-162. That form specifically requires a candidate to state that their candidacy is ‘representing’ the political party for which the primary is to take place. This statement must be made under oath,” attorney Jeremy P. Levinson said in a memo (PDF) to We Are Wisconsin.

“Clearly, a candidate running in a Democratic primary for the purpose of disadvantaging that party and giving electoral advantage to the Republican Party and the Republican incumbent the Democrats seek to recall can do so only by falsifying his or her declaration of candidacy.”

Wisconsinites are more focused on the dramatic, highly divisive battle over Walker than the uninspiring race for the eventual (and all but certain) GOP Presidential nominee.

The Presidential campaigns recognize this, and so Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have gone out of their way to associate themselves with Walker.

The Romney campaign left phone messages for Madison voters "to invite you to join Mitt as he phone banks for Governor Scott Walker this Saturday, March 31, in Fitchburg"--a Madison suburb. The event will be held at 4:45 p.m. at Walker's "Madison Victory Center" suite 2003, 2980 Cahill Main in Fitchburg.

Wisconsin blogger and activist Blue Cheddar promptly put out a call on Facebook for Wisconsinites to attend the event with stuffed-animal dogs strapped to the roofs of their cars.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin said a memo released by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Monday was little more than a “tea party fantasy.” The memo argued that the upcoming recall elections in Wisconsin will actually help Republican’s in the state.

Scooter, you've been a VERY BAD BOY!...

Federal court strikes down parts of Act 10

"So long as the State of Wisconsin continues to afford ordinary certification and dues deductions to mandatory public safety unions with sweeping bargaining rights, there is no rational basis to deny those rights to voluntary general unions with severely restricted bargaining rights," wrote U.S. District Judge William M. Conley.

READ THE DECISION: http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/March12/0330/0330westerndistrictcourt.pdf

GAB sets historic recall elections; GOP to field fake Dems

State elections officials ordered a set of historic recall elections Friday, making Scott Walker the third governor in the nation to face a recall and Rebecca Kleefisch the first lieutenant governor to face one.

The Government Accountability Board, voting unanimously Friday, also set recall elections for four Republican state senators. One of those senators, Pam Galloway of Wausau, resigned earlier this month, but the recall election will be held anyway. One or more Republicans can run in her place.

"This is the recourse available to the people of Wisconsin when their public officials act in such an egregious fashion," said Mike Tate, chairman of the state Democratic Party.

Within hours, the state Republican Party said it would run fake Democrats in all the races, ensuring there will be primaries.

John Doe documents target additional Walker aides

Newly released documents show the court involved in an ongoing John Doe probe into Gov. Scott Walker’s tenure as Milwaukee County executive subpoenaed the public files of multiple employees and also contain online chat transcripts where employees discussed future career aspirations in Walker’s administration.

According to the court documents, on Aug. 15, 2011, the court involved with the John Doe proceedings issued subpoenas for the personnel files of seven employees, including Walker’s former spokesperson, Fran McLaughlin.

Scott Walker Blues by Bonobo Secret Handshake

Millions of dollars are pouring into Wisconsin from wealthy conservatives nationwide, and labor unions are preparing to pump resources into the campaign of whichever Democrat faces off against Walker.

GOP Gov. Scott Walker had a really, really, REALLY bad week. The only way things could get worse for him is if:

1. He's actually convicted of the malfeasance he's being investigated for.

2. He's recalled.

3. The Koch brothers and other sugar daddies wise up, see they are backing a loser, and throw him under the bus.

The bad news started to trickle in a day or two before the news made the rounds in national media that Walker is forming a legal defense fund for the "John Doe" investigation into his administration as governor and Milwaukee County executive.  Some of us first heard about it at the March 8 world premiere of "We Are Wisconsin," a movie about our Cheesehead Rebellion.  Predictably the Orpheum Theatre filled up just after a candlelight vigil up the street at the Capitol ended.  It was sort of a pre-premiere. The movie isn't finished yet but is extremely powerful and moving--and highly anticipated.

Outside the theatre local activists were talking up the news about Walker's new defense fund, an admission that he knows he's in big trouble.  According to news reports here, a fund can only be established under three circumstances: when charges appear imminent, when charges have been made, and when a conviction occurs. 

The weekend was full of other events observing the one year anniversary of the passage of Walker's union busting bill.  There was a HUGE rally at Capitol Square, proving to the world that the movement to restore sanity and justice to Wisconsin has not abated one iota from the massive protests that captured world attention last year.

Despite their best efforts, Republicans failed to suppress completely the "Art of Protest" show, featuring works by local artists. GOP State Assemblyman Steve Nass pressured the University of Wisconsin School for Workers into pulling support for the show, but it went ahead anyway, thanks to Madison cartoonist Mike Konopacki and others.  Nass further embarassed himself and his party by filing a felony criminal complaint against Konopacki for using Nass's letterhead in a gag press release. 

KICKING ASS, TAKING NAMES

Walker and the GOP legislature got a major butt kicking from a Dane County circuit court judge who placed a permanent injunction on Wisconsin's new voter ID law, the most restrictive in the country. In a blistering decision, the judge lambasted Walker et al for violating the Wis. state constitution, which is emphatic in its protections of its citizens' right to vote. The decision is a lesson in civics and history.

Walker then lost an ally in the state senate, Pam Galloway, who, under threat of being recalled, announced her resignation. The shift would leave the senate evenly split, and the Walker agenda in limbo, though the senate had passed a number of measures that the assembly worked on in a contentious marathon session.

The Government Accountability Board ordered recall elections to go forward either May 8 or June 5--sooner than many expected.   May 8 could be used for primaries, in which case the actual recall elections will be held June 5.  Though the GAB is still checking signatures for the recall of Walker and his Lt. Gov., Rebecca Kleefisch, it approved recall petitions for four Republican state senators, including Galloway.

The senate recall everyone will be watching is the one for state senate leader Scott Fitzgerald, who, with his brother Jeff, the state assembly speaker, helped Walker ram through all kinds of repugnant legislation that has so many Wisconsinites up in arms. Most pundits thought the Fitagerald recall was impossible, but thanks to Lori Compas, who ran the recall operation out of her kitchen, petitioners gathered 4,000 more signatures in the senate district than needed.  Best news of all: Compas is running against him!

Another Walker ally is in hot water. The state Judicial Commission found that Republican state supreme court justice David Prosser violated ethics law by physically attacking justice Ann Walsh Bradley in an altercation over the Walker/GOP union busting bill.  It's not clear what discipline will result, but expulsion from the court is possible.  Prosser joins fellow Republican justices Michael Gableman and Annette Ziegler in coming under scrutiny for major ethics violations.

To cap it all off, the Department of Labor released jobs numbers for 2011 showing that Wisconsin lost the most jobs in the nation.  With major funding from wealthy out-of-state benefactors like the Koch brothers, Walker has been blanketing the state with campaign ads claiming his controversial actions were all done for the sake of "jobs."

Yeah. And the check's in the mail and the dog ate my homework.

---------------

Round the Web...

