March 2011 Archives

Wisconsin homes are getting an interesting robo-call from Assembly Republican sheep team member Rep. Michelle Litjens.

Enjoy the noxious hyperbole and sanctimony and then we'll talk more:

This is Michelle Litjens, I'm a Republican state representative from the Fox Valley.  Recently, a Democrat legislator threatened my life on the floor of the Capitol.  He apologized later, and as a Christian I moved on.

But it demonstrates the divisiveness created by public union bosses who have interfered with our legislative process.

Now these same public union bosses are trying to take over control of our Wisconsin Supreme Court. I commend Justice David Prosser, a judicial conservative, for his proven record of deciding each case on the merits not the dictates of a special interest group.

Let Justice David Prosser know that you agree with him that justice should be based on the merits, not the special interests.

So, here are my thoughts of this call, which was paid for by the Illinois-based PatrioticVeterans.org, whoever they are.

First of all, no one threatened her life. A state legie yelled something in her direction when he was outraged about the nonsense they pulled and their illegal vote in the middle of the night in the Wisconsin Assembly (not to be confused with the illegal vote in the Senate). So, get over yourself.

Second, on the tossing of the "as a Christian" card. If you're so outraged about the conduct of your colleague, then why aren't you mortified by the fact that David Prosser, who you are endorsing and who you are supporting with this irritating robo-call, he screamed at Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson that she is a "total bitch" and that he was going to "destroy her"?

Third, if "as a Christian" you "moved on," why are recording a paid robo-call by some non-Wisconsin outfit that's so fly-by-night it doesn't even have a website?

Lastly, defending someone who refused to prosecute a pedophile priest who went on to molest others is not the Christian thing to do. And it raises the question: Why does Michelle Litjens want pedophile priests to get away with molesting children? It's a question I'll be asking myself for the next few days: Why does Michelle Litjens want pedophile priests to get away with molesting children? After all, if union leaders are responsible for a colleague yelling something on the floor of the Assembly, then by your logic, we can hold you also responsible for failing to make sure that a pedophile priest was imprisoned for molesting children.

Bottom line: This robo-call is a smoke screen to try and divert attention from issues of Prosser's infamous temper highlighted in One Wisconsin Now's "Prosser's Abuse Conduct Troubling" video. It's been seen almost 15,000 times since we put it up and if you like it, help us spread the word.

But back to the Convenient Christian. Here's what we'll do, gentle readers, we'll try and get Litjens on the record answering these questions, particularly why Michelle Litjens doesn't want pedophile priest to be prosecuted for molesting children, and then we'll report back.

Wisconsin thanks you for clarifying. And David Prosser thanks you for your snappy headline writing, no doubt. (Note: The graphic below is directly from WRTL and not photoshopped.)

Last week, we revealed that the corporate-financed mother of all special interest smear ad groups, the Republican State Leadership Committee, had a false ad about Sen. Dave Hansen with false claims about a fake teacher who would leave Wisconsin.

That "teacher" sure does get around, as an ad to attack workers in Florida, paid for by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, has footage of the same fake "Wisconsin teacher."

More evidence that the RSLC's false claim that this is a "Wisconsin teacher" has been confirmed to be a lie.

The ad should be yanked for outright falsehoods. Maybe they can appeal to Attorney General JB Van Hollen.

Oh, wait, Van Hollen got $10,000 from RSLC last election cycle. Oh, yeah and his top lieutenant was getting advice from RSLC's political director before doing corporate America's bidding and wasting our tax dollars trying to jump in on the lawsuit to block the federal health reform act.

Never  allowing facts to get in the way of its smears, the right wing is trying to create a false moral equivalency between retaliatory actions taken by the Republican Party of Wisconsin against UW-Madison Professor Bill Cronon and a completely different kind of request for contract information made by One Wisconsin Now.

After Professor Cronon, in a widely-read opinion column in The New York Times, pulled back the long-hanging corporate curtain at the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Republican Party launched an unconscionable and chilling assault, demanding a laundry list of items from Cronon's UW email account.

