One Wisconsin Now

The Center on Wisconsin Strategy has released its 2008 State of Working Wisconsin report and in surprise to very few, the George W. Bush economy continues to batter the state. In what appears to be a consistent theme throughout the Bush economy, the report finds that although productivity is up that many workers are simply not enjoying the benefit. Actually with each year, working folks have struggled more  and more in the last eight years.

More specifically the report found that Wisconsin has lost some 24,000 jobs since June 2007, 13,000 of which are manufacturing jobs. Wisconsin has a median wage that has fallen in recent years, and has a four-person family income that has fallen nearly $6,000 since 2000, three times the national drop. The report also found that although we have a relatively high health insurance coverage rate, it has been in a steady decline in recent years. One of the key reasons that we are seeing such a drastic decline is because too many employers are shifting away from providing health care for their employees. Unfortunately this is something that Senator John McCain’s health care plan would actually encourage. The rate of employees getting their insurance through their employer has fallen from 73 percent in 1979 to 58 percent in 2006. This change has had a very disproportionate and troubling effect on poverty-wage workers.

Today is the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. Eighty-eight years after women getting the equality to vote, John McCain still does not think that women deserve equal pay. McCain, like George W. Bush, has the wrong policies for America’s women and for struggling families. Even just a brief look at his record reveals that on the issues that matter most to women, John McCain is totally out of touch.

John McCain actually fought equal pay legislation by opposing the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have made it easier for women and other workers to pursue pay discrimination claims. At a town hall meeting, a brave 14-year old girl confronted McCain about his opposition to equal pay and he responded by actually saying that the equal pay legislation wouldn’t do anything to help the rights of women.

Other issues that are very important to women are practical everyday issues that affect their families. Things like struggling to pay the rising costs of food, gas and healthcare. John McCain’s economic plan ignores the real needs of the average women and her family and instead focuses on massive tax cuts to corporations like Big Oil and Big Insurance companies.

Pro-corporate soulmate Supremes Mike Gableman and Annette Ziegler get closer by the day.

The latest revelation, Gableman’s going to pull a Ziegler and rule on cases where Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is involved – despite WMC dumping nearly $2 million during his run to get on the high court.

Ziegler earned front page headlines after she provided the deciding vote and wrote the opinion on the WMC-backed Mensha Corp. case – costing taxpayers $265 million and making WMC’s $2 million investment in Ziegler’s ascendency to the top court a worthwhile investment.

Now Gableman tells wispolitics.com that he makes distinctions between those special interests which filled his campaign coffers and those special interests which dumped $2 million in smear ads. Sounds like WMC is getting let off the hook on a technicality. And we know how they hate technicalities.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today that all the usual business suspects are going to pump cash into an effort to fight the paid sick day referendum. The story further reveals that if they don’t get the result that they want on the referendum, that they will spend even more money by challenging the will of the people in the courts. So what is a person supposed to take from this news? That business interests are willing to invest their money in an expensive ad campaign and possibly a protracted lawsuit but not in their own employees and the public health? Are they really going to launch such an effort to keep some of the poorest workers in the city from having a benefit that most people take for granted?

The business interests involved in the fight against paid sick days list all of the same talking points that they have always used when asked to invest more into their employees and the common good. This story is no exception, once again they claim that requiring paid sick days will put people out of business and chase others businesses from the city. How many times have we had to endure this tired old argument? It is straight out of central casting but they have simply replaced the last issue with paid sick days.

Today John McCain held a women-only town hall in Hudson and made the following comment:

"We haven't done enough. We have not done enough. And I'm committed to making sure that there's equal pay for equal work. That there is equal opportunity in every aspect of our society. And that is my record and you can count on it."

Did McCain get lost in the moment or did he intentionally misrepresent himself to Wisconsin women? Regardless of his reason for the statement, it is clearly not an accurate one. He has clearly not been a supporter of equal pay for women despite what he said today in Hudson. Consider just some of the following points from the McCain record.

Tomorrow U.S. Senator John McCain will be coming to Wisconsin and holding a women-only town hall. John McCain’s record of rubber stamping Bush policies in the U.S. Senate has been a disaster for not only women but for entire country.

John McCain actually skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have restored workers ability to pursue pay discrimination claims in court. When a 14-year-old girl asked him about this at a town hall meeting, he told her that protections for equal pay wouldn’t do “anything to help the rights of women.” On the same topic McCain has commented that women simply need “education and training” instead of equal pay protection.

John McCain also is a full supporter of unfair trade deals that has led to the loss of countless jobs. Obviously many of those jobs were held by women, they would probably not judge kindly McCain’s record on the economy.

U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-What's Wrong With You Sick, Frothing Morons?) is finally dead. Happy birthday, U.S. of A.

Helms was a hate-slathered cretin, whose campaigns and governing showed American democracy at its worst. "White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories? Frank Graham favors mingling of the races," thundered just one of many Helms' attacks over the decades.

Conservatives are saddened by the news. "Ol' 27 percent" George W. Bush was soiling his White House crying towel, calling Helms "kind," "decent" and "humble."

And while he had some admirers in Wisconsin, most notably Supreme Court Justice-Elect Mike Gableman's ad-writing team, Helms was a racist thug and the world mourns, simply because it took him so, so long to exit the world he befouled for over eight decades.

For my dough, I'm hoping Wonkette Editor Ken Layne has penned in "Jesse Helms: American Garbage," what will be a waterfall of appropriate tributes.

Feel free to add even better ones to the comment portion of this blog. Helms deserves it for all he did to people of color, gays, the poor and this nation's sense of decency. 

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.

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."