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Wisconsin Senators "Sell Out" to Corporate Interests as DC Crowds Pick Up the Chant: "Recall!"
Wisconsin Republican state Senators, fresh from passing draconian anti-labor and privatization legislation, jetted into Washington, D.C., Wednesday night to collect tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from the one constituency group that approves of what Governor Scott Walker and his GOP allies are doing: corporate lobbyists.
But if Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Joint Finance Committee co-chair Alberta Darling thought they could get away from the mounting campaign to remove Republican state senators and shift control of the chamber to the Democrats -- creating a check and balance on Walker -- they were mistaken.
Outside the offices of the BGR Group -- the "B" stands for Barbour, as in Mississippi Governor and potential GOP presidential candidate Haley -- as many as 1,000 workers, students, union activists and allies filled the streets of downtown Washington. Many surged into the building where the senators met with lobbyists who paid as much a $5,000 to "host" the gathering to thank the Wisconsin Republicans.
They DC protesters chanted many of the same unions slogans that have been heard at mass protests in Wisconsin. And they picked up a political slogan as well: "Recall!"
Across Wisconsin, citizens are gathering petition signatures to force recall elections that could remove as many as eight GOP senators who backed the governor's anti-union bill. If just three seats (including Darling's) flip to the Democrats, Fitzgerald will no longer be majority leader and Walker's agenda will suddenly face serious legislative hurdles.
Mocking the Tea Party rhetoric about gunplay and "Second Amendment Solutions," one protester in DC held a sign that read: "We Don't Reload, We Recall!"
The fact that Fitzgerald has made the linkage between the Senate vote for Walker's bill and his party's corporate benefactors, was not lost of those who gathered outside the BGR offices.
Jonathan Backer, who came to Washington from Kenosha, Wisconsin, hailed the protests in DC, saying, “It’s such a good representation of what’s wrong with our democracy right now. There’s so much corporate power in our democracy where literally seconds after one of the worst anti-labor decisions that’s ever happened in the Midwest, you’ve got a big fundraiser going on here, right here in D.C. What we’re doing here is all about trying to fight for unions so there is a way to combat this corporate power going on in democracy right now.”
Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold was blunter:
"Today, Wednesday March 16th, Republican state senators from Wisconsin are in Washington, D.C. attending a big fundraiser at the headquarters of a corporate lobbying firm. That's less than one week after Republicans rammed through an anti-worker bill that polls showed was heavily opposed by Wisconsinites -- but was heavily favored by corporate lobbyists," said Feingold. "If your senator is Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, Glenn Grothman of West Bend, or Alberta Darling of River Hills, your senator is at the fundraiser. But no matter where you are in Wisconsin, your interests just got sold out to big corporate interests."
68 Comments so far
Show All"Many surged into the building where the senators met with lobbyists who paid as much a $5,000 to "host" the gathering to thank the Wisconsin Republicans."
How the hell is this NOT bribery? Seriously, WTF! I think it is pretty clear that we now have the most corrupt government on the face of the Earth.
Much of what has been euphemistically labeled "deregulation" during the past three decades was and continues to be decriminalization of corporate crime.
The late 1980s savings and loan crisis was a boutique financial crisis compared to what we have experienced since 2008, yet hundreds of banksters were jailed for their crimes that caused the S&L crisis.
During the past two decades banksters paid politicians to decriminalize the crimes that put the S&L crisis perpetrators in jail. That is why no banksters have gone to jail for causing the 2008 crisis.
No, actually the reason the banksters aren't jail is because they stole from the
working man. The only dirt bag bankster who is in jail is Madoff and the reason
is that he was stupid, stupid, stupid. He broke the cardinal rule, he stole from
the rich...
And what is it that the unions do?
Organize labor?
Are there bonus points for pithy-ness?
Horace is the resident rich goon troll. He hates working class Americans and would defend Ken Lay if he were still alive.
He probably still is.
I tried to reason with him until he wrote that awful poem telling the working class to kiss his ... . He gets a few things right on a rare occasion but otherwise, I see no reason for him to bother coming here.