Now reeling from the backlash, the Republicans have dispatched some of their leading cheerleaders, including the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and Patrick McIlheran from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Their dual campaign of disinformation has zero facts, but since One Wisconsin Now is being named in this laughable attack, here is our response to the nonsense:

One Wisconsin Now sought records, as was reported, solely related to a non-academic, polling project between the UW-Madison and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, a private entity which has raised over $2 million in the last three years and is funded by the right wing, pro-Wall Street, right-wing finance machine.

We requested no one's emails by name, simply seeking the documents related to how much in taxpayer-financed UW-Madison resources were going to the project, and supporting documents for the contract. It is noteworthy  that the UW hastily canceled the contract and amended its press release announcing the project.

A copy of the information we requested October 5, 2009 follows:

"This is to request, under the state's Open Records Law (19.31-39, Wisconsin Statutes), a copy of any and all documents relating to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Science Department's partnership with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute to conduct joint polling as announced in a press release on September 10, 2009.  This request includes but is not limited to:

• Contract(s), memoranda of understanding, or any other documents setting forth the relationship between the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute related to this partnership;
• Other documents related to the partnership with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, including documents generated prior to the formalizing of any relationship with WPRI, such as draft contracts;
• Contracts, memoranda of understanding, or documents setting forth the relationship between the UW and any other vendor or entity related to the project;
• Billing statements and/or invoices issued by the University of Wisconsin or received from any and all persons, entities, or vendors working on the project;
• Documents reflecting sources of funding for the project;
• Documents reflecting  the University's budget for the project;
• Documents reflecting  the methodology being used for the polls;
• Documents reflecting all of the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Research Institute employees working on the project;
• Documents reflecting University of Wisconsin student participation in the project, whether paid, volunteer, intern, or for-credit;
• Agendas, meeting minutes, handouts and any other record of governmental bodies within the University discussing the project;
• All correspondence (with any attachments) related to the project, including email messages, text messages, letters, memoranda, or other communications, including those exchanged between University of Wisconsin employees, students, and representatives and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute."

The results of our investigation found the following (documented at this link):

The documents showed that political calculations were front and center with the project, including altering the polls' presentation under pressure from the head of WPRI, because the data depicted statewide overall opposition to private school vouchers. That is doubtless why WPRI is trying to raise this noxious and false comparison, and how they were able to get soul mate and stenographer McIlheran to hop on board.

Contrast our effort to obtain records above with the Republicans' nonsense:

The RPW asked for e-mails from Cronon for "reference any of the following terms: Republican, Scott Walker, recall, collective bargaining, AFSCME, WEAC, rally, union, Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Rob Cowles, Scott Fitzgerald, Sheila Harsdorf, Luther Olsen, Glenn Grothman, Mary Lazich, Jeff Fitzgerald, Marty Beil, or Mary Bell."

"Union"? "Rally"? "Collective Bargaining"?

Only in the midst of a corporate-financed disinformation campaign could a moral equivalency be made between the ruthless intimidation tactics of the Republican Party of Wisconsin against Professor Cronin and what One Wisconsin Now requested related to contracts and finances in the cancelled polling project that would have used taxpayer-financed university resources.

Looks like WPRI is scrambling again because, they've "been burned a couple times and don't need to be the one holding the gas can."

Rightwing Republican talking-point stenographer Patrick McIlheran has outdone himself on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's website today. McIlheran, a prolific contributor to the opinion page and the print version of the MJS outdoes himself on the site in a column defending David Prosser's unwillingness to prosecute a sexual abuse of children by a priest with prominent family ties, which happened while he was Outagamie District Attorney. Not only is McIlheran factually wrong throughout, despite these facts actually being reported in today's MJS, but also he shows a despicable lack of concern about the crime of sexual assault of children. (Facts on Prosser's unwillingness to prosecute are available with full documentation at ProsserFacts.com)

1. These activities all happened in 1978, but McIlheran repeatedly refers to 1979 including in the lede, a glaring factual inaccuracy which casts a shadow over his comprehension of the case itself and David Prosser's unwillingness to prosecute these sexual assaults. David Prosser was in the Assembly in 1979, and in fact spent 1978 running for office and engaging in all the fundraising, coalition building and controversy avoiding that goes with being a legislative candidate.

