Wrestlin' in Wisconsin

Republican State Sen. Van Wanggaard said Tuesday he would not sue to try to overturn his loss in the June 5 recall - an announcement that means control of the Senate will soon be handed over to Democrats.

John Lehman won the election by more than 800 votes, but Wanggaard asked for a recount, citing what he called election irregularities. Lehman maintained his lead in the recount, and Wanggaard has spent the past week mulling whether to sue to try to reverse the results.

Tuesday was the deadline to file a lawsuit, and he said he had decided against one. That means state election officials can swear in Lehman

A Wisconsin judge on Friday struck down nearly all of the state law championed by Gov. Scott Walker that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

Walker’s first siege was in 2011, just after winning the governorship. Despite an election night promise of “moving the state forward together,” the newly minted executive entered office and promptly launched an attack on public-sector unions, powerful opponents who formed the backbone of the state’s Democratic Party. Walker’s proposal ended collective bargaining for pay raises and forbid unions from deducting fees from employee paychecks. It forced state workers to hold annual votes for union representation and required them to pay larger contributions to pensions and health care plans.

Unions fought back and mounted a rearguard action, collecting the signatures for a recall election. But the counterattack failed. Walker won his second election in two years, underscoring his anti-union reforms and raising his stature in the national Republican Party. By 2013, Wisconsin public employee unionization had dropped about 13 percent, the sharpest decline in the nation. Today these unions have fewer members, fewer funds, and fewer allies.

This Walker is one of the most astute politicians that I have seen in a long time.