One Wisconsin Now

Last week it was reported that a Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) staffer condescendingly referred to the Epic Systems founder and well-respected progressive business leader as “that computer lady.” As a result the Institute for One Wisconsin launched an education effort this week questioning WMC’s attitude toward women and their history of opposing legislation that would have been helpful to both women and their families.

The online campaign includes a WMC Watch News Alert available at WMCWatch.org and a letter to the editor writing tool. Individuals can write a letter to the editor of their local papers expressing their outrage at both the dismissive WMC comments and their legislative positions that have been bad for Wisconsin women.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) have shown themselves to be little more than a partisan organization in recent years. Rather than simply representing business interests in the state, they have become hugely partisan and practically the funding arm for right wing candidates. Understandably, this increasingly partisan direction has concerned numerous businesses that did not sign up for such controversy. Partisanship has become one of the obvious faces of WMC, but in a recent story in the Isthmus, we may have seen a sign of something more troubling.

The Isthmus profiled Epic Systems, a Madison based software company that has not only grown to be one of the most important companies in Dane County but a powerhouse in both the state and country. While describing the many ways that Epic Systems has been leading their entire industry, the story also takes a look at the leadership behind Epic Systems and their great successes. No look at the company would be complete without mentioning the founder and CEO, Judy Faulkner. The story goes on to give a professional and rather personal profile of the force behind this giant success story. As part of that discussion, the story points out that Judy Faulkner is very forward thinking and progressive when it comes to public policy and other important issues. This certainly does not fit with the increasingly right wing partisan WMC agenda.

Today Paid Sick Days Milwaukee, a coalition of labor, educational and community organizations, delivered over 42,000 signatures to the Milwaukee Common Council. The effort was lead by 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women. They are asking the council to pass a requirement that all businesses in Milwaukee provide employees with paid sick day benefits. The council can either vote on it themselves or they could put the measure on the November ballot.

The proposed ordinance would require all private businesses in Milwaukee to give their workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Full-time employees for a large business would earn 72 hours a year. Smaller businesses (with 10 or fewer employees) would only be required to provide 40 hours a year in paid sick days. The days could be taken for illness, medical care for the worker, for their children, parents or any other person related to the worker.

Despite his awful record in the U.S. Senate, John McCain is trying to convince women that he is an advocate for the issues that matter to them most. This of course is patently absurd with even the slightest look at his actual votes. When John McCain had a chance to show his support in April, he skipped out on the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It would have restored workers’ ability to pursue pay discrimination claims in the courts and provided greater protection for women receiving unfair wages. McCain has since explained that he was opposed to the act, saying that women simply needed “education and training.” In addition, John McCain is so extreme on women’s health and family planning issues, that he earned a ZERO PERCENT rating from Planned Parenthood.

Not only does John McCain have a problem on the issues, but he apparently has a problem with the company that he keeps. McCain planned to attend a fundraiser today hosted by Texas oilman Clayton Williams. This is the same man that made one of most disgusting comments against women in American political history. When he was running for governor in 1990, Williams compared rape to bad weather saying, “As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.” It wasn’t until reporters inquired about McCain’s pick to host the fundraiser that he decided to cancel the event at Williams’ home.

John McCain is trying to appeal to women, hoping that they will not look at his record or his actions. Although he has tried to present himself as a “moderate” or “maverick,” when it comes to issues that are important to women, John McCain has proven himself to be wildly extreme and terribly out of touch.

Upon sitting out the vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) remarked that what women really need is “education and training.” Puzzling, because in 2007 Sen. McCain avoided the vote on the America COMPETES Act and voted against the College Cost Reduction Act. The America COMPETES Act promotes education in engineering, technology, and science—fields not typically pursued by women—and was supported by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). The AAUW also supported the College Cost Reduction Act—which aimed to increase Pell grant awards to restore the grant’s purchasing power and reduce subsidized student loan interest—given the fact that “because women are more likely to borrow money for college than men are and will earn less on average after graduation, female graduates are more likely to struggle with their loan debt.”

Watch John McCain tell a 14-year-old girl that she doesn't deserve equal pay.

McCain seems to think that women don't need equal pay protection, they need "more education and training." Check out the video below to hear Sen. McCain's outrageous remarks about his opposition to equal pay for women.

In April, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have restored workers' ability to pursue pay discrimination claims in the courts, and provide protection for women receiving unfair wages. McCain explained his opposition to the bill by saying that instead of equal pay protection, women simply needed "education and training." A 14-year old girl knew better and questioned McCain about his absence and position on the bill to provide protection for equal pay. McCain responded, "I don't believe that this would do anything to help the rights of women."

One Wisconsin Now is marking the 45th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act’s passage by calling on Senator John McCain to promote policies in the U.S. Senate that close the pay gap between women and men once and for all.

In April, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have restored workers’ ability to pursue pay discrimination claims in the courts and provided greater protection for women receiving unfair wages. McCain explained his opposition to the bill by saying that instead of equal pay protection, women simply needed “education and training.” He even told a 14-year-old girl that he didn’t think protections for equal pay would do” anything to help the rights of women.”

