March 2010 Archives

How would you feel if at the end of an exhausting 8-hour shift, your boss made you work another 8-hour shift, back to back?

Sadly, nurses and other healthcare workers in Wisconsin face that situation all the time.In an effort to cut costs, many hospitals and other healtcare facilities in Wisconsin require nurses and other direct care workers to work double shifts, often without advance notice.

The time has come to end the practice of mandatory overtime, for the health and safety of our healthcare workers and patients. 

 

250k jobs? Not without the passenger train to lure new businesses to the state.

In case you missed it, Tom Still has a great column on the Wisconsin Technology Network site that points out all of the positive economic development that the passenger train through the state would bring about.

It’s completely idiotic that Walker, if elected, would turn back all of these positive developments, seriously stunting the economic progress the passenger train will likely bring.

From Still:

"In other American cities and regions with passenger rail, economic growth has taken place within a short distance of the line and its stations. One recent study noted there are more than 100 “transit-oriented developments” in the United States, mostly within walking distance of passenger rail stations...

"In communities such as Brookfield, Oconomowoc and Watertown, which are proposed stops along the Milwaukee-to-Madison route, public and private leaders are hustling to persuade planners to build stations in their towns. Why? They expect a mix of commercial, retail and residential development to follow the trains like a caboose...

"Studies in states such as Texas, California, Florida and Ohio have shown passenger rail can help lure tech-based businesses and investment...

"That's a sector where Wisconsin is poised to compete. The proposed line to the Twin Cities would tie together the major hubs of the “I-Q Corridor,” which extends from Chicago through Wisconsin and into Minnesota. A distance of only 400 miles separates two dynamos of the Midwest economy - Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul. That's a shorter distance than what separates San Diego from the “Silicon Valley” in California. Within the region are some of the nation's leading research universities, federal labs, financial centers, tech companies and talent pools. High-speed rail will help bring them closer together...

"It will also help rural Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. There are 15 rural counties with nearly 550,000 people with 50 miles of La Crosse. These people would gain access to Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and the Twin Cities with a stop in La Crosse...

"Virtually every form of transportation in the United States is subsidized to one degree or another, but all offer a return on investment. High-speed rail has the potential to pay for itself in Wisconsin for generations to come. Let's not miss the train.

For the most part, JB Van Hollen does little more than put out occasional press releases about small settlements he's collected and press releases about larger settlements begun under his predecessor.

Oh, and file Republican-inspired partisan lawsuits with tax dollars directly help Republican elected officials.

http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/page/content/wwjbdvideo/

 

Yesterday we were denied access to one of Scott Walker’s recycled “Brown Bag” campaign gimmick stops in Fitchburg. We had just a handful of questions we were hoping Walker could answer for us regarding fiscal management, spending, job creation and priorities. We left him our phone number, but alas, he has not responded.

Here's the Brown Bagger has to say today:

 

“I don’t want bureaucrats in Washington or Madison picking my family’s doctor or healthcare plan. The best way to make healthcare more affordable is through patient centered solutions and not government mandates, and I encourage everyone to contact their Congressmen and Senators and say no to this bill. As governor, I’d continue to fight against the Washington takeover of our healthcare system.”

Try to follow along as Scott Walker, Fred Luber (MacIver Institute Chair, Super Steel Chair, and Scott Walker Campaign Finance Co-Chair), and right-wing leaders play politics with job creation. Let’s watch.

If Davis wanted Tommy!’s endorsement for his bid for Lieutenant Governor, he should have thought twice about introducing a bill to reverse a 13-year old statute that Tommy! created, along with Scott Walker and the Republican controlled legislature back in 1997.

And the RPW might have thought twice about throwing stones at a no-bid provision created by their most revered member to promote railroads in Wisconsin.

Yes, in fact it is Tommy!, Scott Walker and the rest of the GOP-controlled legislature who, in 1997, put into the state budget a loop-hole eliminating the need to collect bids for commuter train projects.