2. There was a third victim of abuse who Prosser knew about, something that McIlheran completely ignores. This would be three children who made the accusations which Prosser subsequently failed to prosecute. One wonders how many victims would Prosser have needed to bravely come forward before he would have been willing to act in the midst of his Assembly campaign.

3. But what is most serious. For political reasons, McIlheran downplays the assault of children in their beds and during confession by characterizing the criminal as someone "who tried touching two boys inappropriately." Sexual assault of children is perpetrated often by the attacker using his or her authority as an adult. Far from McIlheran's dismissive language, Feeney's case is worst example of the use of authority to attack children, scare them into silence and scar them for a lifetime with the belief that somehow the attack upon them was their fault. The police report stated, "Fr. Feeney then slipped his hand down and under his pajama bottom." This assault occurred in the child's bed. Feeney assaulted the child during confession. In what environment could these criminal acts be more manipulative of the authority dynamic discussed above?

Perhaps McIlheran's zeal to put something defending Prosser is why he is sloppy on the facts, but it is my belief that it is his politics which is causing him to use language downplaying the assault -- which in my mind, is unconscionable and indefensible. It is likely Prosser's unwillingness to prosecute despite the evidence in a case indirectly involving the powerful diocese during his campaign for Assembly had much to do with political concerns as well.

Patrick McIlheran's dismissive use language to describe the assaults should be addressed and condemned immediately by the editorial board which employs him. Sexual assault of children is not something that can be measured on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's PolitiFact's meter -- assault is assault.

"In a question about their experience, Prosser said Kloppenburg "is incredibly envious of my record" of handling criminal cases as Outagamie County district attorney and his years serving in the Assembly and state Supreme Court." http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/118410829.html

Actually, no, I don't think Kloppenburg or anyone with any knowledge of Prosser's complete record would be envious. Not when that record includes failure to prosecute a pedophile priest, who preyed on dozens of children over thirty years.

And Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is even thanking Prosser in a TV ad for his public service in "Protecting Wisconsin Families." Yes, allowing a pedophile to run loose assaulting children is surely "protecting" our families.

Straight from the mouth of one of the victims:

"I was ready to take the stand," Troy Merryfield said Monday. "He (Prosser) said it would be too embarrassing for a kid my age and said what jury would believe a kid testifying against a priest? Then he said, what really makes it bad is that Feeney's brother, Joe, sang on the Lawrence Welk show and everybody watched that back then."

"Troy Merryfield differs, saying other children could have been spared abuse.
"It wasn't as if sexual abuse of a child wasn't a felony back then," he said. "The laws were on the books, and he should have prosecuted."

It wasn't just the Catholic Church that would not act against pedophile priests, it was law enforcement too, said Sharon Merryfield, who now lives in Texas. "Who else could we turn to? What else could we do? Nobody was on our side."

The Merryfield brothers took the witness stand in 2004 to help convict Feeney, after Vincent Biskupic, then district attorney of Outagamie County, brought charges. Feeney was convicted by a jury of three counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

According to court documents, Prosser knew of a third victim, in addition to the Merryfield boys, who was assaulted by this priest, yet Prosser never even conducted a police investigation. He never met with the priest to ask him directly about the children's claims. Instead, he contacted the bishop and the two of them agreed it would be best for Feeney to be moved.

He never followed up with the bishop, he never checked that the priest couldn't hurt more children, he never sought justice for the children who had been abused.

An enviable record indeed.

There's no denying former Republican Assembly Speaker and failed Republican Congressional nominee David Prosser is a long-time partisan cog in the Republican machine. But is he the most partisan state Supreme Court Justice Wisconsin has ever had?

The answer would be a resounding "yes." And when looking at his record on the Supreme Court, it's abundantly clear that his hard core partisan credentials have guided him in serving the corporate money interests which fund the Republican, anti-working family message machine.

Consider these six items:

David Prosser was a Republican Assembly representative for 18 years, including serving as the Republican leader and speaker. As the Greater Wisconsin Committee showed at www.ProsserEqualsWalker.com, "As a legislator, Prosser voted to restrict the collective  bargaining rights of teachers. As a judge, Prosser sided against collective bargaining rights and against workers who were being deprived of their retirement benefits. Recently, Prosser told a Republican group that there was a "100 percent" chance that Walker's collective bargaining legislation would come before the court. Prosser said to the Republicans that he could not signal his likely position, but criticized his opponent for being supported by unions."