Walker sets up legal-defense fund

Tens of thousands rally against Gov. Walker at the Capitol

With recalls looming, Wis. GOP Rep quashes protest art show, files criminal complaint against political cartoonist

Under criminal complaint from angry Republican over gag press release, Madison cartoonist does it again

Judge rules voter ID law is unconstitutional; permanently bars implementation 

Read Judge Niess's permanent injunction against the state's voter ID law

State Sen. Galloway to resign, leaving Senate split

Judge Approves Recall Election Dates Of May 8, June 5‎ 

Lori Compas vs. Scott Fitzgerald: “The classic David and Goliath story”

Judicial Commission files complaint; Justice Prosser asserts his innocence

Complaint of Special Prosecutor: Wisconsin Judicial Commission v. Justice David Prosser (PDF)

Wisconsin Supreme Court out of step with national standards on recusal

‎The politics of Wisconsin's sluggish job growth

No matter the spin, Wisconsin worst in nation for job growth

On Friday, an intermediate Wisconsin appellate court denied a request made by WI Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (R), on behalf of Gov. Scott Walker's administration, to stay an order issued earlier this month by a Dane County Circuit Court that temporarily suspended the state GOP's polling place Photo ID law.

In Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker --- the first of two cases within the past two weeks to result in an injunction on the voting restrictions, known as "Act 23", enacted by a Republican-majority last year --- Judge David Flanagan temporarily enjoined [PDF] enforcement of the law on the grounds that it was in violation of the WI Constitution's guaranteed right to vote.

As of now, that injunction will still stand. In the bargain, local election officials are now seeking to comply with Judge Flanagan's order, so that Photo ID will not be required at the polls in the statewide April primary elections, upcoming recall elections scheduled for May and June, or for the 2012 general election this November.

Talk about mixed emotions. On January 17,  Wisconsin unions were celebrating the submission of 1.1 million signatures for Governor Scott Walker’s recall; the very next day they were bemoaning an unprecedented strike settlement at Manitowoc Company (MC) calling for voluntary union dues.  It’s no comfort that, with the recall looming, Walker has rejected so-called “right to work” legislation that would impose voluntary dues on all Wisconsin unions. The Manitowoc deal may be a harbinger of things to come.

The settlement ended a ten-week strike by the 200 members of International Association of Machinists Local 516  at MC’s crane manufacturing facility in Manitowoc, WI. The Local also has a separate collective bargaining agreement, expiring April 1, for 220 members working at MC’s food service division, which makes commercial kitchen and restaurant equipment. Other unions on the property include Boilermakers Local 443, Office & Professional Employees Local 9, and Electrical Workers Local 158, whose contract is up this month. Will these unions also be confronted with “voluntary dues” demands? More accurately, why wouldn’t they? And why wouldn’t other unions in the state or the country for that matter?

The employer’s got its spiel down, however transparent or absurd. In a full page ad published in Manitowoc’s Herald Times Reporter, MC claimed to speak for an unspecified number of anonymous IAM members who have certain “concerns” about paying dues. Fear not, MC says; its “Freedom of Choice” plan would liberate them from that arduous obligation while IAM would remain “the exclusive bargaining representative.” Consequently, “All employees would have the benefits and protections of the collective bargaining agreement” whether they pay dues or not.

Never mind that Machinists rejected the company’s “offer” 180-2 and went on strike over it. Never mind that MC imported scabs during the dispute and raised the specter of “permanent replacements.” Never mind that state and federal labor laws prohibit employer interference with the union and coercion of its members. Never mind that those same laws—as MC pointed out in its ad—give the IAM exclusive authority to bargain for all the workers in the unit. MC asserted an authority of its own to dictate the union’s relationship with its members and, ultimately, the union’s financial bottom line. Fox, meet chicken coop.

MC’s demands, which eliminate dues check-off and require an annual opt-out period for dues, are a slightly less onerous private sector version of Act 10, the controversial legislation Walker and GOP state legislators imposed early last year to defund and decertify public sector unions representing approximately 300,000 state, county, municipal and school district workers. In that instance, however, there was not so much as a phone call between Walker and the unions, not for the latter’s lack of trying.  Walker steadfastly refused to meet, let alone bargain, despite massive protests. Major pay cuts and other economic sacrifices are part of the new law, and most public unions have completely lost bargaining rights.

What saved the Machinists from the same fate is that they (and other private sector unions) are covered by federal labor laws that are still intact and under the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama. To emulate Walker-style union busting would require either (1) new so-called “right to work” laws like those Indiana recently enacted or (2) something less ambitious and less overtly controversial, e.g. contract demands for voluntary dues that would finish off unions one at a time.

IAM and its members admittedly were unprepared for what MC was about to do. They had enjoyed reasonably good labor relations without major incident for decades, and the company had weathered the recent recession well, earning millions in annual profits. Why, then, did MC embark on this path? To follow it requires a dizzying trip down the proverbial rabbit hole of Malice in Wonderland industrial relations.

MC president and CEO Glen Tellock serves on the board of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which hailed Walker and Act 10 for reforms that “diminish the strength and power of public employee unions in Wisconsin." Protesters have repeatedly targeted WMC precisely because of its anti-worker, pro-Walker activities. 

Walker, in turn, has strong ties to the Club for Growth, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and the Bradley Foundation, all of which promote antiunion legislation and get funding from the antiunion oil/energy billionaire Koch Brothers and other wealthy right-wingers. He’s now getting buckets of bucks from several similarly disposed and well-heeled out-of state benefactors to fend off his recall. As this is written, he’s in Washington, DC, at the Conservative Political Action Conference where his pitch included instructions on how to make contributions via text message (quite a feat for a guy who got punked in a phone call from a David Koch imposter).

Serving on MC’s board of directors is Roy V. Armes, president and CEO of Cooper Tire & Rubber in Findlay, Ohio. He presided over a  lock out of about 1,000 Steelworkers who rejected the company’s wage and other concession demands. MC board member Virgis Colbert is from MillerCoors, which has its own labor relations baggage, most recently in Milwaukee where it stalled contract talks with 500 Brewery Workers and then called out police over a peaceful labor protest. Like MC, Cooper and MillerCoors are profitable companies with handsome rewards for executives.

A pivotal player in direct negotiations sits on a lower rung of MC’s corporate ladder. Harry Wayne Bunch is not on the board, nor is he one of the senior management listed on the company’s web site, but Machinists know him well. He was MC’s main mouthpiece during IAM’s crane talks and is again now that the food service unit is in bargaining. 

Bunch is MC’s vice president of Global Labor Relations, a job he’s had for about two years. From 1995 to 2008 he was at Tenneco, a vast auto parts company headquartered in Illinois. He was VP of human resources when the 40 members of United Auto Workers Local 660 struck in 2004 over Tenneco’s demand to eliminate retiree health insurance; the company permanently replaced them. The union was finally busted by a Bush II NLRB ruling in April 2008.  

Between 1979 and 1995, Bunch was busy at International Paper in various HR capacities. He got promoted to manager of employee relations in 1987, right around the time the company locked out and replaced 13,000 workers in Alabama and was subsequently struck by thousands more in three other states, including Wisconsin, over concession demands and toxic working conditions. The most notorious battle was with the 1250 striking members of United Paperworkers Local 14 in Jay, Maine. Just like the Auto Workers under Bunch after them, they, too, were permanently replaced, their union decertified.

Also working on behalf of Manitowoc Company is the law firm of Buelow Vetter,  which—like Bunch—specializes in  “union avoidance,” decertification and such, a.k.a. union busting. Located in (where else?) the Republican enclave of Waukesha, the firm was formed in March 2010 by some lawyers from another law office who wanted to work in a “flexible business model,” according to firm president Robert Buikema. Business has been brisk.

The firm’s web site lists a host of services in the arena of labor law, mostly how to get around it. It has helpful hints in how to maintain a “union-free workplace,” including advising employers on “what they can lawfully do to prevail when an election occurs.” How else can this be interpreted but busting a union after it’s been certified? They also have services for “public sector labor relations” and “strikes & picketing.” MC has recently taken steps to discipline at least one striking IAM member for activities while he was off both the company payroll and the company property.

