Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

[wiphan]

Originally Posted by Riot

No thanks. I've seen plenty of the "professional representatives" in Wisconsin, like the lying, ethics-challenged, lawbreaking Governor Walker

You never cease to amaze me you bash walker and the republicans but won't listen to the idiots that you are supporting.


Can you explain to me how as a citizen of the US you are ok with the action taken by the senate democrats? I am not asking whether you agree or disagree with the bill. I am asking if you believe that their actions are in accordance to the civic duty that they swore to uphold

[wiphan]

Originally Posted by Riot

Amazingly, that number is being thrown around, with no factual support. The Democratic assemblymen who are in the capital, and have been there, are trying to find out how that number was arrived upon, as they haven't seen that damage during the week. The Republicans just started saying it.

http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-201...,5141893.story

[Riot]

Originally Posted by wiphan

Remember public employees are paid by the citizens of the state so in essence we are their employer. You are not taking from the citizens you are giving power back to the employer and not the employee. FDR got it. Why can't you?

Yes, you are an employer. If you want good people, to hire or to stay, you'll have to treat them better than any other possible employer. "Giving power back"??? What are you talking about? "You've" had collective bargaining rights forever. It's silly to "blame unions", when every single contract they have. every penny that is spent, was bargained and signed off upon by the State. Collective bargaining hasn't ruined your state budget.

[timmgirvan]

Originally Posted by Riot

False? No. Really, Timmi, you should investigate what you post before you make yourself look uninformed. I'd go back and read what I posted about that in the first answer to you, if I were you. Here it is again: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...rachel-maddow/

You are one nutty lady! Did you bother to read Bill Adairs reply to Maddows producer! Talking about comportment...I've never "GFY" to you on any subject.

[Riot]

Can you explain to me how as a citizen of the US you are ok with the action taken by the senate democrats?

The Governor tried to sneak through alot of nasty stuff in his bill. I'm darn glad the Democrats held up the rushed-through passage of this bill, because much of the content has turned out to have zero to do with solving any budget deficit. Yes, I think that is indeed their civic duty, to protect their constituency.

How can you support Walker? His lying, his deceit? Tell me how taking away 8% of income from low and middle class public workers is a good thing for the overburdened, overtaxed citizens of Wisconsin? While companies get more and more tax breaks?

As I said, your Governor has promised that 250,000 jobs will magically appear out of nowhere in Wisconsin in the next couple of years. If he can do that, I'll be happy to vote for him for President.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by wiphan

http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-201...,5141893.story

That's funny. When you look at the photos today, most of that stuff is already gone.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by timmgirvan

You are one nutty lady! Did you bother to read Bill Adairs reply to Maddows producer! Talking about comportment...I've never "GFY" to you on any subject.

Did you bother to read where Politifact expanded upon, and walked back, their rating, narrowing it to just the presentation? Not the "facts".

[Riot]

Whoops .... it was all sort of a ... guesstimate to impress a judge ...

State officials back off Capitol damage claim

By Jason Stein and Sharif Durhams of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
March 4, 2011 11:36 a.m.

Madison — State officials charged with overseeing the state Capitol are now backing away from their estimate that demonstrators did more than $7 million in damage to the building.

"I think that's more of a worst-case scenario," said Jeff Plale, the former Democratic state senator who is now the state facilities administrator. "There are other estimates."

Touring the Capitol Friday morning with state architect Dan Stephans, Plale said he had not immediately observed any damage from demonstrations over Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill, though the pair was just starting their tour.

Plale said that he didn't believe the state had had any experienced contractor provide the quote on the damages.

Officials said in Dane County court Thursday that the damage could come from tape used for posting fliers and papers and other materials.

Workers were already beginning to remove those Friday. In one second-floor hallway at least, a Journal Sentinel reporter could see no damage to the marble where the tape had been removed.

In court Thursday, officials with the Walker administration said that damage from the demonstration to the marble inside and outside the Capitol would cost an estimated $7.5 million: $6 million for damage inside, $1 million for damage outside and $500,000 for additional expenses. State officials made the claim as they were arguing their case for restricting access to the statehouse.

A Dane County judge ruled later that day that the Capitol must be opened to the public but that protesters camping out in the building also had to be removed. The building is now being opened up to the public, though there are still some restrictions and high security.