David Prosser served as a mentor for young Republican Representative Scott Walker and shepherded Walker into an unbending Republican partisan - and Walker and Prosser voted together 95 percent of the time when Walker served under Prosser's leadership in the disastrous 1995-96 legislative session. Prosser's campaign manager infamously also said he Prosser would serve as a "complement" to the Walker administration and its unprecedented attacks on workers' rights, education, health care, seniors' access to prescription drugs, recycling and support for local communities.

David Prosser has served the agenda of the Republican money machine at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce including adopting their rule to allow justices to rule on cases in which they've spent money - such as the $5 million they spent to help Annette Ziegler and Mike Gableman get elected - and now WMC has put up ads to support Prosser in his current race.

David Prosser was a failed Republican candidate for U.S. Congress running in 1996 for the seat vacated by retiring fellow Republican Toby Roth. Prosser was a loyal Republican soldier ready to serve the agenda of Newt Gingrich and the attacks on the middle class.

David Prosser has been a featured guest of the Tea Party and his much-publicized appearance at the Koch brothers-financed Americans for Prosperity "Defending the Dream" summit in 2010 in which Republicans assembled to attack in public investment, access to affordable health care and strategize in advance of the 2010 Republican take-over of the Wisconsin state legislature and the election of Walker as governor.

David Prosser touts the endorsements of 69 Republican legislators who voted for the Republican assault on working families and who will help Walker pass his budget which includes the largest cuts to public education in Wisconsin's history -- $834 million in cuts to K-12 education alone; decimates technical colleges, privatizes the UW; includes $84 million in tax giveaways for big business and the wealthy, while at the same time raising taxes by $51 million on the poorest Wisconsinites. Walker's budget will raise SeniorCare prescription drug costs to pay off $1.3 million in donations to Walker and the Republican Governors Association; and even allow health care plans suddenly drop their coverage for contraception.

Quite a list.

But maybe I'm just being a "total bitch" with this analysis. I can only hope Prosser doesn't try and "destroy" me, too, by pointing out the obvious - he is the most unrelenting partisan who has ever been on Wisconsin's Supreme Court.

One Wisconsin Now has a long record of analysis and research on judicial ethics and integrity, including exposing Mike Gableman's pay-to-play contributions which helped get him his judicial appointment and Annette Ziegler's unprecedented scandal and conflicts of interest. You can support One Wisconsin Now's Judicial Ethics and Integrity effort by visiting here.

Add this to the numbers swirling around emails sent to Governor Walker about his controversial "budget repair" bill.

Not included in the count of Walker's email were the messages One Wisconsin Now supporters sent to the Wisconsin state legislature opposing Walker's assault on worker's rights. All in all, 22,064 people signed our petition aginst the so-called budget repair bill, and 18,260 of those signatures came from Wisconsin residents.

Walker has claimed emails in favor of the bill were far outpacing those against, but an analysis by the Associated Press shows that Walker referenced his email support just after it tipped in his favor; his assertion of overwhelming support just isn't true. It's no wonder Walker didn't mention the emails sooner, -- it took a little while for the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity to churn their AstroTurf machine to give Walker the illusion of support when facing the 100,000 protestors outside his office window.

The Republican State Leadership Committee is back at it again in Wisconsin. RSLC is a Karl Rove-assisted, Washington DC-area corporate front group, which has spent over $60 million since 2002 to elect Republicans.

It attacked Democratic state legislators here during 2010, in one instance using a race-baiting mailer where a white woman has her mouth covered ominously by the hand of a person of color in an apparent effort to infer crime run amok.

Well, now they are attacking Sen. Dave Hansen with a television ad that says the following:

She comes in early. She stays late. She's the best teacher in her school and if Dave Hansen has his way she has every reason to leave Wisconsin. Our government employee contract laws tie her salary to what we pay the worst teachers. It's not fair to teachers. And it's not fair to our kids. We can solve the problem, but Dave Hansen's playing partisan politics instead. Call Senator Hansen. Tell him to stop playing partisan political games.

So this Wisconsin teacher in a Wisconsin classroom is going to leave Wisconsin.