Whatever the relationships on the bosses’ side of the bargaining table—and just from what pops up on Google, they are complex and formidable—one thing is abundantly clear: The unions at Manitowoc Company and everywhere else in the known universe had better hope for the best but prepare for the worst as employers, private and public, will undoubtedly press for so-called “right to work” by other means—and by any means necessary.

Galloway's resignation will cause the Republicans to lose their Senate majority. Republicans would hold 16 seats and Democrats would hold 16 seats. It marks a dramatic change from a year ago, when Republicans held a commanding 19-14 majority in the Senate. It was narrowed to 17-16 in August when Democrats gained two seats in recall elections.

The new, 16-16 split will be brief, and one side or the other should take control in May or June, when recall elections are expected to be held for state senators.

Galloway is a big time Tea Party leader here in Wisconsin, according to reporter John Nichols, who spoke about the resignation on Ed Schultz's radio show this morning.

Madison, WI--Local cartoonist Mike Konopacki isn't intimidated by the criminal complaint Assemblyman Steve Nass (R-La Grange) filed against him Thursday. Under investigation for using Nass's letterhead in a gag press release, Konopacki's done it again.

This time Konopacki takes aim at Nass's chief of staff, Mike Mikalsen, who, speaking for Nass, put the kibosh to the University of Wisconsin School for Workers "Art of Protest" show and was involved in filing a felony criminal complaint against Konopacki with the Capitol Police.

Nass apparently was concerned about the timing of the show with recalls pending of Governor Scott Walker, his Lt. Governor, and four other Republicans in the state senate. With the show cancelled, Konopacki, one of the show's organizers, issued a gag press release using letterhead he found online from Nass's office.

The second gag press release, above, portrays Mikalsen as Nass's "Commissar of Culture" waving his shoe and shouting, "We will bury you" in a Cold War reference to antics by Soviet Premiere Nikita Kruschev, a Mikalsen look-alike.

Konopacki has drawn political cartoons weekly for the Capital Times here for over 25 years and is one-half of the syndicated Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons.

For more information about Nass's complaint against Konopacki, the cancellation of the art show and more, check this Newsvine exclusive: With recalls looming, Wis. GOP Rep quashes protest art show, files criminal complaint against political cartoonist.

Madison, WI—State Assemblyman Steve Nass (R-La Grange) filed a formal criminal complaint Thursday against Madison political cartoonist Mike Konopacki for “misuse” of Nass’s official letterhead in a gag press release inadvertently published by the Capital Times on Saturday, February 25.

“We notified the Capitol Police the Monday after it was released,” said Nass’s chief of staff, Mike Mikalsen. “We wanted to see if there was any type of statute violated. They’ve been investigating ever since.”

Mikalsen said the police investigation included consultation with the Dane County District Attorney who “did find something” described as a “potential felony.” Mikalsen said investigating officer Dave Davis contacted him on Thursday and asked if Nass wanted to go forward with a formal complaint on “misuse of letterhead.” The complaint was filed on the same day.

Mikalsen didn't know what statute is at issue. In response to our inquiry, District Attorney Ismael Ozanne identified the applicable law as Wis. Statute 949.49(2)(a), which states as follows:

946.69 Falsely assuming to act as a public officer or employee or a utility employee...

(2) Whoever does any of the following is guilty of a Class I felony:

(a) Assumes to act in an official capacity or to perform an official function, knowing that he or she is not the public officer or public employee or the employee of a utility that he or she assumes to be.

The press release, available online here, takes a jab at Nass for quashing the “Art of Protest” show that the University of Wisconsin’s School for Workers had scheduled for later this month. Matt Rothschild, editor of The Progressive, broke that story, quoting Mikalsen and others:

One Republican lawmaker in Wisconsin, Representative Steve Nass, who has been a longtime thorn in the university’s side, was unhappy about the exhibit, and his chief of staff, Mike Mikalsen, gave an earful to the director of the School for Workers last week, suggesting that the exhibit could imperil the school’s funding…

“There are people from both sides of the issue who are paying taxes, and the question was whether this was an appropriate activity for the university,” Mikalsen tells The Progressive. “And the timing was a question. We’re just going into a recall election. Was this something the UW Extension wanted to get into at this point in time?”

A Capital Times story also quotes Mikalsen on the timing:

"It's an arts festival designed to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Wisconsin uprising," says Nass spokesman Mike Mikalsen. "Well, maybe here in Madison that's a great thing. But there are lots of Republicans and conservatives around the state who are still very angry about that whole thing. We just suggested that now, with all the tensions that still exist, this may not be the appropriate time for this arts festival."

Under pressure from Nass and Mikalsen, the School for Workers immediately canceled the show. Konopacki, who has drawn the Capital Time’s political cartoons weekly for over 25 years, was outraged as were a number of other artists whose works were slated to be featured. The cancellation spurred a flurry of media attention, and to top things off Konopacki issued the gag press release, using one of Nass’s actual press releases published online as a template.

Konopacki’s version parodies Nass’s suppression of the art show by imagining a similar scenario in which Nass and his fellow Republicans, specifically Congressman Paul Ryan and US Senator Ron Johnson, would target the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. For the most part Konopacki used quotes from Mikalsen’s press interviews and reworded them.  An example: 

“Look, you can’t be displaying and archiving art that celebrates protests that were heavily aimed at Republicans, and then expect that Republicans are going to smile nicely and sit down and try and work with the Smithsonian.” 

Compare that to Mikalsen’s comment in the Capital Times:

“We just said, ‘Look, you can't be running events celebrating the protests, which were heavily aimed at Republicans, and then expect that Republicans are going to smile nicely and sit down and try and work issues out with the university."

The Capital Times took the gag press release literally and ran with it, posting it online before fact checking. Cap Times columnist John Nichols wrote a story but couldn’t reach Nass for confirmation and couldn’t find information about the press release anywhere else on the web. Only when he contacted Konopacki did he learn where the press release came from. By the time the Cap Times pulled the story, it had been online for 40 minutes. Then the story about the snafu went viral, and Nass called the Capitol Police. 

Asked about the felony criminal complaint, Konopacki was quick to respond: “I put words in politicians’ mouths all the time, and it’s never been a problem. Parody and satire are my stock-in-trade. Nass has used his position to attack freedom of speech, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and labor education. And he thinks I’ve done something criminal?”

It’s an interesting point that raises questions not only about a possible breach of the First Amendment but whether Nass, concerned about pending recalls and his conservative base, has run afoul of laws prohibiting use of government resources for political purposes. Wisconsin has recent experience with that:

* Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm is currently conducting a “John Doe” investigation that has implicated Governor Scott Walker and resulted in several criminal charges against key staffers caught campaigning on taxpayers’ dime.

* Early last year GOP state senate leader Scott Fitzgerald was warned he was on shaky legal ground when he dispatched state troopers to hunt down and return the 14 senate Democrats who fled the state to stall Walker’s controversial bill stripping public workers of collective bargaining rights. Fitzgerald’s father, Stephen, a Walker appointee, heads the state troopers. His brother, Jeff, is speaker of the Assembly.

* Stories arising from Wisconsin’s “caucus scandal” ten years ago continue to emerge as other questionable and potentially illegal activities in the Legislature come under scrutiny.    

Konopacki said he was first notified of the criminal complaint against him in an email from Officer Davis, whom he subsequently met in his art studio on Thursday. Konopacki used the opportunity to discuss First Amendment rights and provided numerous examples of protected speech and relevant court cases.  He said Davis did not Mirandize him and advised him that the final determination on criminal charges would be made by the DA.  