By the way, I'm very disgusted to hear about Obama's upcoming plans of allowing the same Japanese nuclear company to build more nuclear reactors in TX even after its own reactors underwent total meltdown in Japan. I visited that country last year and I feel just as bad about what happened there as I did 6 years ago about the tsunami in Southeast Asia which I also visited. It's bad enough that Texas is a wasteland dump after pumping all the oil out of the ground and given the history of gulf coast disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and BP oil gushing, I would expect the bible thumping "pro-life" meatheads to protest against Obama's plans to build nuclear power plants of all things. But I think it's hopeless to expect any consistency or goodwill thinking in that state. I'd be surprised if any massive rally against building nuke plants in that state were to come up. Good luck down there and evacuate that state if you can.
I didn't write the poem. It was, in any event, a joke, mocking the total lack of humor that union apologists display. If it offended you, I beg your pardon.
Then hold up the poem to those pro-worker protesters in WI and see how long you last.
Maybe I'll hire an airplane to sky-write it over Madison.
The airplane has to be flown by a pilot, you moron.
Coward.
What is it Unions do? Without Unions your children and wife would still be working 20 hours a day in a basement sweat shop, there would be no 40 hour week, there would be no workers safety, there would be no time and a half, there would be no benefits of any kind, no vacations, no talking in the work place, should I go on, in other words every working man woman and child would be a slave to ass holes like the Koch brothers.
And Horace is concerned about any of these rights? Well, are you Horace?
Do you mean am I troubled by legislation that deprives workers of the right of contract, such as the right to agree in return for higher pay not to join a union?
What I note about unions is that there has to be SOME reason why the union bosses also want to deny workers the right of secret ballot, through the "card check" legislation, which would open workers up to being threatened and worse by union "enforcers" if they don't sign the cards. Why do you suppose union membership in the private sector has fallen to 6% of the workforce? Is that the reason why union bosses want to get the union thugs out to threaten people into joining?
Uh huh. Don't blame the bosses for abusing their freedom to screw. Just blame the unions, make up horseshit about "card check terrorism", and call them thugs. It's disgusting how you don't call out on bad bosses who threaten employees and waste company money bribing Congress to give them more power to abuse.
What is the rationale for the card check legislation if not to deprive workers of the protection of secret ballots and thereby to subject them to possible threats and worse from the union enforcers?
Psst! It has no other purpose. That's why the union goons want it so much. They've lost hugely in the workplace and they want to muscle their way back.
I see that the card check program is something you and Koch brothers desperately fear being that it's the ticket towards fairly rewarding labor and not rich goons who amassed wealth without earning it. Do you think the one percent who run Wall Street and scumbags like the Koch Brothers work for their money? I know what you're afraid of. You're just batshit scared that the card check will help restore the identity of labor unions so that people can once again be paid for what they do and to be paid for what they're worth; and not have their pensions and paychecks and whatever else they've earned be stolen by greedy corrupt billionaires for who nothing is ever enough. There's a big difference between a man who's earned a million dollars and the people who steal millions and billions of dollars or who make it on the coffins of dead soldiers and innocent Muslim civilians, and then turn around and want to bust unions and make labor come hat in hand to them like in the good old days. Here's another one for you
http://daviddegraw.org/2010/12/i-will-not-participate-in-the-journalism-of-appeasement/
Maypayne, your left-wing rants do not answer the basic point I made: the card-check legislative proposals have only one objective, to facilitate union coercion of workers by identifying those who haven't evidenced their support. Workers are protected by secret ballots; their voting "no" doesn't set them up for being kneecapped by the vile and disgusting union goons, that is to say, the people you so avidly support.
I call bullshit to your lying and deception. You know what's your problem? You don't a clue as to what unions are because if you did, you wouldn't be blowing up horseshit on "union coercion" which doesn't exist except in your looney thinking. You can let the Koch Brothers soddamize you while the rest of us wise up and learn why unions are the real backbone of the people's laboring economy whose work results in true earnings and not the thugs on Wall Street who steal millions and exploit people's weaknesses. Go F yourself.