Trouble is if you watch the video, you can plainly see during the first four seconds "FILE FOOTAGE" in the bottom left corner.

A completely bogus claim in an issue ad. You can't claim this Wisconsin teacher is leaving Wisconsin because of Dave Hansen, if she ain't a teacher and she ain't in a Wisconsin classroom.

Also, few additional notes about RSLC:

One Wisconsin Now revealed though an incompletely-fulfilled open records request that back in April 2010, the top deputy to Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen sought direction from the partisan RSLC campaign committee leading up to the Wisconsin Department of Justice attempt to file a partisan lawsuit against the federal health reform act.

The emails One Wisconsin Now obtained indicate then-Deputy Attorney General Ray Taffora had contacted RSLC Political Director Ben Cannatti looking for lawsuit information. Van Hollen's office refused to release the full scope of emails, citing attorney-client privilege - an amazing claim between the state taxpayer-financed office and the RSLC, a partisan political outfit that gave Van Hollen a $10,000 contribution for his 2010 re-election effort.

Among the largest contributors to the RSLC is the American Justice Partnership, created by the National Association of Manufacturers. The American Justice Partnership has donated $2 million to RSLC since 2006 and its website features advertisements run by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce against Kathleen Falk in 2006, Van Hollen's opponent. WMC spent an estimated $2.5 million in Van Hollen's razor-thin victory.

In today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dan Bice revealed that the alleged mistress of State Sen. Randy Hopper, was given a taxpayer-financed job in the state Department of Regulation and Licensing at the urging of the Walker administration.

(Is Hopper whispering career advice in the above photo on the right?)

One must wonder if she is in line for one of the more than three-dozen new political positions Gov. Walker fit into his disastrous so-called budget repair bill that Hopper voted for during the illegal actions of the Senate Republicans Specifically, these jobs are legal positions and public relations positions that would oversee open records requests.

The cost of these positions, the latest in Walker's unprecedented power grabs since taking office, could well exceed $3 million. This comes at a time when Walker's "shared sacrifice" scam is cutting $834 million from education, raising health care costs for as many as one million Wisconsinites, hiking prescription drug costs for seniors and raising taxes on the working poor by $51 million. And all the while as he hands out $200 million in tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthy.

The Bice story showed Walker's top aide intervened to get Hopper's alleged mistress the job. It bends all credibility that Gov. Walker's chief of staff threw his weight around to get someone a part-time, temp slot. Under the scenario, we are to believe Hopper's alleged mistress left a job at a well-connected political firm to take a part-time gig -- albeit one in which she is paid more than her predecessor at the state agency. (One Wisconsin Now will assuredly keep an eye on how this plays out to see who else is getting all of these plum political patronage jobs.)

There is still question about how much Hopper had to with getting his alleged mistress the job - such as how did they decide the Department of Reg & Licensing was the place to put her?

Consider this: Hopper's former Chief of Staff  is from Superior, as is Walker's appointed Regulation & License honcho Dave Ross. This same chief of staff then served as Walker's campaign policy director, served in Walker's transition and now serves as his state office policy director.

Actually, his title is "director of policy and legislative affairs." (No joke.)

Seems like a Superior set of coincidences.

UPDATE: Incidentally, Hopper spent over $40,000 during his 2008 campaign on Persuasion Partners, Inc. (the former employer of his alleged mistress) for expenses, including consulting, television ads and administrative fees.

Bring out your dead!

Sure, Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker proposed a budget that would end drug coverage for low-income seniors and hand over oversight of and cut funding for our state’s successful health care program, BadgerCare, to his extreme administration. But fear not, poors! Gov. Walker’s budget makes it cheaper to die anyway:

The governor's budget steps up payments for funerals for people on Medicaid even as it cuts nearly $500 million from the health programs that serve 1.2 million statewide.
…
Sure enough, on page 266 of the Governor's budget, on the state Department of Administration's website, is an item called "Funeral and Cemetery Aids."

It contains the following directive: "The Governor recommends increasing funding for payments to counties based on a re-estimate of unreimbursed funeral and cemetery costs."

Funding jumps from $3.897 million in fiscal year 2012 to $4.0434 million in fiscal year 2013.

