Gov. Scott Walker: 'We are willing to take this as long as it takes'
As protests escalate in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) isn't showing any signs of backing down from his plan to slash union benefits and eliminate collective bargaining rights.
Wisconsin's 14 Democratic state senators have gone into hiding to prevent Republicans from holding a vote on Walker's proposal.
In an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday, Walker said that he had no intention of giving in to protesters demands.
"How long are you willing to let the standoff go on," Wallace asked Walker. "And what would you think of the legislature voting that the Senate Democrats are in contempt of the legislature and therefore what they are doing is a crime?"
"My hope is that cooler minds will prevail and by sometime earlier this coming week they will show up for their job," Walker replied. "I believe we've got a path that allows us to have everybody come back and vote. There's going to be plenty of time to have the debate. They can make their case and their argument. But democracy is not about hiding out in another state. It's about showing up here in the capital and making the case there."
"We are willing to take this as long as it takes," he added. "In the end, we are doing the right thing."
Democracy? Right! We've been duped!!!
dachsey
know of petitions we can sign for solidarity? monies to help? i'd think every union member in this country would sign it,i would.
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
...right here.
ETA: It's a fundraiser, not a petition.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Right, as in ultra rightwing John Birch kind of thing.
Transcription error - SB - Doing the "Reich" thing.
:)
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
he has a record!!!! Stupid is most always stubborn! He is owned by the kock bros! This may be what the voters need to kick the obstructicrat repubs finally to the curb!
Union busting in the State that pioneered employees rights..There are five generations of union members in that state and America now knows walker LIED and spent $$$$ to create the crisis!
Have fun in Ohio..
"It's about showing up here in the capital and making the case there."
That is what the protesters are doing?
Oh, wait - it doesn't matter if the actual citizens show up. Nevermind.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Do any of you know if anyone is circulating a recall petition?
http://elections.state.wi.us/docview.asp?doci...
"No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master." - Hunter S. Thompson
Eight GOP State Senators In Wisconsin Can Be Recalled Right Now; Gov. Walker Can Be Recalled In January
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/18/wisconsin...
Yet Walker, who cannot be recalled from office until next January, is not the only official who could be the subject of a recall election. Under Wisconsin election law, any elected official may be recalled from office:
(a) The qualified electors of the state, of any county, city, village, or town, of any congressional, legislative, judicial, town sanitary, or school district, or of any prosecutorial unit may petition for the recall of any incumbent elective official by filing a petition with the same official or agency with whom nomination papers or declarations of candidacy for the office are filed demanding the recall of the officeholder.
(b) Except as provided in par. (c), a petition for recall of an officer shall be signed by electors equal to at least 25% of the vote cast for the office of governor at the last election within the same district or territory as that of the officeholder being recalled. . . .
(s) No petition for recall of an officer may be offered for filing prior to the expiration of one year after commencement of the term of office for which the officer is elected.
Because the recall statute allows elected officials to serve for a full year before they are subject to recall, Walker himself is immune until January of 2012. Eight of Walker’s Republican allies in the state senate have served at least one year of their current term, however, and thus are eligible for a recall petition right now. If just three of these Republicans were to be replaced with Democrats, the state senate would flip to a Democratic-majority body.
The eight Republicans who can be recalled right now are:
Robert Cowles
Alberta Darling
Sheila Harsdorf
Luther Olsen
Randy Hopper
Glenn Grothman
Mary Lazich
Dan Kapanke
When next January rolls around, a little over 500,000 petition signatures will be necessary to trigger a recall election for Gov. Walker.
is that by Wisconsin's Constitution, recalls cannot occur until an office holder has been in office for at least one year. So Walker cannot be recalled until 2012. There are members of the Senate however, that are eligible for recall campaigns.
I appreciate the infomation.
Recall petition can start only one year after the Dickhead, Walker, ruins Wisconsin even more.
To the Exit line.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
the union people should have mobilized earlier so this gump wouldn't have been elected....
Lazy, un-informed voters, knowing very little of what walker was about, allowed him to be voted in.....
apathy is counter to the democracy you want.......
Ain't that the truth
are the main group that did organize.....even though unions are down to about 12% of the work force,add spouses,friends,reletives and organizing ,what, could influence 20-30%? this is our Concord,first battle of the resitence.there are at least 38 states planning to hold solitarity marches on monday.......think there's gonna be any coverage,besides ed schultz?..............workers off these united states unite,you have everything to gain by a show of numbers so large they can't ignore us.
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
Apparrently things are not going so well for the Tea baggers.
1,500 tea baggers showed up and were promptly surrounded by 70,000 pro-labor protesters.
It may be time to call the right-wing's bluff. Not just Wisconsin, but all over America.
There are 20 of us who are NOT tea baggers to every 1 of them.
Besides, the Daytona 500 is on TV and no "god-lovin, gun-luvin, libral-hatin, tea bagger is gonna miss it."
I was wondering how that was going. Haven't heard about it any place but from you, Joe. Thanks
Union busting is apparently Job 1 in Wisconsin. We're starting to see the results of the Citizens United case. Politicians are completely owned by the corporations now.