The art show, for better or worse, went forward this weekend without School for Workers sponsorship.  Hastily rescheduled and relocated, the show greeted enthusiastic crowds at Madison’s Goodman Community Center as part of the one-year anniversary of the Wisconsin Uprising, which drew as many as 65,000 people to a rally at Capitol Square on Saturday.  Assemblyman Nass was nowhere to be seen, no less complaining about the grounds being temporarily used for pro-worker, anti-Walker activities.

“I wonder,” Konopacki said.  “What about UW’s ‘School FOR Workers’ does he not understand?  Using his logic, we should be complaining that they don’t teach union organizing at the School for Business.”

MADISON (WSAU) The Wisconsin elections’ panel ordered recall elections today for four Republican state senators. The Government Accountability Board agreed that there are enough valid petition signatures to order recall votes against Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls, and freshman lawmakers Van Wanggaard of Racine and Pam Galloway of Wausau.

The Board did not recommend a date for the elections. Officials want to hold them at the same time as those expected for Republican Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. But a Dane County judge could have the final say on that.

In the face of an expected recall election targeting Gov. Scott Walker and four Republican state senators, the Wisconsin state Assembly voted Tuesday to amend the state constitution to make it more difficult to toss an official from office.

The measure, which still faces major hurdles before taking effect, would allow officeholders to be recalled only if they have been charged with a serious crime or if there is a finding of probable cause that they violated the state code of ethics.

Under current law, no grounds are needed to seek a recall.

The embattled Wisconsin governor has now turned to groups known for intimidating voters.

A Dane County Judge on Tuesday granted a temporary injunction that bars the enforcement of the state photo ID law at polling places during the general election on April 3.

Circuit Judge David Flanagan said that the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP and Voces de la Frontera had demonstrated that their lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker and the state Government Accountability Board would probably succeed on its merits and had demonstrated the likelihood of irreparable harm if the photo ID law is allowed to stand.

Flanagan ordered Walker and the GAB to "cease immediately any effort to enforce or implement the photo identification requirements" of the law, pending a trial on a permanent injunction scheduled before him on April 16.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is fond of pointing out that he was voted into office based on his promise to take on state employee union collective bargaining rights so that he could get on with balancing the state's budget.

Indeed, shortly after introducing his controversial 'beat down' of collective bargaining in the Badger State, Walker claimed that nobody should have been surprised by his actions because he had campaigned on the issue.

While there have been continuing efforts to show that Scott Walker never did reveal his plans for collective bargaining in the state during the campaign, definitive proof has now emerged via a video tape of Candidate Walker being interviewed by the editorial board of the Oshkosh Northwestern— just one week before the election

Cartoon courtesy of Mike Konopacki, Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons.

Wisconsin prohibits employers from discriminating “on the basis of age, race, creed, color, disability, marital status, sex, national origin, ancestry, arrest record, conviction record, military service, use or nonuse of lawful products off the employer’s premises during nonworking hours, or declining to attend a meeting or to participate in any communication about religious matters or political matters,” and it ensures that this law has teeth by allowing victims of discrimination to hold their employers accountable in state court. That’s about to change, however, as the Wisconsin legislature recently voted to strip the state’s workers of their ability to actually enforce this law — leaving anti-worker Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) as the only obstacle to the law’s total repeal:

Specifically, the Dems announced on a conference call with reporters Thursday that they were filing a complaint with the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections in the state, and also forwarding a copy to the Internal Revenue Service at the federal level. The complaint involves statements that Koch made to a newspaper — and his organization’s official non-profit, non-partisan status.

“What Scott Walker is doing with the public unions in Wisconsin is critically important. He’s an impressive guy and he’s very courageous,” Koch explained in a recent conversation reported by the Palm Beach Post. “If the unions win the recall, there will be no stopping union power.”

Charles Koch, his brother and employees have in recent months been getting death threats, hundreds of obscenity-laced hate messages, and harassment from some far left-wing groups, Koch said on Thursday.
“We are under attack from various directions, both with threats of violence against us personally, and with threats of attacks on our businesses,” Charles Koch said Thursday, in a phone interview from his office in Wichita.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/02/17/139229/kochs-employees-reveal-e-mailed.html#storylink=cpy

State Arizona Republicans acknowledged they don’t have enough votes to pass the bill. The collective bargaining bills were written with the help of the Goldwater Institute. The group flew in union-busting Governor Scott Walker from Wisconsin for an event late last year. The bills would have taken away the rights of unions to negotiate at the bargaining table.

About 200 protest Naples fundraiser visit by embattled Wisconsin governor

 Rat, saboteur of the middle-class and leech were just some of the words used by teachers, union officials and others to describe Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday morning during a protest in North Naples.

About 200 people gathered along the southeast corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach Road to show solidarity with the teachers and the millions of Wisconsin residents who wanted their governor thrown out of office.

Walker says prosecutors sought meeting over campaign emails

Gov. Scott Walker said Monday prosecutors want to talk to him about what they've found in emails his campaign turned over as part of a John Doe probe into allegations aides from his days as Milwaukee County exec did political work from their government offices.

Following a jobs announcement in Waukesha County, Walker told reporters he had yet to meet with prosecutors in the John Doe probe. But he hired two criminal defense attorneys to go over the emails his campaign turned over to prosecutors...

Walker didn't answer reporters' questions on how he was paying attorneys Mike Steinle and John Gallo.

"That will all be disclosed as part of the process in dealing with that office," he said.

Former Walker aide pleads guilty, will cooperate with DA: Darlene Wink awaits sentencing, 3 others to be tried in John Doe probe

Darlene Wink pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges of fundraising in the courthouse for then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's campaign for governor.

Her convictions were the first stemming from a secret John Doe investigation into a variety of issues from Walker's tenure as county executive. Three other former Walker courthouse aides and appointees also have been charged through the Doe probe.

Wink, 61, worked as Walker's constituent services coordinator in the county executive's office at the time, a job that paid about $41,000 a year. She was charged with working on fundraising events for Walk er's gubernatorial campaign in 2009 and 2010 while in her taxpayer-funded county job.

Walker is getting HUGE sums of money, mostly from out of state, to fend off the recall election likely to happen in late spring or early summer. 

According to recent reports, he has raised in total about $12 million, 61 percent from out of state.  The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity is spending $700,00 on campaign commercials.

The Supreme Court's Citizen's United ruling is allowing PACs, using money from sources who remain anonymous, to flood campaigns with cash.

Gov. Scott Walker said Friday evening that he will be "voluntarily meeting" with the prosecutor leading the secret John Doe investigation that has already brought charges against some of his top aides.

He did not say when the meeting with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm would take place.

In a statement issued through his campaign, Walker also announced that he had hired two high-powered criminal defense attorneys, Mike Steinle and John Gallo, but said he would use no public money to cover the costs.

...The investigation has led to criminal charges against six people, including Walker's former Milwaukee County aides Tim Russell, Kelly Rindfleisch and Darlene Wink.

More charges filed last week allege a pattern of illegal fundraising and what appears to be a systemic avoidance of campaign laws by Walker's inner circle.

Also in the complaints made public last Thursday were accusations that Walker's close associates used personal laptop computers and an unofficial "secret email system" to solicit money for the campaigns of Walker and Brett Davis, who was running for lieutenant governor. Investigators say they kept the system hidden from all but a close group of Walker's insiders.

Included in the recent complaints was a May 2010 email sent from Walker to Russell, who had already left his post as deputy chief of staff in the county executive's office.