Phew.

But not everyone is convinced.. The whole plan has one state resident, Dorrine Green, a bit worried:

The Manitowoc mom suffers from a rare disease called Pseudomyxoma Peritonei that requires surgeries every couple of years and regular monitoring with CAT scans. Last year, her medical costs totaled $140,000. Without help from the state's public health programs, she says, she would have died. She still will die if she doesn't get such help again, Green says. Her tumors are sure to return and require surgery in a year or so. After seven or eight of these operations, she says, the disease is usually terminal.

To document her concerns. Ms. Green started the blog, “Scott Walker is Going to Kill Me.”

I wish I was making this up.

[Capital Times]

This month we saw Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led legislature ram through a piece of legislation despite HUGE public opposition. Poll after poll after poll confirmed that the public was firmly against Walker and the GOP and their push for government taking away the rights of workers.

Now, facing numerous serious recall efforts and public backlash, Walker and the GOP are getting asked the obvious question: why did you ignore the public?

In a Wisconsin State Journal article last week, Walker basically came right out and said he ignores public opinion:

"Polls are nice, if they are on your side," he said. "But in the end, you've got to govern based upon what you think is the right thing."

His ally in Milwaukee County, Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo, basically said the same thing:

"He ignores the polls and the protests and does what he thinks is right. And I can tell you, he will not give in."

Walker reiterated his feeling toward public opinion polls in another Wisconsin State Journal article today

"If I governed based on polls, I'd still be in the state Assembly," Walker said.

But during his campaign for governor, Walker never missed an opportunity to remind the press, in case they missed it, that polls were showing the public was on his side. Here are some (14) examples of Walker campaign press releases pushing poll coverage:

ICYMI: Two Polls Show Walker Leading With Four Days Until Election Day

ICYMI: Walker Leads By 8 With Just 7 Days Until Election Day

ICYMI: New Poll Shows Double-Digit Walker Lead

ICYMI: Rasmussen Poll Shows Walker Gaining Ground; Now Leads 51% to 42%

ICYMI: Yet Another Poll Shows Walker Over 50%

See more here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Walker himself spent hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars on polling right up until Election Day. Here are the polling expenditures taken from Walker's campaign finance reports. Take a look.

So while Walker says he doesn't pay attention to public opinion, he obviously does, and will pay big money to find out what it is. He just chose to ignore it.

While the eyes of the nation focus on the 14 Democrats who boldly left Wisconsin to allow more public debate on the issue of workers' rights in our state, the GOP in Wisconsin's state senate are quietly fleeing from Republican Gov. Scott Walker's extreme budget repair bill that would do away with said rights.

Last week, news broke that Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) was "lashing out" at his more extreme GOP colleagues for supporting what he called an "overreach" on the part of Gov. Walker. Talking to an interviewer on WEKZ-AM (1260) in Monroe, Sen. Schultz said:

"All I know is, we're not talking. We're wasting valuable time about collective bargaining, which I don't ever remember being a part of the last election whatsoever. But most of all, you know, to me, this just looks like the classic overreach we see every two years."

The story spread through the Capitol like a wildfire after a tech-savvy listener recorded the interview and posted the audio on the internet, available here http://youtu.be/4gTYJTTm3Y0.

But Sen. Schultz - who was already thought to be riding the fence - isn't the only Republican fleeing Gov. Walker's extreme bill.

Yesterday, Sen. Rob Cowles (R-Allouez) spoke with the Green Bay Press-Gazette, which reported:

"[Cowles] said Republicans already got the lion's share of what they were looking for from unions in pension and health care contributions, and a compromise with Democrats on the rest of Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill is expected soon."

Sen. Cowles even went as far as to allude to scrapping the major sticking point for the left: "You have to be flexible," Sen. Cowles said, "because some way, somehow there will be an amendment modifying the collective bargaining."

Sen. Cowles has another problem to consider: The Green Bay Press-Gazette is reporting today that the recall effort against Sen. Cowles is proceeding rather successfully.  Just a few days into the 60-day effort, "More than 1,200 have signed the petition, about 7.5 percent of the nearly 16,000 needed to initiate a recall election."