Contrary to RPW claims, it's Walker’s standing up for one of the RPW’s biggest campaign donors, that reeks of cronyism.

Tommy! has been a big Amtrak proponent after all, sitting on the national board and even getting a train named after him, and must have thought that loop-hole would give him the opportunity to expand commuter train in Wisconsin.

Tommy’s words in November 2001:

But America's railway system is not just a matter of history. America still needs a strong passenger rail system. Without it, we discourage economic growth in urban areas. Passenger rail - and specifically, high- speed rail - is important to the economic growth of our cities and our overall transportation system in a nation of nearly 300 million people.

In Wisconsin and in eight other states, work continues on the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. In Wisconsin, the goal is to have high-speed service from Madison to Milwaukee by the end of 2003.

How disappointed Tommy! must be in Walker and Davis who are so crassly spurning his past efforts to bring high-speed rail to Wisconsin. Rather it's Doyle and Barrett acting on Tommy!'s vision for high-speed train service connecting Madison and Milwaukee.

Time for Tommy! to call out Davis for pandering and Walker and Luber for their lies.

Scott Walker's blast at Tom Barrett and Jim Doyle over the award of a train contract that is bringing jobs to Milwaukee is hysterical in
both senses of the word.

Walker's way-over-the-top news release, accusing Barrett and Doyle of everything short of racketeering, sounds like Walker may be hysterical, if not rabid.

It's also hysterical in the sense that it's laughable. The more you read, and the more you find out the facts, the funnier it gets.

Walker's beef is that a Spanish train company has decided to build its cars at the former A.O. Smith yard instead of at Super Steel, a Milwaukee firm owned by one of Walker's sugar daddies, Fred Luber, a major donor who was his finance co-chair when he ran for governor in 2006.

Walker fulminates about Doyle giving the Spanish company, Talgo, a no-bid contract, about Barrett using tax money to offer incentives for the company to come to Milwaukee, and on and on.

A couple of thoughts:

First, Barrett is the mayor of Milwaukee, and his job is to try to bring jobs and economic development to the city. Walker and Luber Walker complain about

Barretts use of taxpayer funds from the office of Milwaukee City Development to unfairly compete against Super Steel as well as proposed sites in Appleton, Janesville, and Racine in an apparent effort to boost his image in the race for Governor.

Or in an apparent effort to do his job. City development funds are intended to bring jobs to Milwaukee, not Appleton or Janesville or Racine. If you're governor, that's a different story. Wonder how many jobs Walker has brought to Racine or Janesville, since he has brought precious few to Milwaukee County in the last 8 years.

Walker says Super Steel got dissed in the process, but Barrett actually signed an appeal to Talgo asking the company to use the Super Steel facility.

Walker also blasts Doyle for using a no-bid contract with Talgo for the trains, but that has been the law since 1997, when it was changed to exempt passenger rail purchases from the states competitive bidding rules.

Let's see, was Jim Doyle the governor in 1997? No, it was a guy named Tommy Thompson. Fred Luber was a major Thompson fundraiser and donor.

There's more, but it seems like overkill.

How desperate is the Walker campaign -- and how inept?

UPDATE: Walker voted for the no-bid law he's attacking.

I went up to a real working-class event where a crowd gathered outside JP Morgan Chase to demand good jobs in lieu of excessive executive compensation and anti-financial regulatory reform lobbying after we taxpayers bailed out the financial industry.

The latest development in the ‘Brown Bag’ gimmick has emerged (again) as it has become clear that Scott Walker’s economic plan (bailing out corporations and the already-wealthy) isn’t the thing he’s willing to recycle.

The former CEO of Associated Bank and WMC board member made off with over $1 million upon retiring from the bank which recorded a $160 million loss. As one commenter put it, “Well, here's to a job... done.”

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker wants to split Milwaukee Public Schools into 10 to 12 smaller, autonomous school districts, the news media report.

Swell idea. There could be eight African American districts, two Latino districts, and two all-white districts, given the makeup of the current MPS enrollment and the city's housing patterns.