I see you are as controlled and rational as ever. If unions are truly the "backbone of the people's laboring economy", then why isthe existing labor legislation no longer sufficient? If you'd stop bloviating and exploding all over yourself, you might learn something. On the subject of card check, you might find it enlightening (not that I think you will ever be truly enlightened) to read the article on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_check
Nice try but you have no respect for labor.
Respect? He opposes the working class. He would see Labor destroyed if he could. He will say and do anything he can to harm us. There is no logic, no philosophy, no ideology behind anything he says. There is nothing there to debate with him about. His only goal is to break up the discussion, to provoke people and upset them.
Talk about him - that can be instructive and valuable - but not to him.
Two, thanks and by the way, I'm sorry about earlier's fight on that other issue. Take care sir.
Thanks. No hard feelings.
It is a myth that their ballots wouldn't be secret. George Will complained so often of "card check" being a loss of secrecy at the ballot box, but that is not true. The charge bothered me, so I looked into it. They would still have a secret ballot. All union gains have been made through loss of blood and life in this country. There is a reason these rights should not be discarded or stolen.
It is a myth that their ballots wouldn't be secret. George Will complained so often of "card check" being a loss of secrecy at the ballot box, but that is not true. The charge bothered me, so I looked into it. They would still have a secret ballot. All union gains have been made through loss of blood and life in this country. There is a reason these rights should not be discarded or stolen.
The change the card-check legislation would make, and the reason the unions so eagerly support it, is that it would allow them to by-pass secret elections:
"Under the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), if the NLRB verifies that over 50% of the employees signed authorization cards, the secret ballot election is bypassed (the votes of the individual employees will become public) and a union is automatically formed."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_check
Union membership is down because of the corporate thugs paid to intimidate workers from joining unions, from employers illegally firing employees who are organizing unions, and from employers illegally leafleting and spreading disinformation and anti union propaganda in the workplace (just like you are paid to do here), and threats against workers to stop them from even considering organizing their co-workers. Why do you think union membership is down to 6%? Certainly not because "unions are too powerful".
What data support your conclusions? Most of the press covering the issue suggest union membership is down because workers don't feel adequately represented in the unions. The thing the unions feared most about Wisconsin's changes in law was the loss of automatic union dues deductions from paychecks. They feared that union members would decline to pay their dues because they don't think they've been getting their money's worth, while the union bosses live rather well in many cases, to say the least.
Yeah Horace, like your "data" from good ole Rupert, Koch Brothers, Faux Noose, etc... is "valid". What a maroon !
Boy, I see I really got your goat this time, you worthless twit.
Go F yourself, worthless troll.
One of the attributes of a bonehead such as you is that, when he cannot come up with an intelligent response, he resorts to cursing and obscenities. I see that discussing issues of this sort with you violates the principle that one shouldn't get into a battle of wits with a defenseless man.
Just for old time's sake, I thought I would set forth below once more the verse you like so much (which is to be sung to the tune of the Communist Internationale):
The working class can kiss my a**,
I've got the foreman's job at last.
And when I'm old and turning grey,
They can kiss it twice a day.
Thanks for making my point. Two Americas is right. You are a pathetic robot. Have the last word.
He is here to taunt and provoke people so as to disrupt threads, nothing more and nothing less. If you answer him he wins, no matter how you answer him. If you ignore him, he loses.
Talking about him can be constructive, as we can tell from him what the latest talking points are from the right wing propaganda machine and what they are worried about at any given time. Talking to him is always a mistake. He "wins" when he makes a mess of things, and that is all he cares about. He will keep doing that as long as he gets a rise out of people, until he is either ignored or is banned.
There is absolutely nothing he ever posts that warrants a response. We may as well have a robot post today's talking points from Rush Limbaugh, and then argue with that robot's posts.
Alberta Darling has a zero % chance of being recalled. She represents the have mores of WI. Cowles has a real good chance of going poof though. Even if they get recalled and replaced by Democrats, will the new WI legislature repeal Walker's policies? I have yet to hear any of the WI 14 come out and say they are going full steam forward on repeal of these policies if they get the senate back.