Across the state, efforts like these have been launched, putting increased pressure on GOP state senators on the fence. An early survey by Strategic Telemetry couldn't have been looked good to some of these senators, especially for Republicans like the ethically-challenged Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse) or Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), who has a corrections facility in his district.

As the table illustrates, constituents by large numbers in these areas showed support for the rights of workers to collectively bargain.

And just today, Talking Points Memo reported that another GOP state senator on the fence, Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), had labeled Gov. Walker's plan "radical," saying:

"The concept is pretty radical," said Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon). "It affects a lot of good working people."

Olsen said he could support the changes on pensions and health care but had reservations about taking away other bargaining rights.

Public opinion might be influencing this group of senators to flee from Gov. Walker's extreme attempt to take away the rights of workers. Poll after poll, from even GOP-leaning firms, has shown support for workers' rights and unions climbing, while support for Gov. Walker and his extreme policies has taken a nosedive.

Sheila Cochran, Secretary/Treasurer of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, has written the definitive analysis of Scott Walker's plans to dismantle Wisconsin and the infrastructure that makes Wisconsin the best place in an America to live, work and raise a family. Read on:

Everyday this fight goes on; more people begin to understand what is at stake. Please let your voices be heard in any way you can. The Budget Repair Bill was an outright declaration of war on Organized Labor. This governor did not campaign on stripping the Collective Bargaining rights from workers, had he done so he wouldn't have been elected. No matter how the media spins its, the polls are showing the public is with us.

The longer the 14 brave Senators stay away the more the public gets exposed to the lies and lack of compromise the better educated we will all become in what is exactly in this budget.  It strips so many needed programs and a right from Wisconsinites it is sick. I don't know how the Governor can sleep at night, or the business community who support him can remain silent. Labor willingly entered this fight, and will remain on the front lines and we are not alone, and the longer we stand and fight the more people will see how bad this bill really is!!

These aren't cuts this is a MASSACRE; just slashing through Medicaid, Badgercare, Senior Prescription programs, Education at every level, Family Planning, FoodShare, and WIC programs.  It will drastically cut everything at  county and city  Health Departments, including AIDS/HIV testing, breast-feeding education, care passenger safety education, family planning, postnatal home visits, immunizations and influenza clinics, nutrition education, parenting education, prenatal education, smoking cessation, WIC, Women's Health Screening Program which includes free Pap's and mammography.  Eliminating funding for recycling programs, bus services, childcare, and force W2 recipients to pay for the tax cut he gave all the corporations. How sick is it to take back $20.00 a month from a W2 mother?? How sick is this man.
 
There is nothing about shared sacrifice in the over 1300 pages of this document.

The more you read it the worse it gets, I wonder if every lobbyist has been paid off yet?  Is there anything else we have to give? We as a people are awake; I just hope we stay awake.

There were thousands marching in Madison yesterday and will again today and now we are adding cities and counties all over the state. Please do your part, out collective future is in our hands, now is the time and we are the people.

Well said... And stop Walker's assault on Wisconsin.

Two troubling stories about Gov. Scott Walker's disastrous budget came across the desk this morning.

The first, from the Capital Times:

Will Gov. Scott Walker's budget make it harder for poor families in Wisconsin to get medical care and put food on the table?

Some people think so.

The governor is proposing to move the responsibility for determining eligibility for aid programs -- including the heavily used food stamp and medical assistance programs - from the counties with their accessible satellite offices to the state.

Even more troubling to some, the governor's budget also sets the stage to hand over basic administrative functions of the food stamp and medical assistance programs statewide to private vendors, a move the state has already tried on a small scale with troubling results.

And another from the Wisconsin State Journal:

Low-income taxpayers in Wisconsin would lose hundreds of dollars in tax credits a year under Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget -- at the same time the governor wants tax cuts for businesses and investors to boost jobs.

Walker proposes cutting about $16 million a year from the program, which in 2009 paid 273,939 low-income Wisconsin residents a total of $133 million.

Under Walker's proposed biennial budget, a single mother with two children earning about minimum wage -- $15,000 a year -- would lose $302 of her $704 Earned Income Tax Credit next year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. A two-parent household with two children earning $30,000 a year would see its tax credit cut by $194 to $258, the alliance said.

Eat your heart out George W. Bush.