The women and families of Wisconsin and the nation can’t afford McCain’s kind of costly inaction. In 2006, Wisconsin women’s wages were about 22 percent lower than men’s. That means a women working full-time in the state would earn around $28,000 per year, on average, compared with over $36,500 for a man. Earlier this year, Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) and Representative Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee) authored the Equal Pay Enforcement Act. It passed in the state Senate but continues to languish in the Wisconsin Assembly. It’s time for Senator McCain to set the tone for our nation and its state legislatures by making equitable wages for women a priority.

It is no secret that anti-choice groups have long used radical tactics to oppose abortion. This year, we saw young children outfitted in "I survived the American Holocaust" tee shirts in legislative hearings in the Wisconsin capitol. Last July, we watched in horror as a group of "pro-lifers" staged, in front of a Milwaukee abortion clinic, a celebratory reenactment of the murder of a Florida abortion provider and his escort by Paul Hill.  In short, their campaigns and demonstrations have grown increasingly extreme and more inappropriate as of late.

Continuing in this vein, Pro-Life Wisconsin is holding prayer vigils across the state on June 7, the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Griswold v. Connecticut. For non-history buffs, this 1965 Supreme Court decision struck down a Connecticut law outlawing contraception for married couples. Since the legalization of contraception, birth control has become commonplace in our society. In fact, 98% of American women use contraception at some point during their lifetime. Despite birth control’s popularity and safety, Pro-Life Wisconsin is joining other anti-choice groups on June 7 to protest outside family planning clinics that prescribe and dispense contraception to low income women. The name of their oh-so-subtle campaign? "Protest the Pill Day '08: The Pill Kills Babies".

Yes, you read that correctly. No longer satisfied with attacking a woman’s right to choose abortion, Pro-Life Wisconsin is now attacking the millions of women who use contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota's first openly-mulletted governor, is making the trip to Wisconsin later this week to visit his pals during the state GOP convo in Stevens Point. And if he speechifies as good as he interviews, it should be a raucous affair.

Consider this gem from a Saturday radio show: "I have a wife who genuinely loves to fish. I mean, she will take the lead and ask me to go out fishing, and joyfully comes here. She loves football, she'll go to hockey games, and I jokingly say, 'Now, if I could only get her to have sex with me I'd really have it made.'''

Hi-lar-ious! The poor hubby whose wife won't meet his needs -- a joke as timeless as it is classy.

On Wednesday afternoon the House of Representatives voted 412 to 0 to pass a resolution, “Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother’s Day.” Just after that unanimous vote, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) jumped up in protest asking that the vote be reconsidered. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) then moved that his request be tabled. This essentially set up a revote on the “Mother’s Day” resolution. Even though it passed the first time unanimously, on the second go-round 178 Republicans in the House voted against the “Mother’s Day” resolution.

Even F. James Sensenbrenner had enough sense not to join the 178 in their vote against Mothers. The same cannot be said for Congressman Paul Ryan, as he supported the legislative attack on Mother’s Day.

A Washington Post column explains that Ryan and Company have been using procedural tactics like this all week. The apparent goal has been to bring the House to a standstill. Apparently nothing is sacred when the partisanship flags start flying in Congress. Look for Ryan’s next targets to be baseball and apple pie.

Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, wants to know what it’s like to be a working woman in America. Today, they are launching their 6th Ask a Working Woman survey online at www.askaworkingwoman.com.

They want feedback on things like equal pay, sick day benefits, health care coverage, pensions and flex time. What are the most challenging issues for women in the workplace? The last time, Working America received feedback from some 22,000 women.

After they finish gathering the data, they will crunch the numbers and forward what working women have to say to the politicians with the power to make it better. The survey is open to all and will be available on line until June 20 at www.askaworkingwoman.com  or http://aaww.questionpro.com/ .

On Wednesday Democrats and some Republicans in Congress tried to pass a discrimination bill. It would have allowed employees more time to sue if they were being discriminated against in pay. The bipartisan effort was unsuccessful because of an almost exclusively Republican filibuster. Even if the measure would have passed, it would have also faced a promised veto from the President.

Specifically at issue was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. It allows employers to continue paying their employees in a discriminatory fashion for the workers’ entire career if the employees don’t dispute their pay within the first 180 days. Prior to the ruling, most people understood that the 180-day limit was intended to apply to any paycheck not just the very first one. It can be difficult for employees to find out what other co-workers are making within the short time frame outlined in the Supreme Court decision.

The Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee announced its endorsement of John McCain today.

Here's what Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin has to say about John McCain's record:

For the past 25 years, John McCain has consistently voted against women's health. From opposing funding for family planning programs to voting against requiring insurance coverage of birth control, McCain has taken extreme positions. He has voted against women's health and has not supported legislation that would help reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion. This has earned him a 0% rating from Planned Parenthood.

Read the truth about McCain's record from PPAWI.org.