Hopper will almost definitely get recalled soon. Literally caught in bed with a lobbyist...
exactly
Listen....in less than 90 days this guy, Walker, and his elected co-horts managed to take down unions and are destroying education and making minority rule like CA (which has made our capitol totally dysfunctional), and allowing privatization of utilities and public assets legal and in the gov. entire control... Do people in Wisconsin really think there will be anything to save AFTER a recall is undertaken and the many months go past?? YOU DON'T HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME....IT IS TIME TO STRIKE AND BOYCOTT AND SIT-IN and GET ARRESTED IN MASS. think of yourselves as the new Civil Rights Movement....cause that is the situation and you have both the legislative and the judicial process AGAINST you thanks to MONEY!!
Precisely !
In selecting Wisconsin, Republicans proved that they are masters of strategy:
1) The cost of electing a politician is dirt cheap compared to the east or west coast where air time costs exponentially more.
2) Wisconsin is (soon to be was) asset rich and carrying little debt compared to other states. Just as attorneys look at assets before merit in deciding whether to pursue a case, Republicans are going for maximum assets, and
3) Elected officials in Wisconsin can't be recalled during their first year, which is all the time Walker needs to loot the state, just in time for him to compete in the 2012 Republican Presidential primaries in hope moving into the White House in 2013 and looting the whole nation.
Freethinker68, I agree that there won't be anything left to fight for a year from now and that we need to keep the movement going by escalating work-actions, whether it's work to rule, strike, general strike; whatever it takes. And to continue to show the whole country what's at stake here will be there next. I know March 19 has many rallies and March 26 in the big UNCut day. I wish people would start upping the ante by taking actions during the work week. That's how Madison generated so much attention to begin with; it was sustained. And I didn't have to stay everyday but rotate through the 4 times I went. Twice during the week and twice on two weekends. And that's with in-hospital surgery thrown in the mix.
We Wisconsiners, arent' giving up and I have to say the union management is feeling lots of wrath for the bumptious political alliance with Dem shit they are pursuing, but they will have to be washed overboard out of the way for their tepid leadership, what with concessions and all.
I know some teachers are beginning to explore decertifying WEAC and looking at alternatives like IWW. I encourage this because I think it would pursue solidarity with students and their parents, many of whom are ripe for crystalizing their class consciousness. Everyone knows there's something terribly wrong and they are getting the screw. And we could all learn and grow together this way, then maybe even classroom aides, including myself could overcome the hurdles placed by the Dept Workforce Development arbitrarily in our district and become represented as well.
I think the last paragraph holds a truely awsome nugget that you can use in any situation when talking current American politricks. You can fill in the blanks any way you like and be spot on!
"Today,.......................... are in Washington, D.C. attending a big fundraiser at the headquarters of a corporate lobbying firm. That's less than one week after.............. rammed through a(n)....................... bill that polls showed was heavily opposed by....................... -- but was heavily favored by corporate lobbyists,"
It could be the only thing that 350 million suckers can agree on!
You mean all of that was just about getting three Democratic politicians into seats in a state legislature?
What about the general strike on April Fool's Day? Is everyone mobilized?
No.
Nichols just tries to frame everything that way.
Around here, we used to call folks like him "Dem Party Apologists". But then the Apologists took-over.
Since almost no one flirting with being a "leftist" gets any information about the state of politics from sources that AREN'T framing things into this Blue/Red dialectic, they mostly get sucked into it too.
Not fun.
Yes, I know.
Wisconsin rethuglican gangster$ bought and paid for. In much of America, clocks were pushed forward one hour. In Wisconsin, they were turned back a hundred years. God ble$$ Wall $treet and all those robber baron thug$ camouflaged in suits with American flags to amplify their patriotic $tand.
Privatizing public utilities? Do you people realize that Walker can sell your power plants to the Koch brothers so that they own more monopoly on your power? If I were in Wisconsin I am afraid I would be in favor of sitting down and getting arrested in the governors office, maybe dump some dog shit on his desk. Time is not on your side. I will make the trip this spring to help demonstrate from Oregon, My wife is from Wisconsin and has been a member of the Teachers Union here for 33 years, this guy as well as the republican senators have to go!