Louisville Lawyer
Apparently Mr. Wallace doesn't understand that if there isn't a quorum to vote on the anti-union / anti-worker legislation, then there isn't a quorum to vote on something as asinine as "contempt of the legislature". Of course, what Mr. Wallace was guiding Governor Walker to call the Democratic Senators "criminals", which I guess will be the new talking point.
Election 2012: Be Educated! Be Active! Vote!
www.PhoenixJustice.com
Hey let's renegotiate Walkers contract...take away his "bargaining" powers..cut and freeze his wages and make him pay at least 50% of his own health care, how much rent should he pay for his Governors mansion..no more perks for any Government official, course we have to do something about Citizens United..let's make these jerks share in some of the people's sacrifices....and the next time that Walker or Kasich or Christie's fat ass is slipped a "donation" from one of the Koch Brothers foundations or Karl Rove, etc....print it in great big numbers across the front page of the newspaper, for a week ...come to think of it we need to "recall" (impeach) Supreme Court Judges Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito... fire A.G. Holder for sitting on his hands (busting old Italian men) and collecting his wages and benefits from "we the people" continue to pay his crooked Corporatist ass.... cause he sure isn't doing his job, either...he is supposed to be "the people's" attorney...
'member this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdCMRFeO6s0
its cheesy but to the point
this is even better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssj_2q750MY
"Evil is the product of the ability of humans to make abstract that which is concrete." Jean-Paul Sartre
Eight sitting Repugs in the WI Senate have been elected more than 2 years ago. They CAN be recalled - give them a litmus test in the news. Denounce Walker's plan and commit to vote against it OR?
Time to up the ante....the people have just as much time as Walker. 24 hours each and every day.
and lecturing us on what democracy is or isn't is rich.
Didn't Walker sneak this union-killing legislation into some other bills or legislation? That's what democracy is not about, brothers and sisters.
BTW, Scott Walker is a preacher's kid. Good Christian values there, huh?
And on the subject of Christianity, I sure would like to see Rev. Jim Wallis use that civil-rights pedigree of his and push himself to the forefront of outspoken, fighting-in-the-frontlines leadership on this latest assault on civil rights.
Yeah his lecture smells bad.Also keeping in mind that the destruction of the Unions will have a catastrophic effect on Dem campaign finances leaving Republicans with all the money and all the power.
A one party rule ad infinitum.Golly Scotty,Democracy at it's finest.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Lifted from reddit:
LIST OF "VULNERABLE" WI SENATORS & DISTRICTS: Only 3 of these 4 are needed.
8th-Milwaukee Area-Alberta Darling - (20,343 signatures) - won by only 1%
10th-Sheila Harsdorf-River Falls - (15,744 signatures) - Won by ~5k votes (or 5-7%)
18th-Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Waupun; Randy Hopper - (15,268 signatures) - won 2008 election by only .19%
32nd-La Crosse; Dan Kapanke - (15,587 signatures) - won last election by only 3%
For the whole post:
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/fom...
when he's being interviewed by Tass-USA, I mean FauxNoise. Let him be so bold in public or on a real network, as opposed to a propped-up propaganda machine. Yes, I know, that's about as likely to happen as a live debate between O'Really and Hanitwit versus Olbermann and Stewart or Colbert.
had rumsfeld as a guest on wedsday.......i wont watch.
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
Looks to me like Bush and the GOP turned the Clinton legacy of a record budget surplus into a record deficit, pushed a large portion of it off on to the states, and now right on cue Republican governors will use their state's budget deficits as an excuse to bust unions and to "starve the beast" on the state level of the programs that help the poor and middle class.
The Constitutional apparatus is in place allowing such a law at the municipal level - but elected state officials are exempt as I read it.
Governor LePage and his Citizens United elected rubber stamps cry out for recall each time they open their mouths and utter another stupidity. I'm watching Wisconsin with great interest and hoping even LePage realizes it could happen to him. His 38% of the vote was not a mandate to emulate Soviet era central Europe.
Even FDR understood the dangers of giving collective bargaining rights to government employees, which is why he was so opposed. When government employees are given these rights they are negotiating with government representatives whose wages are paid by the taxpayer and whose budget is funded by the taxpayer. Without any skin in the game, like business owners in the private sector would have, they are more likely to give these unions whatever they want. The problem with that is obvious. I am more likely to be a little more careful with money I earned than with somebody else's money. And as far as the private sector unions are concerned, where do you think your tax money goes? How is that solidarity with government unions gonna work out for you?
As far as a compensation package is concerned, the governor is asking for less of a sacrifice than what the private sector must endure. He is standing up to the collective bargaining issue because he sees it as a way for the issue of compensation to always be kicked down the road.
That's about as dumb as it gets.
Something you're so naively overlooking is that it's those collective bargaining rights that guarantee civil service jobs aren't used as hand outs for political favors, and that those who are already employed as civil servants can't be fired out of political spite.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Please realize that without collective bargaining, wages can't match costs. Soon people are forced to cut back on spending simply because they don't have the money. That causes the local, and in turn the state economy to suffer.
