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Newsmax
Wisconsin 'Ground Zero' of Battle to Reshape America
Friday, April 1, 2011 06:33 PM
By: David A. Patten
The fate of the grass-roots push to limit government growth in America hinges on who wins
several pitched battles that continue to escalate in Wisconsin, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
and other leading conservatives are warning.
Those melees include recall clashes, high-stakes elections, union campaign scuffles and intense
courtroom dramas that have escalated in the Badger State since Gov. Scott Walker set out to
cut public-sector entitlements to salvage the state budget.
On Friday, Democrats submitted petitions with more than 20,000 signatures to initiate a recall
election against state GOP Sen. Dan Kapanke. Republicans say it’s a blatant effort to punish
Kapanke for supporting Walker’s efforts.
Organized labor has poured more than $3 million into Wisconsin to underwrite both the
massive recall campaign and a key state Supreme Court election that will be decided April 5.
“Wisconsin is ground zero for the country,” Tea Party Express founder Sal Russo tells Newsmax.
“This is the left’s last stand to turn back the tide of what conservatives have been trying to do in
the country over the last two years. So we can’t fail there -- it’s ground zero.
“Liberals are trying to say, ‘Even if conservatives win the elections, as we did in a lot of states in
2010, we’ll be able to frustrate and stop them and make it so difficult for them that nobody else
will run like that in other states.
“It will bring an end to this conservative tea party revolution that we’ve seen over the last two
years,” Russo warns. “That’s their goal: Not just to win in Wisconsin, but to stamp out the tea
party movement and fiscal conservatives all over the country. They want to set an example in
Wisconsin so that we’ll stop trying in Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania and the other
states.”
In light of those high stakes, Tea Party Express is airing television ads and a get-out-the-vote
campaign on behalf of state Supreme Court Justice David T. Prosser Jr., who is up for re-election
Tuesday.
Conservatives on the court, including Prosser, hold a 4-3 advantage over the court’s liberal
justices. But if the unions succeed in getting environmental activist JoAnne Kloppenburg elected
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instead, Democrats will seize control of the court.
That could be critical, because the court is expected to rule on a wave of legal challenges
coming from opponents of Walker’s controversial budget-repair bill.
What the skirmishes in Wisconsin ultimately may decide is whether reforms such as those the
Republican governor has championed are politically viable or carry too high a price tag at the
ballot box. A recent Rasmussen Reports survey shows that Walker’s popularity with voters has
taken a significant hit since he rolled out his plan to balance Wisconsin’s budget. According to
that March survey, 48 percent of Wisconsin voters now say they “strongly disapprove” of
Walker’s performance.
One sign of the growing national importance of the donnybrook in Wisconsin: Palin weighed in
on Thursday, posting an endorsement of Prosser on her Facebook page. “Wisconsin, please
remember to vote for Justice Prosser on April 5,” she wrote.
Russo says of Palin: “She’s been a big help in crystallizing the issues for Americans. She’s done it
consistently and did it again yesterday with her endorsement.”
Prosser also has the endorsement of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. But Russo tells
Newsmax that Republicans, who perhaps thought the battle against union entitlements had
already been won in Wisconsin, are playing catch-up in the contest. More information on the
fight over the fate of the state’s Supreme Court is available at TeaPartyExpress.org.
“These statewide elections are notorious for very low voter turnout,” Russo tells Newsmax. “So
the motivated voters will make the decision. And right now we’ve been fearful that the
motivated voters have been the left-wing unions and their supporters in the state. So that’s the
biggest fear we have: That the people of Wisconsin are on our side, but the people who vote on
Tuesday aren’t on our side.”
In response, Russo’s organization is handing out phone lists that conservative activists are using
to contact Wisconsin conservatives and urge them not to be complacent, and to turn out and
vote.
