Tag: Scott Walker

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Politics Republican teachers Wisconsin

Wisconsin Loses More Workers Because Of Scott Walker’s Policies

Remember when Scott Walker promised that the only way to get Wisconsin working again was to take collective bargaining away from public employees? Well apparently, even that was a lie, as Wisconsin isn’t working, they’re loosing jobs and Walker’s policies are to blame.

The Associated Press reports;

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s statewide teachers union is laying off 40 percent of its workers as a result of the law pushed by Gov. Scott Walker and passed by the Legislature curbing collective bargaining rights.

Wisconsin Education Association Council executive director Dan Burkhalter announced the layoffs of 42 workers on Monday, saying it was a result of what he called Walker’s “union-busting” bill.

Burkhalter says budget cuts are also being made as a result of the new law, which opponents said was designed to weaken the power of unions like WEAC.

Thanks Walker!

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democrats Politics Wisconsin

Republicans Stole The Wisconsin Recall Elections… Again!

Election night in Wisconsin, and the big story is not that Democrats won two of the six senate seats held by Republicans. Yes, that in itself is an amazing achievement. All the elections were held in historically Republican controlled counties, and throughout the 80 plus years recall elections were held in the state, only 20 have been successful. So to have two successes in one night is amazing.

But what’s even more amazing about the recall elections held last night was the results from a place in District 8 called Waukesha county and the behind-the-scenes workings of a particular county clerk in Waukesha called Kathy Nickolaus.

As the polls closed and results started coming in, Republicans breathed a collective sigh of relief when the first three counties stayed in their control – R. Cowles maintained his seat in district 2, S. Harsdorf kept the Republican seat in district 10 and L. Olsen kept Republicans in power in district 14.

By this time, hours after the polling closed, the remaining three races in the recall elections were led by the Democratic challengers. Keep in mind, that Democrats needed to win a total of three seats to regain control of the Senate and stop Scott Walker’s future corporate policies from being implemented.

The next election results showed that two seats would go to Democrats.  J. Schelling in district 32 and J. King in district 18 both defeated the Republican incumbents. Then all eyes turned to district 8 where the Democratic challenger S. Pasch was leading the Republican 52% to 48%. This was the last race to be decided for the night, and things were looking good for the Democrat. But remember Waukesha county and the particular county clerk name Kathy Nickolaus? Waukesha county is in District 8, and at the time when the Democrat challenger Pasch was leading, only one of eleven precincts in Waukesha county had reported their results.

Why is Waukesha county so important in these elections?

Kathy Nickolous, the county clerk responsible for, among other things, maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the votes in the elections, is a Republican with questionable morals.

Remember the election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice a few months ago between Republican David Prosser and his Democratic challenger JoAnn Kloppenberg? In that election, Mrs. Kloppenberg was leading and predicted to be the winner. Then miraculously, after all votes were counted, Kathy Nickolous “found” an additional 12000 votes in her computer. Those additional votes were all that Prosser needed to move ahead. He was later declared the winner.

Which brings us back to last night’s election.

When the election in all the other districts were decided, Waukesha county still only had one precinct reporting a total of 600 votes, with a little over 400 going to the Republican, Mrs A. Darling. Television pundits began questioning why Kathy Nickolous was not reporting the other precincts. On the Ed Show on MSNBC, questions were being asked suggesting that another “Prosser” moment may be happening in Waukesha, and calls for a possible investigation into the county clerk were being echoed on different news networks.

Then suddenly, hours after the polls had closed, results from 9 precincts in Waukesha county came in – a total of 12,000 votes, putting the Republican in the lead 53% to 47%. When Kathy Nickolous reported the final precinct numbers, District 8 was called a win for the Republican.

Final results, A. Darling 54%, S. Pasch 48%.

Yes, an amazing night in Wisconsin indeed, but for all the wrong reasons.

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Politics Republican Wisconsin

Democrats Win First Recall Effort In Wisconsin

In the first recall election in Wisconsin, a Democratic Senator manhandled his Republican opponent, convincingly defeating the sorry sap by a 2 to 1 ratio. With 65% of the polls reporting, the Associated Press called the election for Senator Dave Hansen, Democratic Senator for Green Bay.

“Scott Walker and his cronies pulled out all the stops trying to defeat Dave Hansen,” said the Wisconsin Democratic Party, “and the people of the 30th Senate District said loudly and clearly Tuesday, ‘Enough!’”

And former Democratic Senator Russ Feingold sent his congratulations via the Twitter machine, saying;

“Congratulations to WI Senator Hansen on his victory. We are one step closer to stopping Gov. Walker’s agenda. Forward.”

Hansen’s win on Tuesday now leaves eight more recall elections – 2 recalls for Democrats and 6 for Republicans. Most of the other recall elections will take place in August.