Or maybe Walker forgot to mention that he'd like to do a lot of busing,

Apparently, some editing gremlins at both the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel feel confident that anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist is not an “anti-tax zealot.”

So much so they edited the description of “zealot” from Saturday’s Associated Press story from this weekend’s round-up of the teabaggers’ latest “Republican Rally for Failure” held in the Wisconsin Dells.

Over the weekend we heard about Scott Walker’s $24,500 “Brown Bag,” Rebecca Kleefisch’s plan to cut gov’t waste by creating more gov’t, and the Sean Duffy camp kerfuffle at a Wisconsin TEA Party. Chalk it up to spring fever… or just right-wing ridiculousness as usual.

I wonder if Ed Thompson agrees with what Grover Norquist has to say about the hardworking farmers in Thompson’s area. Namely, that they’re “welfare bums.”

Just days from embarrassing national media exposure questioning its ethics and credibility, WPRI is back with another poll, coming your way soon.

WPRI is the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, although some suggest it is We Push Republilcan Ideas, like school choice, which didn't look as good in the last poll as the numbers WPRI decided to emphasize made it appear.

WPRI says it's a non-partisan think tank, but its roster is filled with refugees from previous Republican administrations and campaigns, including a lot of Tommy Thompson sycophants -- Jim Klauser, Ave Bie, Gerald Whitburn, Rick Graber, etc. etc.

the new poll, of course, will include questions on the races for governor and US Senate. You might wonder why a non-partisan think tank even cares about politics. Or you might not. You might wonder what the spin will be, and that would be an appropriate question.

Anyway, here's your invitation. See you there?

There still remain a few open seats for this Friday's poll release preview from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. We are in the field this week (last Sunday through tomorrow) so the results will be very fresh. This statewide poll includes questions about the Governor's race (both Primary & General), the US Senate race (Primary & General) as well as several other policy related issues.

Dr. Ken Goldstein, professor from the UW Madison will give an overview along with the facts found from this poll. There will also be time for questions and answers relating to the process, and expectations of what he has found and how it pertains to the current political climate in the state.

The breakfast will take place on Friday, March 12 (THIS FRIDAY) from 7:30-8:45am at the Wisconsin Club downtown. Breakfast will be included. Please email Laura Gralton at Laura@Graltonconsulting.com or call Laura at 414-881-1005 if you are interested in attending.

The Wisconsin Institute of Policy Research is a non-profit 501c(3) organization and operates through general gifts and grants. If you enjoy and appreciate what you hear, we hope you will consider a gift to the organization. All types of contributions are acceptable; personal, corporate or foundation. For further information, please contact Laura Gralton.

When we last heard from Laura, she was a Scott McCallum fundraiser talking to a guy named Mike Gableman, who was calling her from his taxpayer-paid DA's office to talk about -- well, we thought fundraising but he said no. She recently had been being paid by the Neumann for Governor campaign, but here's been so much side-switching -- even Klauser changed horses -- that it's hard to know if she's still part of the Neumann team.

A new study from the Citizens for Tax Justice shows just how far Ryan is willing to go to sell out the middle class for the sake of Americas richest one percent.

When Steve Walters was reporting for the Journal Sentinel's Madison bureau, a lot of Democrats thought he just put Tommy Thompson's news releases -- or Jim Klauser's memos -- right in the newspaper, without bothering to edit them or ask anyone for an opposing viewpoint.

So it was a pleasant surprise when Walters, now a producer at Wisconsin Eye and a WisPolitics columnist, said he has a few questions for Scott Walker about his tax cutting plans if he's elected governor.

Unfortunately, Walters is asking the wrong questions:

By employers, Scott, do you mean all Wisconsin businesses? (Scott? Sounds a little chummy, ain'a?)

Specifically, will you recommend cutting -- or even abolishing -- the
$700 million corporate income tax?

Scott, would you freeze property taxes only on homes, or also on other types
of property (manufacturing, commercial, farmland, utilities)?