Tuesday’s campaign is just one front in the ongoing battles over collective-bargaining rights and
public-worker entitlements in Wisconsin. Other elements include:
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GOP State Sen. Van Wanggaard of Racine, Wis., has asked prosecutors to investigate a
union campaign that threatened to boycott businesses who fail to actively oppose
Walker’s initiatives. Letters circulated by AFSCME Council 24 to local businesses state:
“Failure to do so will leave us no choice but [to] do a public boycott of your business.
And sorry, neutral means ‘no’ to those who work for the largest employer in the area
and are union members.” Jim Haney, outgoing head of the Wisconsin Manufacturers &
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Commerce organization, told the Journal Sentinel: “It’s kind of like the old protection
racket.”
In addition to Kapanke, as many as 15 other senators could face recall elections in
Wisconsin. It does not appear that there will be enough support to qualify for a recall
challenge against the eight Democrats eligible for recall who fled the state in a bid to
thwart Walker’s bid to limit the collective bargaining power of public-employee unions,
Russo says. A recent poll by liberal The Daily Kos shows a generic Democrat leading
Kapanke by 55 percent to 41 percent.
On Friday, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi denied the state’s request to stop a
hearing on whether a preliminary injunction should be granted to block Walker’s budget
reform law. On Thursday, Sumi ruled that the law had not begun to take effect and
therefore could be subject to an injunction.
The key question in the lawsuit against Walker’s reforms, which could be headed to the
state’s Supreme Court for a final adjudication soon, is whether the sudden passage of
the measure violated the state’s open-meetings statute. Rob Marchant, Wisconsin’s
chief clerk, testified Friday that it is a common practice in the state for meetings to
occur with less than the normal 24-hour notice requirement. Wisconsin’s openmeetings law required advance notice of all public sessions. But legislative rules can
prevail over those rules, when the meeting involves committees of the Legislature,
sources say.
-APRIL 30, 2011
Wisconsin of the East
Collective bargaining reform hits the liberal heartland.
Scott Walker impressions are popular these days, and the latest and greatest aping of the
Wisconsin Governor is coming from the liberal heartland. On Wednesday, the Massachusetts
state House voted 111-42 to limit public employees' ability to collectively bargain for health
care. Mrs. Trumka, please hide all sharp objects from Richard, the AFL-CIO chief.
The bill sponsored by Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo would change the way teachers,
police and other municipal employees bargain for health care, giving mayors and local officials
the ability to set co-pays and deductibles after a 30-day negotiation period with the unions. If the
unions agree to the mayor's terms, 10% of the savings goes back to the unions. If they object,
20% of the savings goes into a special fund for workers' health-care costs. The reforms, which
are expected to save $100 million in the next year, also require retirees to enroll in Medicare.
Coming in the bluest of blue states, the news landed like ice water on unions, which are shouting
betrayal. "These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected, the same Democrats
who we contributed to in their campaigns," Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes
said. "It's a done deal for our relationship with the people inside that chamber."
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Democratic Governor Deval Patrick responded by praising the House for its "very important
vote" while insisting that "this is not Wisconsin" and that "there is room for debate." In January,
he introduced a bill to give similar authority to local officials to change municipal health plans
after consulting with union leaders, so we hope he's not getting cold feet now.
Wisconsin's reforms were contentious, but they were also worth the fight on the policy merits.
The Bay State's changes show that the battle over the collective bargaining power of public
unions isn't some partisan assault on all unions. It's a fiscal necessity to spare taxpayers from the
escalating financial demands of unions that have a monopoly on public services and are
crowding out other priorities. A recent study by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for
Education found that from 2000 to 2010 "health care consumed two thirds of the entire increase
in state spending" and reform has thus become "a critical education issue."
So far at least, unions and their MSNBC friends haven't descended on Beacon Hill the way they
did Madison against Governor Walker and Republicans. We wonder why. President Obama also
waded into the Wisconsin melee to accuse Mr. Walker of an "assault" and say unions shouldn't
be "vilified." Any comment on Massachusetts, sir?