Wrestlin' in Wisconsin

What's happening in Wisconsin isn't about budget deficits or government spending or even public employee benefits. It's class war, wherein the big business, conservative Right tries to pit working class Americans against one another so that the super-rich can continue to pilfer our private and public coffers for their own boundless gain. Here are the facts you need to know -- and spread:

1. 60% of Wisconsin's largest corporations pay ZERO taxes

According to the Institute for Wisconsin's Future, in 2007 60% of corporations in Wisconsin with over $100 million in annual revenues paid zero taxes. None. Zip. Zilch.


2. Raising corporate taxes in Wisconsin to the national average would generate $1 BILLION in revenue

By comparison, Gov. Walker's union busting bill will "save" a measly $350 million (that is, if you consider lowering the income and security of a core group of tax-paying workers "saving" money...).


3. Cutting taxes on corporations and the rich created state budget crises.

States do not have a spending problem. They have a revenue problem. The recession caused all tax receipts to be lower, but government revenue was artificially suppressed long-before by tax cuts for the big business and the rich pushed through at both the federal and state levels. But with Wall Street tycoons still raking in big bonuses while the rest of us stagger and suffer, anger against big business might reach a boiling point... unless private sector workers can be pitted against public sector workers in a "blame government" charade to diffuse anger from the rightful target.


4. Gov. Walker and the attack on unions are paid for by anti-government Koch brothers

David and Charles Koch, scions of the second largest private corporation in the United States, know how to get a good deal for their dollar. Do you really think the brothers who fund the anti-government, pro-big business Tea Party really give a damn about Wisconsin's deficit? They are using Wisconsin in their larger play to destroy all unions, further strip all workers of benefits and decent wages, and increase power and profit for a very few, very large corporations like their own. The Koch brothers are among Gov. Walker's top political contributors.

"All I know is that we're not talking, we're wasting valuable time about collective bargaining, which I don't ever remember being a part of last election's discussion what so ever."

"You know, to me, this just looks like the classic overreach."

"That's correct. And you know what? I can tell my colleagues are very good and listening to ... I can't tell you how they're going to vote." (Answering a question related to the Democrats needing three Republicans to join their cause.)

"We have, you know, the governor taking a phone call on a prank... and umm... you know, you wonder why people don't have any faith in the political process."

"We are going to create a situation where we focus all our energy on wars with each other, rather than building up Wisconsin. And we know what that's like in our families. Do we work together or do we spend all of our energy fighting?"

"That could happen. The problem with that approach is then you'd have to address that this collective bargaining issue really isn't related to the state budget... it would involve an embarassing admission..." (Answering a question about why the Senate doesn't call collective bargaining a non-budget issue and pass that part without Democratic senators presents.)

"...given us labor peace for 50 years in this state." (On collective bargaining with public workers)

"Let's tackle this budget, let's not raise taxes, but let's do it in a way that doesn't wind up tearing apart families and communities."

Ohio GOP Advances Anti-Union Bill After Last Minute Committee Shuffle
Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 2, 2011, 4:19PM

It took the removal of two -- count 'em -- union-sympathetic Republicans from Ohio state Senate committees, but supporters of Gov. John Kasich's (R) plan to limit collective bargaining rights for state workers were able to move their plan one step closer to Kasich's desk today.

By a vote of 7-5, a State Senate Committee charged with reviewing the collective bargaining proposal -- known as Senate Bill 5 -- moved the bill toward a floor reading and its expected passage. Shortly after that, a similarly close vote moved the bill out of the Senate Rules Committee.

The bill is now on the Senate floor and passage is expected imminently. But opponents of the law say the pathway to today's vote shows how hard a sell Kasich's plan is to the broad swath of voters in the Buckeye state.

Indeed, the narrow committee victories for supporters of the plan came with some awfully bad optics. In order to ensure a vote that would go Kasich's way, the leader of the GOP-controlled state Senate removed Sen. Bill Seitz (R) from the Insurance and Labor Committee and Sen. Scott Oelslager (R) from the Rules Committee. Both Republicans are opposed to Kasich's collective bargaining plan, and their votes against it would have deadlocked their respective committees, thus keeping the bill from moving ahead.