Interesting questions, perhaps, but irrelevant to a large extent. Walker has already said quite clearly what he wants to do. There are four major pieces of his tax policies, which he's talked about on the campaign trail, including
in LaCrosse in November:

Walker took aim at Wisconsins new combined reporting taxation law, which treats parent companies and subsidiaries as one corporation for income tax purposes.(What was known as the Las Vegas Loophole allowed companies to pretend to be headquartered elsewhere and avoid Wisconsin taxes. Walker wants to reopen the loophole.)

Walker said he would try to repeal the increase in the top income tax bracket... (the top one per cent, who make over $225,000 a year)

and new changes in capital gains deductions... (Guess who pays most capital gains taxes?

He also promises to eliminate Wisconsins tax on retirement income...

Quite a list. But the questions that begs for some reporter to ask -- and maybe even follow up when Walker blathers some generalities -- is how Walker plans to pay for those cuts.

The price tag on those four items, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, is about $2-billion. The state's already facing a $2-billion deficit, so Walker's grand schemes would double it.

So the question Steve should ask his friend Scott is, "What programs are you going to cut if you give away another $2-billion in tax cuts?" (most of which would go to corporations and the highest income earners in the state, by the way)

One easy way to raise the $2-billion would be to end shared revenue to the state's municipalities, an $1.86 billion program. that of course would result in either sky-high property tax increases or severe cuts to vital services, like shutting down police and fire stations and inadequate snow removal and road repair.

Walker actually proposed ending shared revenue to municipalities when he was in the legislature, so that is not so far-fetched. A guy named Scott McCallum wanted to end shared revenue, too, but that didn't work out so well for him.

One Wisconsin Now offered some other possibilities for Walker to consider to save $2-billion:

--Ending health care assistance to over 100,000 families (two adults, two children) per year enrolled in the states BadgerCare programs.

--;Firing 14,000 public school teachers

--Cutting nearly all funding to the University of Wisconsin System

Let's hope that Walters's questions are just the first in a series that some enterprising reporters might ask.

Let's also hope that the reporter asks them of Walker not on paper but face-to-face, or better yet, on camera, and insists on some real answers.

We can only hope.

When the University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Science department announced a new polling partnership with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, one of Wisconsin's most prominent right wing think tanks, we were immediately worried about the credibility of the poll -- and more importantly, the credibility of the UW.

And when through a public records request, we uncovered that the corporate interests at WPRI pressured UW professor Ken Goldstein to alter the presentation of the poll results to more closely reflect a narrow right-wing agenda, our worst fears were realized.

UW's partnership and promotion of this propaganda polling project must end. Today. Can you sign on to the petition demanding an end to the UW-WPRI scheme? We'll deliver the names to the UW Political Science department chair, John Coleman, and UW Chancellor Biddy Martin to make sure our united voices are heard loud and clear.

Sign the petition: http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/uwpolling

Below is a letter I sent on March 4, I invite to share your sentiments with him as well; and/or to join us Mon. March 8 from 5-6pm outside of downtown Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel. A.H.

Dear Scott Walker:

I am writing to you to ask that you publicly dissassociate yourself and your campaign from former Gov. Jeb Bush's open record of supporting terrorists.

Please see some of the research below. While in law school, at the Columbus School of Law as part of Catholic University, I had the opportunity to meet one of the victims of such terrorism, who was then teaching at American University, the former Foreign Mininster of Chile, Orlando Letelier. The following year, in 1976, a car bomb assassinated him and a U.S. policy analyst Ronnie Moffit, right in our nation's capital. As you will see from the attached, based primarily on U.S. intelligence sources, which can be researched generally but in most detail at the National Security Archives, housed at George Washington Univerity, Orlando Bosch boasted of his role in this assassination, shortly before blowing up a civilian airliner coming from South America to Cuba. That was the first terrorist bombing of a civilan airliner in the Western Hemisphere, and it killed all 73 people on board.