"We cannot afford another story like this one," Walker wrote to Russell about the Wink story. "No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the work day, etc."

Should the sins of political aides be visited upon their bosses?

Governor Scott Walker used to think so - when he was a candidate running for the office he now holds. In a 2006 news release, Walker blasted then-Governor Jim Doyle when a state employee named Georgia Thompson was indicted on federal corruption charges.

Arizona Republicans are aiming to be tougher than Wisconsin on labor unions. On Monday, Arizona Senate Republicans introduced four anti-union bills in an attempt to completely eliminate collective bargaining and wipe out unions altogether. With these bills, Arizona becomes yet another Republican controlled state to attack labor unions, along with Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana.

Tea partiers are gung-ho to help the Wisconsin governor fend off a recall vote—and their fate may well be tied to his.

The bills include a total ban on collective bargaining for Arizona’s public employees, including at the city and county levels. The move would outpace even the tough bargaining restrictions enacted in Wisconsin in 2011 that led to massive union protests and a Democratic effort to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

After reviewing the official complaints against two of the players—Darlene Wink and Kelly Rindfleisch—a pattern emerges that is almost defiant in nature. After all, in 2005, the Wisconsin caucus scandal forced 2 Democrats and 1 Republican to resign for campaigning on the public's time. Yet here we are back in 2012, with incontrovertible evidence that Republicans are not only continuing the practice, but they've refined it to an art form.

A former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker accused of embezzling money meant for veterans was previously fired from a state job for "gross misconduct," including misuse of public funds, newly released records show.

The conservative assault on the pensions of state workers is moving forward unabated in 2012, despite widespread information that the case against pensions is based on lies and twisted facts. The Wall Street Journal, among others, is making the claim that state employee pensions are too expensive and lavish and that in times of economic crisis, they have to be cut or eliminated in order to allow state budgets to be balanced.

When you read this sort of thing, you might get the impression that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is little more than a corrupt political hack. Because really, the fact that his employees set up their own intranet to communicate on campaign work would indicate that someone higher up the food chain directed them to do so, and that a culture of corruption was pervasive on his staff. But since we all "know" Scott is really a God-fearing man, there must be some other explanation, right?

MADISON — Two more former aides to Gov. Scott Walker have been charged with crimes linked to political fundraising while working on county time in the ongoing John Doe investigation.

Both worked for Walker while he was serving as Milwaukee County Executive, and both are accused of fundraising activities while at their taxpayer-funded day jobs...

"In the course of the investigation it was learned that a private email network was established and operated out of the County Executive’s office and that private network was used to communicate both political campaign and government work related information to select individuals," prosecutors wrote in the release announcing charges.

 

 

Two staffers who worked directly for Gov. Scott Walker while he was county executive were charged Thursday with illegally doing extensive political work while being paid by taxpayers to do county jobs.

Gov. Scott Walker may have avoided the word "recall" during his 37-minute State of the State speech Wednesday, but the reality that the state's Republican leader is likely to face the dreaded "r" word was audible and visible everywhere else in the Capitol.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is a magician. Last Tuesday when citizens were delivering over one million signatures on recall petitions seeking his ouster from the Statehouse, Walker made himself disappear.

Former Walker aide to stand trial; more John Doe-related charges reportedly expected

MILWAUKEE - A staff member of then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker will stand trial on embezzlement charges, whlie more charges could reportedly come in the John Doe investigation.

Tim Russell faces two felony charges and one misdemeanor after he allegedly took $21,000 from a military charity fund for veterans and their families.

Prosecutors say Russell, 48, used the money for vacations with his partner.More charges expected against ex-Walker staffers, sources say

More charges expected against ex-Walker staffers, sources say

A new round of criminal charges is coming soon against at least a couple of Gov. Scott Walker's former county staffers for doing extensive campaign activity while on the taxpayers' dime, sources say.

The charges - which should be filed by District Attorney John Chisholm's office in the next week or two - will be part of the long-running John Doe investigation of Walker's aides and associates during his tenure as Milwaukee County executive.

Already, the probe has led to multiple felony charges against Walker's onetime deputy chief of staff, Tim Russell, and former county veterans official Kevin Kavanaugh. They are accused of taking more than $60,000 in donations intended for Operation Freedom, an annual event at the county zoo for veterans and their families.

Russell's domestic partner, Brian Pierick, was also hit with two felony counts for child enticement.

Law firm the go-to attorneys for Walker, state GOP

MADISON — The news last month that a conservative Supreme Court justice had received two years of free legal service while fighting an ethics charge was just the latest indication of an increasingly cozy relationship between the Republican Party and one of Wisconsin’s most prominent law firms.

The state is going through a particularly litigious period in its history, with nearly every piece of major legislation facing some kind of legal challenge.

As a result, the most influential three names in state politics — outside of Walker, Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald — just might be Michael, Best and Friedrich.

Collective bargaining. Mining. Redistricting. Recalls. Recounts. John Doe. Ethics charges. Michael Best & Friedrich has become the go-to law firm for all of the big issues facing Republicans.

Thanks to Newviner Ronko for the Walker graphic!

‎

Just last week, Walker was in New York City raising campaign money. And when the actual recall election is held, as most political observers believe that it eventually will be, the nation will see the real-life impact of Wisconsin’s tougher new voter ID laws, which were adopted, as in many GOP-led states, to complicate access to voting for some traditional Democratic voter blocks.  

By all accounts, even organizers of the recall of Wis. governor Scott Walker are amazed at the number of signatures they collected: 1.1 million just for him. With recall petitions also submitted for his lieutenant governor and four GOP state senators, the total number of signatures collected comes to a dazzling 1.9 million. 

Now the race is on for a number of Democrats who want to challenge Walker in a recall election. 

Former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk formally declared her intentions the day after organizers filed the recall petitions. Others reportedly interested include: Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, who ran against Walker in 2010 and currently leads the Dem field in recent polling; Jon Erpenbach, Kathleen Vinehout and Tim Cullen, three of the "Fabulous 14" state senators who left the state to stall Walker's union busting bill, Act 10; outspoken state assemblyman Peter Barca, who stood up to Walker's GOP legislators as they rammed Act 10 through; Wis. secretary of state Doug La Follette, whose great grand-uncle was Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette, a founder of Wisconsin's progressive movement; firebrand state firefighters union president Mahlon Mitchell, a familiar and powerful voice throughout our rebellion; and former congressman David Obey, a well known and respected stalwart of the Democratic Party.

One might think this field of candidates would be an embarrassment of riches, but a large segment of the labor movement remains skeptical. It's not that they think ousting Walker and the others isn't possible. It's about whether a Democratic victory will fully and quickly restore the collective bargaining rights and pay that Walker and his GOP cabal stole from about 300,000 state, county, municipal and school district workers.

They remember the state senate recall elections just a few months ago where some Democratic candidates were loathe to even mention the "u" word in their campaigns. Instead, the Dems spoke about other egregious acts their opponents were party to--eviscerating environmental protections, public education, health care and programs for seniors, kids, the poor and the disabled while giving big tax breaks to the wealthy.

They remember that when Democrats controlled the legislature and the governor's office enforcement of labor laws and contracts was at best weak, and public workers were continually hit with privatization and demands for one give-back after another--even in the middle of a contract's term, affirming the old labor lament: "A contract is a contract unless it's a union contract.",

They remember that at the federal level, Bill Clinton, with the help of the GOP and handful of Dems, successfully implemented the North American Free Trade Agreement and other multinational investment agreements that cost our country and its workers millions of jobs and gave tax breaks to companies that shuttered factories here to transfer operations to cheap labor havens overseas. Good paying industrial jobs disappeared, leaving the industrial unions and their members decimated, and nothing has been done about it either at the state or the federal level.