More on the committee removals from the Cincinnati Enquirer here.

Now, as debate rages over the bill on the state Senate floor at this very moment, Seitz and Oelslager are among four Republicans who say they'll vote against Kasich's measure barring all unionized state employees from bargaining for benefits or going on strike. The Democratic minority, which is unified against the proposal, needs three more Republicans to come their way to defeat the law.

That seems unlikely to happen, but the committee removals earlier today have given union supporters in Ohio a new line of attack: Kasich's bill is too conservative for even the members of his own party.

As an SEIU spokesperson told TPM, the booting of Oelslager and Seitz suggests the plan is "an extreme partisan attack" that will alienate Ohio's electorate.

Kasich and his allies have said the changes to collective bargaining are needed to keep the state out of a fiscal hole and say the law is not about union-busting as critics have alleged.

As of today official campaigns to recall all 8 GOP Senators have been launched:

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Five Democratic state senators and six of their Republican colleagues are being targeted by recall attempts.

The recall paperwork has been filed in recent days, as a Senate impasse persists over Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill.

The Government Accountability Board said Wednesday the Democratic senators targeted are Minority Leader Mark Miller, Spencer Coggs, Dave Hansen, Jim Holperin and Robert Wirch.

It says the Republicans are Sens. Robert Cowles, Alberta Darling, Glenn Grothman, Randy Hopper, Mary Lazich and Luther Olsen.

Once the recall paperwork is filed, organizers have 60 days to gather signatures. The number of signatures depends on how many voters in that district voted for governor, a number that ranges here from 11,000 to 21,000.

If enough signatures are gathered, the incumbent has to go through a new election.

Today, the liberal groups Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America launched robocalls in the districts of five Republican state senators to determine whether voters are interested in pursuing recall efforts against their respective representatives.

The five targeted lawmakers are: Sens. Luther Olsen, Dale Schultz, Robert L. Cowles, Dan Kapanke, and state Senate President Mike Ellis. Three of those lawmakers -- Olsen, Cowles and Kapanke -- are immediately vulnerable. Under Wisconsin law, elected officials are vulnerable to a recall after one year in office.

Meanwhile, the American Patriot Recall Coalition, a conservative group founded in Utah in response to the events in Wisconsin, is in the process of gathering signatures to recall seven of the 14 Democratic Wisconsin senators who fled their state in protest of Walker's bill.

I still think that Dems loss this game 9 times out of 10....

Now, where have I heard that phrase before? LOL Admiral Yamamoto during WWII.

I dont hear anyone but union members complaining, and that is not enough.

The 14 Wisconsin state Senate Democrats who left the state two weeks ago now face fines of $100 for each day they stay away.

Republicans remaining in the Senate approved the daily fine today with none of the Democrats present.

The Democrats left Wisconsin in order to delay indefinitely a Republican-backed bill taking away collective bargaining rights from public employees.

The resolution also requires the missing Democrats to reimburse the Senate for any costs incurred during attempts to force them to return. Their salary and other per diem payments can be withheld until they pay back the penalties and costs.

Republicans have already withheld the checks of missing Democrats from direct deposit and denied access to copying machines for their staff.

Meanwhile, five Democratic state senators and four of their Republican colleagues are being targeted by recall attempts.

The Democratic senators targeted are Minority Leader Mark Miller, Spencer Coggs, Dave Hansen, Jim Holperin and Robert Wirch, according to the Government Accountability Board. The Republicans are Sens. Robert Cowles, Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper and Luther Olsen.

Once the recall paperwork is filed, organizers have 60 days to gather signatures. The number of signatures depends on how many voters in that district voted for governor, a number that in these cases ranges from about 11,000 to 20,000.

And the screws turn a bit more on those who vacated the state and their jobs...

All in all I would not be losing any sleep over those "fines" if I was those senators

These people have personal bank accounts that can not be filled with donations per ethics rules....it matters when they personally lose $700 a week