I have met some of their relatives. They cannot understand how the masterminds of this outrageous act of terrorism can be walking freely in Miami today. But Jeb Bush can, because he is considered the person most responsible for providing them with safe haven in Florida, particularly Orlando Bosch. Some of those survivors live in Cuba, relatives of the pilot, the crew, the fencing team which was returning to Cuba having won five gold medals. Some live in the U.S., relatives of a young outstanding student from Guyana, who was flying to Cuba to receive free medical education. They have never gotten over the loss of their son and brother. Others live in South America, whose sons or daughters were also planning to become doctors to serve humanity.

I suspect you may never have heard of these facts. But, respectfully, once you have invited Jeb Bush to come to Milwaukee, and praised him as a model for you, you can no longer remain safely ignorant. I beg you to review this sad history, and declare openly that such support for terrorists can no longer be justified.

I thank you for your kind consideration.

Art Heitzer, Attorney at Law, Milwaukee

The latest talking point to trickle down from Fox News to the rest of the GOP is that an up or down vote, also known as reconciliation, on health insurance reform in the Senate is outside the Senate rules. GOPer talking heads have equated using reconciliation with the "nuclear" option -- which, gentle reader, you'll be surprised to learn, is a total lie.

The latest liar to join the fracas is Reince Preibus, chair of the Wisconsin GOP. '"Democrats like Senator Feingold and President Obama have clearly and publicly opposed the use of reconciliation, also know (sic) as the "nuclear option" without equivocation...Democrats' willingness to contradict themselves by changing the rules in the Senate...blah blah blah talking point talking point etc blah.

Now, now, Reince. Just because Hannity or Rush says something certainly does not make it true.

Ed Thompson announced today that he’d be singing Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” In his latest press release, Thompson raises the roof for Norquist and his group, Americans for Tax Reform, for championing a belief in anti-working class tax policies. Score another one for the fat cats.

Good news, Wisconsin taxpayers. There are more swimming pools in your future. Look for one in a backyard near you -- but not at the park. Campaign press release:

Scott Walker, Milwaukee County executive and Republican candidate for governor, told a crowd of over 125 at Sheraton Hotel this weekend that as governor he would keep his promise to spend taxpayer money as if it were my own,...

Walker spent a chunk of his own money on a private swimming pool at his suburban home, while taking a 72% pay raise from the taxpayers. But the public pool in Wauwatosa, where he lives,  was closed in 2003 after Walker became county executive. WUWM radio reported:

In Wauwatosa, weeds snake up through cracks in the empty pool at Hoyt Park. The landscape is a stark contrast to the days when thousands of swimmers made Hoyt the most popular pool in Milwaukee County.

It's all part of Walker's focus on budget-cutting at the expense of quality of life services county government can provide. A private group has been working to raise the money to reopen Hoyt.

Competition. The ubiquitous cry of rabid free-marketers, Ayn Randites and conservatives as the answer to all that ills us. Just undo regulation and UNLEASH THE POWAH of the free market and competition! I can hear the bellowing now. Despite the repeated failures of total deregulation (current recession, runaway credit card industry, stock market crashes, etc.), conservatives still beat the increase competition at any price drum.

A great retort from AFSCME's Marty Biel about WPRI's attack on the state pension system that their president, George Lightbourn, a 20-year public employee himself who managed and now receives benefits from the system, posted by Sly this morning:

Your State Pension Under Attack

Executive Director Beil Blast's Opponents of State Pension Plan
Defends Public Sector Workers

Marty Beil - State Pensions Under Attack
Posted by SLY IN THE MORNING at 7:45 AM

Scott Walker and right-wing radio want to blame State pensions for the budget mess despite Wisconsin having one of the best run pension programs in the country. State employees make lower wages in exchange for a secure but modest retirement and its saves taxpayer money in the long run. Listen to AFSCME Council 24 Executive Director Marty Beil (http://slysoffice.blogspot.com/search?q=State+Pensions).

Listen to the radio show - Approximately 38 minutes
http://slysoffice.blogspot.com/search?q=State+Pensions