They remember that despite organized labor's massive effort to elect Barack Obama in 2008, workers are still unable to fully exercise their rights to organize for a voice in the conditions of their labor. Employers continue to routinely and with virtual impunity violate existing labor laws prohibiting interference, coercion and discipline, including termination, of workers who support unions.

They remember millions upon millions of dollars official uniondom spent in supporting Democrats who, in the end, fell short of standing up for the American worker in their never ending chase for campaign cash from all kinds of sources, many of which are in direct opposition to the goals of the labor movement. Meanwhile, the ranks of organized labor plummeted--to just 12 percent of the total American workforce and 7 percent of the private sector--and the fortunes of our nation's poor, working class and middle class with it.

Finally, they remember that while major unions like AFSCME and SEIU put huge resources into electoral politics, they have done little, at least here in the state of Wisconsin, to re-organize the members they've lost let alone organize new members and pursue aggressive, solidarity-building, worker-empowering solutions to strengthen labor's hand in the battles they face every day, from the picket line to the unemployment line.

Case in point: The day after a justifiably joyous celebration in Madison over the stunning turnout and turn-in of recall signatures, machinists up in Manitowoc, WI to the northeast lost a critical fight to stop the spread of Walker-style union busting to the private sector. They ended a strike under the employer's threat of "permanent replacements" and agreed to the employer's demand for a "Freedom of Choice" plan that would make paying union dues voluntary. Imagine. Get union services, but don't pay dues for it.  Imagine. Get government services, like fire and police protection and public education, but don't pay taxes for it.  Imagine.  Get stock and stock dividends, but don't pay for stock!

It's a huge blow, not just to 200 machinists, their families, and their union, but to the labor movement in the state and possibly throughout the country. It opens the door for employers to interfere, even in violation of the National Labor Relations Act, with the relationship between workers and their unions, and, further, shows how the employer can usurp the union's role as the legally recognized advocate for its members. So now, instead of buying off politicians to implement statewide, so-called "right to work" laws  (and thus risk another massive rebellion), all employers have to do is quietly pick off one union after another with demands that ensure the inevitable destruction of workers' rights to collectively bargain.   

Why the dispute ended the way it did is a hot topic in some labor circles, but the discussion comes too late. Some believe that union officials did not fully understand the implications for all of labor, while others were wrapped up in the recall efforts.  Whatever the reason, labor's response to the Manitowoc strike was, at best, tepid, leaving a small group of workers to fend off an extremely aggressive employer that not only supports Walker but is carrying water for his anti-worker, union-busting agenda in the private sector.

The recalls along with the looming general elections in November are indeed an important part of the overall fight-back workers must engage in to restore, advance and protect their rights. It's just not the only part. We forget the rest of what we must do at our own peril.

-------------------

Special thanks to Mike Konopacki of Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons for his photograph of last month's rally in Manitowoc and cartoon of the dispute

-------------------

IN THE NEWS

Walker recall drive breaks national records, as 'dance' begins for a Democratic challenge

Unions busy behind the scenes vetting candidates to take on Walker

State lost 3,900 private sector jobs in December

Walker turning down $37 million intended to help implement health care reform law

Walker's appearance at MLK Day event draws hisses  PLUS Video here

In Wisconsin, you have made a historic stand.

You stood up with the notion that one person could make a difference. You stood up for the unions that helped create the middle class. You stood up against the cynical notion that the big money polluting our democracy today must always win.

You stood up One Million Strong to recall Scott Walker.

Right now, volunteers from counties all across Wisconsin are turning in more than 1.9 million signatures to recall Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch and their right-wing cronies in the state legislature.

Update:  new link:

 http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/walker-recall-leaders-say-they-gathered-more-than-million-signatures/article_5a9505e6-4141-11e1-9384-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1jkLANUeR

Leaders of the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday afternoon that they have collected more than 1 million signatures on petitions they will file later today.

That number would nearly match the 1.12 million votes Walker received in the November 2010 gubernatorial election.

Recall organizers also said they had more than enough signatures to force recall elections against Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and Republican Sens. Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls, Van Wanggaard of Racine and Pam Galloway of Wausau. The group working to recall Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said earlier Tuesday that they had collected more than enough signatures to recall him as well.

Original story:

Democrats and union supporters will submit an estimated 1.5 million recall signatures Tuesday.

The state Government Accountability Board will then start reviewing the signatures, to see if there are enough to order recall elections against Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and 4 GOP state senators.

Meanwhile, Democrats say they're against the Board's effort to hold all recall votes on the same day.

State law requires those elections to be held six weeks after petitions are verified -- and petitions for the smaller Senate recalls are expected to be reviewed a lot quicker than the statewide petitions for governor.

Graeme Zielinski of the State Democratic Party says the recall votes should be held as quickly as possible, and delaying one or more of them would break the law. He's concerned that the GOP incumbents are not given more time to raise money for their campaigns.

When fed-up voters show up to deliver over 300,000 pages of recall documents with signatures today, they will have more than the required 540,208 to recall Gov. Scott Walker. In fact they will have enough to recall the lieutenant governor and three other Republican state senator.

When the second round of the Wisconsin recalls began, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin told the media that in addition to the recall of Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, it would target three vulnerable, first-term Republican state senators: Pam Galloway, Terry Moulton and Van Wanggaard. The state party and other groups working on the recall decided not to target State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald because, according to local grassroots activist Lori Compas, they didn't believe it was possible.

However, Lori Compas thought otherwise, so she launched a recall of Fitzgerald on her own. Amazingly, it appears she is on the brink of succeeding.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) may have violated his state’s campaign finance law over 1,000 times in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign by failing to properly report contributions, according to a new report.

Embattled Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman has been hit with another ethics complaint — this time from the group that defended Milwaukee's mandatory sick leave ordinance.

NOTE TO GROUP MODERATORS: I'm not sure about the protocol for posting an article like this, so if I have put this on your group inappropriately, please remove and advise me via NV message.  Thanks, and sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused.

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I don't really understand how this happened.

I posted a seed containing various links to stories about corruption and legal shenanigans going on here in Wisconsin.  It went to top seed quickly. It started to get comments.  And then--ZAP--it disappeared! 

It got bounced from top seed to be replaced by somebody else's seed that only addresses one aspect of the corruption going on here, specifically three arrests made in the ongoing "Walkergate" scandal (one of them is a former Walker aide). After it disappeared from the top seed, I could not even find it on my column.  I put a great deal of work into it, researching and linking different sources to give a comprehensive overview of what's going on.

I had distributed it via email to my subscribers, but it was removed "by the Newsvine community" per the copy of it I found in my NV history section. I never got an email from Newsvine alerting me.  The notice attached to the removed article said to contact Newsvine  to object.  I did some time ago and have not heard anything.  There was nothing posted in the comments section from anyone who objected, nor was there anything in comments from any of our Newsvine moderators.

Another mystery is that the GOP's law firm referred to in the article has now scrubbed its home page of a link to a blurb about an award it got for "pro bono" work--oddly after giving free legal services to a state supreme court justice under investigation for multiple ethics violations. At last check, the info is on the web site, buried, hard to find, but no longer on the home page.

I believe that my article was attacked by trolls on the payroll of the GOP and/or interests affiliated with the GOP and supportive of Scott Walker, who, as we all know, is the target of a massive recall effort. He is getting massive funding from out of state sources, mostly due to the US Supreme Court's Citizen United decision.