To win control of the upper chamber, Democrats need a total of three wins. By taking control, Democrats can block most of Governor Scott Walker’s policies.

Soon after taking office in January, Scott Walker began a series of far-reaching policy initiatives, including stripping public workers in Wisconsin of their collective bargaining rights. That move triggered massive protests throughout Wisconsin, leading to the present recall efforts. Walker himself would be eligible for recall in January of 2012.

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Democratic Republican United States Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker Admits He Made A Mistake

Scott Walker and his Republican goons instituted some of the most radical right winged policies Wisconsin has ever seen, but what caused the Republican governor to admit he made a mistake was not the policies themselves – policies that caused hundreds of thousands to protests on a daily basis and to takeover the assembly house for weeks – Walker admitted to being sorry about the method in which he implemented his agenda.

“Aside from criticism by those who thought Walker was unfairly undercutting state worker rights, he and his fellow Republicans came under fire for tactics seen by some as bullying and not allowing for sufficient debate or possible compromise.

“The mistake I made early on is, I looked at it almost like the head of a small business: identify a problem, identify a solution and go out and do it,” Walker told Reuters at the National Governor’s Association meeting in Salt Lake City.

“I don’t think we built enough of a political case, so we let … the national organizations come in and define the debate while we were busy just getting the job done,” he said.

It’s not how you forced your policies on the people of Wisconsin that have you polling among the lowest governors in America Mr. Walker, its your policies themselves.

Six Republicans who helped Walker push his union busting policy on Wisconsin’s middle class are facing recalls in August. Walker himself must serve one year before he is eligible for recall, that happens in January of 2012.

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Politics Wisconsin

Scott Walker – Cutting From The Poor Makes Them Better

How do you guarantee that public schools in your state provide a better education? Well you cut $800 million in funding, that’s how. That’s what governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin just did.

Of the bill that the Republican governor signed into law on Sunday, Walker says that the cuts would, “allow us to put more resources into training, and it’s going to provide for better education.”

In order to survive these cuts, some of the things the Wisconsin education system must do will be the elimination of thous

Continue reading “Scott Walker – Cutting From The Poor Makes Them Better”
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Democratic Politics Republican United States Wisconsin

Wisconsin Republican Put 6 Impersonators In Recall Elections

And so the games in Wisconsin continue. It’s amazing that elected officials are allowed to act so immature, but these days in politics, this seems to be the norm.

Weeks after secret meetings where Republicans were trying to come up with ways to negatively affect the recall elections, they are now acting on what was discussed — to install false Democrats into the recall race, to prolong the elections and cost Democrats more in primary elections.

The Associated Press is reporting that as much as six false Democrats are being used by Republicans to run against official Democratic candidates.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — State election officials have finalized the list of candidates who are challenging six Republican state senators in recall elections this summer.

The Government Accountability Board said Friday it had received the necessary paperwork from 12 challengers. None of the nomination papers was challenged, so the GAB has now locked in the election dates.

All six races will start with a Democratic primary on July 12. According to the final paperwork, each primary will include one Democratic candidate and a “fake” Democrat, part of a Republican strategy that forces Democrats to spend more resources per race.

The primary winner will face the Republican incumbent in a general election Aug. 9.

Three Democratic state senators are also being targeted for recall. If there are primaries in those races they’d be on July.

Meanwhile, real Americans continue to lose jobs, homes, retirement investments… real Americans are paying the price!

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Politics Rick Scott United States

Granny Dumping Now Legal In Florida

Republican governor Rick Scott signed a new Medicaid Reform Law in Florida that contains a provision making “granny dumping” legal, according to Florida elder law attorney Ellen Morris.  “Granny dumping” is the term used to force seniors out of nursing homes.

This policy could result in a practice known as “granny dumping,” and force Florida seniors out of nursing homes, elder law advocates told members of the Agency for Health Care Administration at a hearing Tuesday night in West Palm Beach, FL, according to The Palm Beach Post.

The law aims to move three million Medicaid recipients into a managed care program after July 1, 2012, and transition thousands of nursing home residents back into home or community settings. Individuals who are developmentally disabled, or those in the juvenile justice and mental health institutions are exempt from the privatization program, while nursing home residents are not.

Wherever there’s a Republican governor, the people of that state will be under attack.

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Republican Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Scott Walker

The victory in the lower court was short-lived. Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Scott Walker’s union busting bill did not break any laws, in essence, voiding a previous ruling by a lower court. The ruling claims;

The court ruled that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi’s ruling, which had held up implementation of the collective bargaining law, was void ab initio, or invalid from the outset.

In its decision, the state’s high court concluded that “choices about what laws represent wise public policy for the state of Wisconsin are not within the constitutional purview of the courts.”

The court concluded that Sumi exceeded her jurisdiction, “invaded” the Legislature’s constitutional powers and erred in halting the publication and implementation of the collective bargaining law.