In court, the state cited concerns about the statehouse expressed by Michele Curran, an architectural historian with the National Park Service who coordinates national historic landmarks in Wisconsin.

In an interview Thursday, Curran said that certain kinds of tape can leave lasting residues on the marble and wood surfaces of the Capitol if the tape is not removed properly.

Stephans added Friday that the Capitol has more than 40 kinds of marble and that the chemistry of those stones and of different kinds of tape can interact differently. The longer the tape remains in place, the greater the chance for some effect, he said.

But Curran said she didn't know how the state had arrived at its damage figures. She said only a professional cleaning service experienced in such work and familiar with the situation in the Capitol could accurately estimate cleanup costs. But Plale said Friday he wasn't aware of the state receiving any such estimate yet.

Many of the papers and banners posted in the statehouse were put up using painter's tape, which is employed to minimize effects on walls. Stephans said Friday he had ordered the tape sent to the Capitol during the demonstrations to minimize effects on the building.

State Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) Thursday questioned the damage figure.

"That's a lot of bottles of Formula 409," he said.

more ...

[AeWingnut]

democrats against democracy unite



Far Left protester Patrick J. Knauf, 43, of Eau Claire was arrested on Wednesday for the violation of making a bomb scare under state statute 947.015.

He was released on a $3,000 signature bond.

On Wednesday a bomb threat was made at an aviation business in Eau Claire just hours after Governor Scott Walker spoke there. Police brought in a man who was protesting this week against the Republican governor.
The Pierce County Herald reported:

An investigation continues into a bomb threat made this week at an aviation business in Eau Claire, just hours after Governor Scott Walker held a news conference there.

Authorities said a 43-year-old Eau Claire man allegedly called in a threat to Heartland Aviation on Wednesday evening. The facility is next to the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Claire. The man is free on a signature bond. No charges have been filed yet, but the man is due back in Chippewa County Circuit Court on April 19th.

Investigators said the man took part in public demonstrations at the airport on Monday and Wednesday. His home was searched yesterday, and police are checking phone records and interviewing people. Eau Claire Police have asked for tips with more information.

Amazing!
A bomb threat was called in on a Walker rally and the media doesn’t report on it?
Unbelievable.

[Riot]

"As a state economist and policy analyst, I was surprised that no one asked me about this proposal. I analyzed it for its economic impact. If public employee salaries are cut (through increased withholdings as proposed) by enough to fill the $137 million budget gap, the resulting drop in consumer spending will lead to:

1) a loss of over 1,200 nongovernment jobs;
2) a loss of about $100 million in business sales statewide;
3) a loss of nearly $35 million in personal incomes of nongovernment employee households;
4) ironically, a loss of nearly $10 million in state tax revenues."

-- Robert Russell, economist and analyst, Madison.
Wisconsin Public Radio interview

[Riot]

Originally Posted by AeWingnut

A bomb threat was called in on a Walker rally and the media doesn’t report on it?
Unbelievable.

There was no bomb threat to a Walker rally. Read your own story :-) Looks like the loser threatened a business that hosted Walker, after it closed. I also heard Walker was asked to leave a local restaurant this week, the patrons were all booing, but couldn't confirm it.

The Koch Brothers are paying for a bus to go town to town to support Walker this weekend. I guess 40-50 people is all they could find?

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

The Koch Brothers are paying for a bus to go town to town to support Walker this weekend. I guess 40-50 people is all they could find?

At least it was one more bus than Jesse Jax could find.

[AeWingnut]

Originally Posted by Riot

There was no bomb threat to a Walker rally. Read your own story :-) Looks like the loser threatened a business that hosted Walker, after it closed. I also heard Walker was asked to leave a local restaurant this week, the patrons were all booing, but couldn't confirm it.

The Koch Brothers are paying for a bus to go town to town to support Walker this weekend. I guess 40-50 people is all they could find?

I heard that people were asking zer0 to leave and were booing him but I can't confirm it

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

"As a state economist and policy analyst, I was surprised that no one asked me about this proposal. I analyzed it for its economic impact. If public employee salaries are cut (through increased withholdings as proposed) by enough to fill the $137 million budget gap, the resulting drop in consumer spending will lead to:

1) a loss of over 1,200 nongovernment jobs;
2) a loss of about $100 million in business sales statewide;
3) a loss of nearly $35 million in personal incomes of nongovernment employee households;
4) ironically, a loss of nearly $10 million in state tax revenues."

