Sam Anderson, a retired Teamster who now runs a hobby farm in Marshall, thought Scott Walker needed to listen to the people. So did Elliot Zander, 15, who works on his family's organic vegetable and grain farm in Columbus, as well as Nick Huyvetter, a dairy farmer from Fairchild.
The Wall Street Journal has pointed out what an expensive bureaucratic nightmare it will be for the twenty-person Wisconsin Employee Relations Committee to certify annual elections for the 2,000 unions representing Wisconsin's 200,000 state employees around the state.
In what many called possibly the largest labor demonstration in U.S. history, Wisconsin state legislators rallied a crowd Saturday afternoon that rivaled previous weekends' protests of Gov. Scott Walkers radical budget repair bill.
"Our fight to protect union rights has become a fight to protect all our rights -- a fight to protect democracy," said Minority Leader Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona. "You have inspired the nation with your passionate and peaceful protests."
Karl Rove's secretly-funded Crossroads GPS is spending $750,000 airing a terribly misleading ad attacking public-sector labor unions. With support declining for the GOP's anti-union stance, Rove's group is looking towards the 2012 elections and aiming to counteract that slide by unfairly demonizing unions.
MADISON--New political ads by corporate and CEO-funded groups have been flooding Wisconsin repeating misinformation from the controversial Walker administration about the budget and labor rights. The total sum spent is not yet known. Labor rights groups have responded to the crisis with some ads to make sure the people know that Walker and his corporate allies are refusing to negotiate and are determined to destroy labor rights. Here are some of these ads:
REP. KUCINICH FIRES UP MADISON WORKERS' RIGHTS RALLY
CMD REPORTS: P.O.W.E.R. WALKERS ARRIVE IN MADISON ON A SUNNY SUNDAY
A new report from CMD's Jennifer Page:
Walking over 84 miles from Milwaukee to Madison to make a point is no laughing matter. But no one would know that looking at the smiling, happy, albeit tired - looking, people who decided to make the journey to protest Governor Scott Walker's budget bill. "It's a great day for a walk," says one of the organizers of the P.O.W.E.R. Walkers event, Steve Whitlow, as the group gets ready to finish the last leg of their walk after stopping for lunch at a Williamson Street store that provided free food for everyone involved.
The Utah-based "American Patriot Recall Coalition" (APRC) registered recall committees online February 18 for eight of the 14 "AWOL" Wisconsin Democratic senators, leaving the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) -- and many Wisconsinites -- with raised eyebrows.
"Any group from anywhere can register a recall committee, however that group must have a local person who lives in the district of the officeholder who's being recalled," explained Wisconsin Government Accountability Board Public Information Officer Reid Magney.
In an extreme move to take away power of local governments, the Michigan Senate voted yesterday to allow the appointment of so-called emergency financial managers to take control of cities and school districts that the newly elected Republican governor in the state unilaterally declares to be "financial emergencies."
AFTER WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE VOTES TO STRIP WORKERS OF THEIR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS, THURSDAY EVENING RALLY MAPS NEXT STEPS IN "PEOPLE'S FIGHT"
7:30 p.m. -- Erica Pelzek reports:
Hundreds of saddened—and livid—protesters gathered at a stage on State and Mifflin Streets outside the Wisconsin State Capitol Thursday evening after the state Assembly passed the budget repair bill eliminating collective bargaining rights for many of the state's unionized workers.
MADISON--The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has filed a brief with the Wisconsin Supreme Court defending proposed disclosure rules passed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, rules that are being challenged by the Koch-funded group, Americans for Prosperity. In the brief, CMD also questions whether rights granted by Wisconsin's Constitution can be legitimately extended to corporations.
Center for Media and Democracy (CMD)
520 University Ave, Ste 305 • Madison, WI 53703 • (608) 260-9713
CMD is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit.
© 1993-2024