The court added that its role is limited to determining whether the Legislature employed a “constitutionally violative process in the enactment of the act. We conclude that the Legislature did not violate the Wisconsin Constitution by the process it used.”

And with that, Scott Walker’s wish to bust the unions of Wisconsin and take away the collective bargaining of public workers is back in effect. The newly controversially re-elected Justice – Republican David Prosser – also found in favor of Scott Walker and his Republican allys.

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Politics Republican United States Wisconsin

Please Don’t Remind Republican Scott Walker Of The Poor

It’s a painting that was placed in the Wisconsin Governor’s mansion for a reason – to remind the leaders, whoever he or she might be, of their obligation to the homeless and the poor people of the state. Scott Walker, the Republican governor who recently tried to enact a bill to dismantle collective bargaining rights of the Wisconsin public worker, had the painting removed.

The painting called, Wishes in the Wind, was done by Wisconsin artist David Lenz. It depicts three children – one African-American, one Hispanic and one Caucasian – playing with bubble wands on a Milwaukee street. Lenz explained that he carefully chose the characters in the piece because of the importance of their life stories. The African-American girl was featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an article done about homelessness. She and her mother spent three months at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. The Caucasian boy’s father was killed by a drunk driver in 2009 and the Hispanic girl is a member of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee.

Governor Walker’s decision to remove the painting sent a strong message to Lenz. He said

“The homeless, central city children and victims of drunk drivers normally do not have a voice in politics, this painting was an opportunity for future governors to look these three children in the eye, and I hope, contemplate how their public policies might affect them and other children like them.”

I guess that was a conversation Governor Walker did not want to have.”

And in a direct reference to Scott Walker’s proposed budget cuts in state’s funding for Milwaukee schools services, Lenz said, “This seems symbolic, you would think we could all agree on the need to support the hopes and dreams of children.”

Walker’s excuse for removing the painting? In a press released, this explanation was given;

In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Governor Scott Walker and First Lady Tonette Walker are pleased to announce the addition of Civil War themed artwork and artifacts to decorate the interior of Wisconsin’s Executive Residence.

The painting Wishes in the Wind, which was previously on display in the Drawing Room, is on loan to the Central Library in Milwaukee where 560,000 visitors each year will see it, learn about its significance and continue the discussion about providing hope and optimism for the least privileged in our society. By comparison, the Executive Residence hosts approximately 15,000 visitors each year.

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Democratic Politics Republican Wisconsin

Wisconsin Republicans Sue Because They Were Wrong

Something must be wrong with these Republicans. It seems that when they do things in the dark, everything is fine. But when these things are brought to the light, Republicans want to sue the person who turns on the light switch.

Oh the nerve of these Wisconsin Republicans.

In a secretly taped conversation recently released and first reported by the La Crosse Tribune , Wisconsin Republicans were overheard talking about planting a spoiler Democrat into the recall elections of Republican Sen. Dan Kapanke.

On the recording, Julian Bradley – the La Crosse County Republican Vice Chairman is heard recalling a conversation he had with Wisconsin Executive Director of the State’s Party, Mark Jefferson. Here’s what was said;

“We are actively keeping our ears to the ground and if anybody knows anybody for a candidate that would be interested on the Democratic side in running in the primary against Jennifer Shilling … if anybody knows any Democrats who would be interested, please let us know.”

The recall election for Republican Dan Kapanke –  one of the Senators that voted for the controversial law that will take away the collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin union members – is scheduled for July 12th. Republicans were attempting to plant this spoiler Democratic challenger into the race to delay the recall election, as primary elections will be held first. A scenario, they believe, will cost Democrats more money. The official Democratic challenger in the recall election against Dan Kapanke is state Rep. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse).

But what’s even more unbelievable is the proposed law-suit. Yes, the party that has fabricated information and videos against Democrats are now planning to sue the person who secretly recorded the Republican meeting. The report claims,

The La Crosse County Republican Party plans to sue the person who made a secret recording of the group’s monthly meeting last week, when party officials discussed running a spoiler candidate against Democrat Jennifer Shilling.

Party chairman Bill Feehan said he met with an attorney Friday and would file a suit soon.

“I had to seek legal counsel regarding the illegal taping of our meeting,” Feehan said. “We’ve now been told it’s a violation of a state statute regarding wire tapping.”

You do right and you should have nothing to worry about. But the nerve…! You do wrong, and you want to file suit because your wrong-doing was brought to light?

Simply amazing!!!

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Barack Obama Donald Trump Donald Trump Mitt Romney Politics Republican Sarah Palin United States Wisconsin

Obama Looking Safer In Wisconsin

Those are not my words, it is actually a new headline coming from a new Public Policy Polling. The poll finds that when compared to a previous poll taken in February 2011 when the President approval in Wisconsin “was looking a little more vulnerable,” the new poll shows “increased margins over Romney and the rest of the remaining [GOP] crew.”