-- Robert Russell, economist and analyst, Madison.
Wisconsin Public Radio interview

4) ironically, a loss of nearly $10 million in state tax revenues."

Wrong! When you add in the $137 million saved by having public workers contribute to their own health and pension plans you have a net revenue gain of $127 million for the State. Divide 137 mil by 39,000 (number of State workers) you come to just over $3,500 per employee.

Wish private citizens were offered such a deal!

BTW I'd like to see some Madison professor explain how graduation rates for high school have been steadily rising while ACT scores have been steadily going down? New Math or are teachers 'cheating' students?

[Danzig]

http://factcheck.org/2011/03/wiscons...budget-battle/

Analysis
Newly elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, introduced a state budget repair bill on Feb. 11 that has attracted national attention because it seeks major changes to the state’s collective bargaining laws. The bill, which is needed to close a $137 million budget gap in the current fiscal year, would allow most state workers to keep their bargaining rights on salaries — but end collective bargaining on all other issues, including health care costs, pensions and workplace conditions. The AFL-CIO and other unions see this as an attack on unions, while the governor sees it as a necessary way to control future labor costs and avoid another budget crisis.The budget repair bill has led to a showdown between the Republican governor and Democratic state lawmakers — some of whom fled the Capitol in an attempt to prevent a vote on the bill. It has also caused some confusion among people trying to follow the budget crisis.




Wisconsin is facing a potential $3.6 billion shortfall for its next biennium, or two-year budget cycle, according to figures released by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau in January. The budget period begins on July 1, 2011, and ends on June 30, 2013. That figure is more than $2 billion less than the $5.9 billion projected deficit that former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle had to tackle at the beginning of the 2009-2011 fiscal cycle. So, that was not quite "double" the deficit that Walker is potentially looking at, as our reader was told.

Doyle was able to erase a large portion of his projected gap through a series of spending cuts and tax increases. But funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — known as the stimulus act — also played a significant part in easing the state’s budget woes. More than $2 billion in stimulus funds were used to narrow the budget gap for the 2009-2011 cycle. That’s money the state will have to do without this time around, since those funds run out at the end of June, according to Robert Lang, the fiscal bureau director

[Danzig]

http://factcheck.org/2011/03/walkers-tax-cuts/

[geeker2]

Originally Posted by Danzig

http://factcheck.org/2011/03/walkers-tax-cuts/

Just to be fair shouldn't there be an outcry by the left of " MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow LIES !!" ?

I want to hear what Rachel Maddow's neck mole has to say before I pass judgment.

[wiphan]

[quote=Riot;758132]The Governor tried to sneak through alot of nasty stuff in his bill. I'm darn glad the Democrats held up the rushed-through passage of this bill, because much of the content has turned out to have zero to do with solving any budget deficit. Yes, I think that is indeed their civic duty, to protect their constituency.

QUOTE]

This to me says a lot about you and your beliefs. Whether you agree or disagree with the bill acting the way the democrats have done is just down right wrong. If the republicans give in it sets a really bad precedent. It is like when I tell my 3 yr old she can't have candy and then she throws a temper tantrum and I give in. Do you think she will do it again? We can not have law makers acting in this behavior any time a bill is presented that they do not agree with. That is what elections are for. Time to get back to work and do your job.

[wiphan]

Originally Posted by Riot

Yes, you are an employer. If you want good people, to hire or to stay, you'll have to treat them better than any other possible employer. "Giving power back"??? What are you talking about? "You've" had collective bargaining rights forever. It's silly to "blame unions", when every single contract they have. every penny that is spent, was bargained and signed off upon by the State. Collective bargaining hasn't ruined your state budget.

Why don't you look into a program that is called Teacher Ameritas that exists in numerous school districts in WI. I know it exists in Green Bay. Just so you know with this program retired teachers can receive 1/3rd of their annual salary as long as they work a total of 10 days. That is correct 10 days of work for 1/3rd of your pay. So if you are a teacher making $90k you get $30k for 10 days of work. $3k a day isn't too bad. Great use of tax payer money. Also explain to me how we need to pay someone over $100k plus $30k in annual benefits to teach gym to middle school kids? But forgive me collective bargaining by teachers union who fund the democrats has nothing to do with budget problems. Wake up