Our state is in a hostile takeover by powerful corporate elites who want to destroy our working class, our unions, and our way of life.  It seems, too, that in this election year, with so much at stake, Newsvine is under attack as well.  This should be of concern to anyone who values the free exchange of news and views.

I have re-posted the article, and I ask your support in keeping the information available to the entire Newsvine Community that did not get an opportunity to view it.  It's on my column in the "seed" box, but it contains much more information than a typical seed:

Law & Order Wisconsin: Former Walker aide, two others arrested in 'Walkergate' probe as court blasts GOP lawyers that gave state judge free services in ethics scandal then got Bar Assn 'pro bono' award

The original title of the article had the word "sleazy" in it, which I have removed. I've seen far worse adjectives used on Newsvine.  I repeat. I don't understand why this got pulled.  At. All.  Please share your thoughts/comments with me.

Thanks.

UPDATE: This is another version of an article that seems to have been targeted by Walker/GOP supporters and/or rightwing trolls. 

It's important to connect the dots about what's going on with corruption in the State of Wisconsin. This article is part of that effort.

Please see the links below. Thank you.

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Former Walker aide, two others arrested as part of John Doe probe

Former Scott Walker aide Tim Russell and two others were arrested Thursday with Russell accused of embezzling money meant to honor military families and using it for personal expenses, including trips to Hawaii and the Carribean.

Also arrested along with Russell, who is charged with two felony counts for theft in a business setting and one misdemeanor, were Kevin Kavanaugh, who is also connected to money for military families, and Russell’s domestic partner, who faces a charge of child enticement.,,

Dem Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm...  "We go where the evidence leads and partisan politics plays no role in any decision made by this office," he told reporters at a brief news conference. He declined to take questions.

Federal court sanctions, rebukes attorneys representing GOP lawmakers in Wisconsin redistricting lawsuit

In a frank smackdown not usually seen in judicial rulings, the eastern district federal court ordered the Wisconsin Legislature's outside lawyers to pay attorneys' fees and associated costs for refusing to comply with two previous court orders requiring that they turn over documents in a redistricting lawsuit.

Court sanctions in such situations are rare; even rarer are sanctions imposed on the attorney, not client.

But since Republican lawmakers hired outside representation, the three-judge panel in Milwaukee made it clear that the hired guns, rather than Wisconsin residents, should foot the bill for "the sort of disinformation, foot-dragging, and obfuscation now engaged in by Wisconsin's elected officials and/or their attorneys."

Court sanctions in such situations are rare; even rarer are sanctions imposed on the attorney, not client.

But since Republican lawmakers hired outside representation, the three-judge panel in Milwaukee made it clear that the hired guns, rather than Wisconsin residents, should foot the bill for "the sort of disinformation, foot-dragging, and obfuscation now engaged in by Wisconsin's elected officials and/or their attorneys"...

The court also rejected [lawyer] Michael Best's latest -- and third -- attempt to protect a lobbyist who assisted the Legislature in preparing the redistricting plan from being deposed...

Full text of the court's scathing decision here. (PDF)

Just how sleazy are these lawyers representing the GOP? They provided FREE representation to equally sleazy state supreme court justice Michael Gableman under charges for multiple ethics violations; were instrumental in drafting and representing in court Scott Walker's controversial, union busting Act 10; came before Gableman on the court numerous times and got favorable rulings; and are earning hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars as attorneys for the GOP legislature. Sordid details here:

Michael Best & Friedrich is too cozy with Gov. Walker and the Wisconsin Supreme Court

After giving free service to their guy on the supreme court, they got an award from the state Bar Association for "pro bono" work!

From the law firm's own web site (see also screen shot posted here upper right):

Michael Best Attorneys Recognized for Pro Bono Achievements

The District Attorney in Madison is now seeking to overturn Act 10 and wants Gableman, who voted for it, to be recused.  More here:

Ozanne asks high court to vacate ruling on collective bargaining law

Ozanne asked the court to revisit its June 14 decision after reports surfaced that Gableman had received free legal services from lawyer Eric McLeod of the Madison law firm Michael Best & Friedrich, who helped defend the collective bargaining law before the high court as lawyer for state Department of Administration Secretary Michael Huebsch.

That arrangement was not disclosed to participants in the collective bargaining case, Ozanne said.

"Abraham Lincoln wrote that 'a lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade,'" Ozanne wrote. "Justice Gableman paid for none of that time or any of that advice, nor does it appear he or MBF intended he do so. Reasonable, well-informed people would reasonably question Justice Gableman's ability to be impartial under the facts presented here."

Connect the dots...or the ditz.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) held a press conference Wednesday to take credit for lifting caps on a Family Care program designed to keep elderly people out of nursing homes. What he didn't include in the press event was that the caps he is lifting are caps that he imposed and that he's only lifting them because the federal government ordered him to do so.

Rising tensions over the effort to recall Governor Scott Walker in Oshkosh have led to a flurry of complaints to the Oshkosh Police Department and an Oshkosh business owner receiving a citation for disorderly conduct after he threatened a recall signature collector Tuesday afternoon.

Oh, things have taken a turn for the ugly in America’s Dairyland:

“You know, people with kids are driving by. And you know there are little kids who are 8, 9, 10 years old who are old enough to be able to read that and might say, ‘Mommy, what does that mean?’” said Andrea Lombard, a Sauk County supervisor and first vice chairwoman of the Republican Party of Sauk County. “Well, how does Mommy explain that? I’m not sure.”

Good publicity turned bad for Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday when details of a letter from the federal government cast doubt on his motivations for lifting the cap on a state safety net for elderly and disabled residents.

As Wisconsinites await W-2 forms and related tax documents, hundreds of thousands of low-income families are bracing for a state budget change that will mean less money in their wallets next year.

Last summer, the state Legislature reduced the amount of money low- income families can receive in tax credits by $56.2 million.

That places Wisconsin among only a handful of states that will effectively raise taxes on their poorest residents in 2012, according to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank.

Got a seed up earlier about how the Walker/GOP nimrods lost the state $1.3 billion in Federal funds and then found this story above.

Scott Walker.  The gift that just keeps on...taking.

RECALL!

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Cartoon by Mike Konopacki of Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

We didn't need more reasons to recall Walker and his cohorts in the legislature, but here they are anyway!...

Wisconsin lawmakers leave federal money on table

Decisions by lawmakers in Wisconsin have cost the state well over $1 billion in federal funds, according to a new issue brief by the Wisconsin Budget Project that examines figures from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

According to an October LFB memo, state budget cuts or incomplete funding of state programs meant Wisconsin did not capture an additional $506 million of federal funds that were available over the current biennium. This is in addition to $803 million in two large federal grants, including a grant for high-speed rail, that Wisconsin turned down.

Wisconsin has long been far below the national average in federal spending per capita. Although that has improved somewhat since 2008, Wisconsin was $800 per person below the national average in per capita federal spending in 2010 —the most recent national data available — and ranked 32nd among the states.

See also this report (PDF) from Wisconsin Budget Project: An Initiative of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families: Losing Out: How Wisconsin Surrendered $1.3 Billion in Federal Money

Policymakers claim that the budget shortfall made it impossible for the state to provide the resources necessary to obtain the maximum amount of federal dollars. Yet, the Legislature was able to cut taxes by $210 million over this biennium, mostly benefitting businesses and well-off taxpayers. The Legislature prioritized these tax cuts over investing in Wisconsin’s health care system, job training, and other programs vital to our state’s economic future.