The president’s approval rating is up to 52%, with 44% disapproving, double the margin of his 49-45 spread in the previous poll. Meanwhile, all his potential opponents tested have cratered in popularity, with the worst being newly official candidate Newt Gingrich.Gingrich was already at a 26-49 favorability spread in February, but now measures at 15-67, a 29-point decline, and now worse than Sarah Palin’s 32-63.

Romney now trails the president, 51-39, and Gingrich has fallen six points from that same mark to 53-35, just a point better than Palin’s 55-36 deficit. The president wins with independents by 11 to 24 points, but still has room to improve; respondents report voting for him over McCain by only nine points.

The talk now within the conservative media is that Donald Trump actually worked for the President. Conservatives/Republicans have come up with the theory that President Obama sent Trump out with one mission – say the most outrageous things possible, get the Republicans to buy into the nonsense and let the rest of America see how easily gullible and crazy these Republicans are.

But my question to the conservative media is, why stop with Trump? When you look at these results and the huge favorably numbers for the President in Wisconsin, maybe, just maybe the Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is also on the Obama payroll. Maybe President Obama told Walker to implement the most radical union busting policies in Wisconsin, thus, turning the people against the Republicans and in effect, improving the President’s numbers.

And could it be possible that the other Republican governors nationwide are also on the President’s payroll? We’ve all seen the backlash from Americans in Republican led states, thus leading to better approval numbers for Democrats. Could it be? Could it really be?

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Politics Republican Rick Scott United States washington Wisconsin

Republican Governor Rick Scott The Worst In The Nation… Why?

A recent Quinnipiac poll just determined that Republican governor Rick Scott of Florida is the worst governor in the nation with a 29% approval rating. Besides the fact that Scott is a Republican, what other factors would explain this unbelievable fallout with Floridians? Well, maybe his recent budget cut of $615 million dollars to programs that directly affects the residents of his state is a good place to look.

Anxious over their increasing unpopularity, Republicans lawmakers across the country are banning media from chronicling the blowback at public events. Florida’s now deeply disliked Gov. Rick Scott (R) adopted a similar tactic yesterday at a “campaign-style” budget signing ceremony at a town square in The Villages retirement community in Central Florida. Before putting his pen to the $69.7 billion state budget, Scott took an ax to $615 million of what he called “shortsighted, frivolous, wasteful spending.” Scott conveniently failed, however, to mention exactly what some of those “frivolous” programs were, including ones that provide help for the most vulnerable in society:

In his speech Thursday, Scott omitted many of the serious-sounding programs he cut: homeless veterans, meals for poor seniors, a council for deafness, a children’s hospital, cancer research, public radio, whooping-cough vaccines for poor mothers, or aid for the paralyzed.

Rick Scott’s dumb decision-making for the people of Florida does not only stop at his draconian budget slashing, but it also extends to areas where his state was slated to receive funds from the Federal government. The Republican rejected $2.3 billion from the Federal government, effectively cancelling a planned high-speed railroad installation – a move that will affect job creation and income for his state for decades to come.

The rejected funds were then sent to other states including $15 million to Washington State, prompting John Laird of The Columbian to officially deemed Rick Scott Washington’s new BFF. John wrote;

Fellow Washingtonians, hoist your glasses high and let’s toast our state’s newest BFF: Rick Scott.

Because the Florida governor bullheadedly rejected $2.3 billion in federal funding for rail improvements, Washington state is $15 million richer in our own drive for better railroads.

Previous BFFs had been Ohio and Wisconsin, where federal funding also had been turned away, only to be sent to other states. As a result, since February our state’s rail-improvement pot has grown from $590 million to $781 million, all because a few governors were willing to cut off their states’ noses to spite the feds’ face.

The Huffington Post also reported that Scott ran a campaign based on “jobs creation.” No surprise here, because in an atmosphere where many Americans are out of work and finding work is a top priority, many Republican politicians seized on job creations in the 2010 mid-term elections, promising America that if elected, they would deliver the jobs. Well, according to the Huffington Post report, Rick Scott has other priorities to worry about and jobs is not one of them.

In the legislative session that ended Saturday, lawmakers passed no job creation bills for Scott to sign. But they did pass five bills restricting abortion rights and a state budget that cuts nearly 4,500 public sector jobs.

Florida Republicans filed a total of 18 bills to restrict abortion rights during the session — the third most in the country, according to the ACLU, and twice the number of anti-choice laws introduced last year in the state, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America.

These are just some of the reasons this first-term Republican governor is receiving a 29% rating and is considered the worst governor in America. Considering some of the other items on his résumé, I would argue that a 29% approval rating is at least 28% too high.

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