As for that solidarity with government unions, as far as I can see on the ground in the capital it's pretty strong!
union workers have college degrees and would command far higher wages in private industry. If we want good government workers then we have to pay competive wages. American and foreign workers can also vote with their feets. As the average wages in America drops, the best and brightest will go somewhere else. The brain drain will reverse.
We're also talking about teachers, public transportation, police, firemen.
Walker is attacking a civil right that has been in place for decades to fix a problem that his party is directly responsible for? This is wrong on so many levels it will not stand.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Your "perspective" is brown, dark and smelly because your head is up your ass.
All the people in the crowds should be getting signatures to impeach his ass.
Pawlenty let the bus strike go on forever in his first term. He stood like a stubborn child as disabled people went without transportation. As poor workers walked miles and miles to work. As the congestion built on the streets because there was no public transportation. And he just sat there oblivious to reality. Everybody, including former Republican Governor Carlson couldn't believe the lack of leadership skills.
And that's what this is. A obvious lack of leadership skills. Get him out of there. He's useless as a governor.
Jeanne
Just one question: is Pawlenty governor now? I thought he was beaten in the last election cycle exactly because of stunts like that.
Walker and Pawlenty do not want to lead, they want to control.
They are compelled by their authoritarian republican religion to lie, cheat, and destroy, to accomplish what their religion compels them to do.
When they said they don't want government and democracy they were not kidding. This is nearly impossible for most people to wrap their heads around, but this is in fact what we are dealing with, and we must respond appropriately as the peaceful democratic community majority that we are.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
I get that, and I agree with you, but my question was, is Pawlenty still governor or not?
.
Then if Pawlenty can be kicked out of office, I don't see why the same can't happen to Scott Walker. It will just take a lot of time and effort.
pawlenty stepped down.
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
But he still left didn't he? If I remember it right, it was either because he didn't have a very good of winning reelection, or he wanted to run for president in 2012. I wonder if he realizes that everything he did in the state of Minnesota will be under a spotlight?
There is no longer a "Republican Party". There is now a Fascist party that replaced it.
These people will continue to escalate the tactics and methods used until they get what they want, what they have stated at places like CPAC many times...
A ONE-party state. Think about what that means.
I don't believe in God. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.
-Andrew Carnegie
As much as I truly hate the prospect, I would bet money that Walker gets away with his union busting in Wisconsin. We can stall him for awhile but this fight was lost last November. Very sad.
I feel differently. I don't see it as sad, not in the least! People are getting a true look at what conservative governing means in real time. Support from around the world has been pouring in, showing that others care about this fight. Finally, don't forget that Wisconsin has the right of recall. There is no way Scott Walker can avoid this in January, especially if this goes on any longer.
The Republicans do this all the time in the US Senate, except they call it a "Filibuster" and everybody is all in favor of using this parliamentary rule for the minority to obstruct a minority vote. Lacking the filibuster option in Wisconsin, the minority is simply doing the same thing by denying a quorum. It is something commonly (though not too frequently) done in many state legislatures. The democrats in Texas did it a couple of years ago. There is even a story of Abraham Lincoln jumping out of a window in the Illinois legislature to avoid a vote.
Walker is incapable of cooperating.
The middle class is against the republican religion.
Republicans are incompatible with democracy.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
I see another Kent State scenario, if Republicans have their way
I was at the protest yesterday, if there were a thousand pro Walker supporters there that was about it. What a crock of bull good old Fox is spreading again. If they didn't make up stuff they would have no news.
Walker is compelled by his republican religion to destroy our democracy. He is not qualified to define that which he would destroy.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
When does the Army step in and just take over the state?
The use of the Army against American Civilians on American soil is illegal.
Now, the use of the police force, the national guard, etc, is a gray area.
Don't go looking for a junta; they rarely go well.
Walker is certainly going to be recalled asap.
He makes Bush look intelligent. Asshat with fake hair.
Walker is not moved by the protests?
Walker is not moved by the will of the people of Wisconsin. Walker is moved by the power of authority and greed. Walker is also incapable of admitting a mistake, so he will never answer to the will of the people, unless it is the will of Walker in the first place.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Walker doesn't have to moved by the protest. He will be moved when the recall campaign heats up next year. If Gov. Walker thinks this is going to go away or people will forget what he has done or what he is capable of doing, he has one big surprise coming for him next year!
Hair is not that color
Unless you invite a cow
To take a flop on your head.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
If the protesters, instead of occupying squares, occupied roads with their cars and bodies, then they could shut down the entire city of Madison, perhaps a co-ordinated effort could be made to block all major arteries into and out of town, snarl business as usual.
The government may not listen to people shutting down the town square or town hall anymore, but if you shut down the veins of commerce, well, someone might listen.
As in general population prison. And, oh yeah, his wife and children should be made penniless and sent to live on the streets.
Was I ever disappointed! I thought he was talking about a night stick up his ass.
Walker will win. If not this battle, he will win the ideological war. If not him, than his allies. Lets face it. American plutocracy is inevitable. Those we have to fight for us are less obviously beholden to corporate interests, but they're still beholden. They will bend and budge in the constant staring contests with the inflexible Walkers of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8hSDRLFxBU
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
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