LOST:

$480.3 million in federal Medical Assistance money

$13.2 million in federal money for job training for the disabled

$8.3 million in federal money for child support enforcement

$4.2 million of federal funds for administration of the Medical Assistance and FoodShare programs

$780 million in federal grant for high speed rail

$23 million in federal grants for broadband in schools and libraries

$49 million potentially for implementation of health care reform

Legislative Fiscal Bureau Memo (PDF) provides specifics on the losses.  The information was requested by Democratic Assemblyman Peter Barca.

Thanks to Mike Konopacki for another spot on political cartoon.

Greetings!  Here's an update on recall news. 

The linked story: Campaign Accelerates To Recall Wisconsin Governor

Wisconsin unionists are saying that a copycat attack on 191 Machinists at a crane-building company is one more reason to recall Governor Scott Walker, as if more were needed.

Taking a cue from Walker’s legislation that decimated public unions in the state, Manitowoc Crane is demanding an open shop and an end to dues checkoff, in a plant that’s been union for at least 60 years.

“They want to Walkerize us,” says bargaining committeeman Gary Miller of Machinists Local 516, on strike since November 15.

Miller said the company first wanted workers to vote every year whether their union would continue to exist, then proposed that at the beginning of each month each worker could choose.

Story has other info too; a good update on where things are at and why.

More in the news:

Milwaukee DA to investigate group signing 'Adolf Hitler' on recall petitions

The state’s election watchdog agency on Wednesday referred a mysterious group named “Mines for Wisconsin” to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office for investigation after the organization encouraged opponents of the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker to sign recall petitions as “Adolf Hitler.”

Fliers from the group encouraged people to sign as Hitler and fill out their address as “666 Hell Street (your city).

With half the money coming from out of state, Walker far outraising recall organizers   

Gov. Scott Walker has collected more than three times the cash of his recall opponents — about half of it from out of state — giving the embattled governor a substantial head start in what looks to be a long and bitter election. 

According to campaign finance documents released Thursday, Walker raised $5.1 million since July 2011. Much of that has come during the past month, a period in which the governor has been able to take advantage of a state law that allows him to raise unlimited funds. He has received more than 18,000 donations since Nov. 1.

Special thanks to Mike Konopacki of Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons for his take on Scott Walker's incessant lying. 

Per Mike in a recent post: "PolitiFact has given Walker 'mostly false' ratings. or worse, in 66%, or 24 of 36 statements vetted--an ugly track record and the most such negatives for a Wisconsin figure this year."

The Four Winds Motel north of Baraboo, Wis., is creating a stir with its decision to show support for the recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker (R) with a controversial sign.

"RECALL THE KOCHSUCKER NOW!" it reads in block letters, likely a reference to reports that the billionaire oil magnate Koch Brothers provided funding to Walker through their PAC, or perhaps to the ensuing prank call made to Walker by a Buffalo journalist pretending to be David Koch.

Bolstered by this outpouring of support from the right-wing, Walker is continuing his extremist agenda apace. His latest move to take another shot at Planned Parenthood and potentially leave thousands of low-income women without access to cancer screenings in the process

First he gutted worker's rights, then slashed state education funding and dumbed-down sex ed. Next on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's hit list? Breast and cervical cancer screenings for women. Come January 1, Wisconsinites who rely on Planned Parenthood to access free cancer screenings may be out of luck.

MADISON — Organizers of an effort to recall Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker from office say they have collected nearly enough signatures to force an election.

The United Wisconsin coalition said Thursday that more than 507,000 signatures had been collected in just 30 days. They need 540,208 signatures to force the recall election sometime in 2012. Petitions are due Jan. 17.

The coalition says its goal is to collect 720,000 signatures.

BS Alert: Mickey Mouse And Adolf Hitler Have Not Joined Scott Walker Recall Effort

There’s an almost irresistible story circulating on the internet that seems to suggest that petitions for the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker have been signed by the likes of Mickey Mouse and Adolf Hitler, and that those signatures will be counted in that recall effort. It’s the kind of story that makes for ideal two-minute filler on 24-hour news outlets, so before it gets a head of steam, let’s look beyond the overreaching headline (“Mickey Mouse, Adolf Hitler Allowed On Wis. Recall Petitions“) and vague copy, to what is actually a run-of-the-mill process story.

Koch-head Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's primary achievement during his first year in office: Inspiring a hundreds of thousands of citizens to protest him. It makes him look so bad! Now he wants to charge all those picketing Poors a fee every time they engage in some First Amendment-protected activity that involves showing how much they hate him.

Thousands of union supporters from all over the state rallied and marched in Manitowoc, WI, Saturday in support of International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 516’s strike to stop the spread of “Walkeritis” to Wisconsin’s private sector unions.  Crowd estimates range from 2500 to 3500.

Machinists have been on strike at Manitowoc Company since November 15 after reaching a bargaining impasse over employer demands emulating Governor Scott Walker’s assault on public sector unions.

Manitowoc Company is a prosperous global enterprise, manufacturing cranes and other products.  It enjoyed relative labor peace with the IAM for 60 years—until it hired a new, union busting law firm and insisted on a “Freedom of Choice” plan requiring the union to hold annual representation elections and, further, to let members stop paying dues virtually at will.  Machinists, in turn, exercised their “Freedom of Choice” by rejecting the demand 180-2 and going on strike. 

The company’s proposal included a sweetener of an eight percent pay raise over the life of the contract, a classic divide and conquer tactic.  But, as striking machinists JC Schultz, 61, put it: “It’s not about me. It’s about our children and grandchildren and society in general.  You’re going to have two classes: the few at the top and the many at the bottom.  We have to hold together.” 

Schultz added a biblical message to the powerful multinational from Psalm 33, verse 16: “No king shall be saved by the size of his army.” 

Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt capsulized the dispute that brought so many to Manitowoc: “There’s just too much union busting stuff going on. This is not about wages or benefits but that fundamental right, that civil right we should have as Americans to have a union in the workplace.”

Joining the rally and march were supporters from the community and members and officials from the Firefighters, Police, Steelworkers, Teachers, Building Trades, and many other unions.

Special thanks to Madison artist Mike Konopacki of Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons who provided the photos and graphics.

Koch-head Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's primary achievements during his first year in office: Inspiring a hundreds of thousands of citizens to protest him. It makes him look bad! So now he wants to charge all those picketing Poors a fee every time they engage in some First Amendment-protected activity that shows how much they hate him. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel shares details of Walker's plan,

Free speech is getting expensive in Wisconsin.

Following demonstrations earlier this year which drew up to 100,000 people to the Wisconsin Capitol, Republican Gov. Scott Walker has proposed new policies that would require future protesters to pay in advance to stage an event, at a cost of $50 per hour, per Capitol Police officer.

Police may also require a liability insurance or a bond, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.

 

Demonstrators will also be on the hook for any damage and cleanup following protests. Walker’s administration had claimed that the pro-union protests earlier this year had costs as much as $7.5 million, but later admitted that the actual costs were far less.

 

First, since Walker himself violated the law by sending police out after state legislators, who would determine just how many police were actually needed for public safety and how many were used for intimidation of said protesters? Call me stingy, but I don’t like to pay for being bullied. It’s just how I roll.

Second, way back when Walker lied about the amount of damage to the Capitol and Fox News got their walking talking points to wheel their mobile carts in poutrage over the nasty union members soiling the perfect Capitol Home of Silencing Dissent, the painters union offered to clean the Capitol up for free, but Walker turned them down. Fiscally conservative he is not. And it begs the question: Why would Walker turn down experts at paint tape removal? Why would he rather pay money for something when it was offered for free?