Thank God the good people of Wisconsin are protesting, they are uniting in protest of their governor, Rightwing pigmonger Scott Walker. This piece of crap governor is cooking the books so he can claim a budget crisis. This guy is a fraud and a liar!
Walker claims thereis a $137 million deficit -- it is not because of a drop inrevenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts,benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushedthrough $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups inJanuary. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s newspending schemes -- or delay their implementation until they areoffset by fresh revenues -- the “crisis” would not exist.
The Fiscal Bureau memo -- which readers can access at http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf-- makes it clear that Walker did not inherit a budget thatrequired a repair bill.
In a Wednesday op-ed, the Capitol Times of Madison picked up on this theme.
In its Jan. 31 memo to legislators on the condition of the state's budget, the Fiscal Bureau determined that the state will end the year with a balance of $121.4 million.To the extent that there is an imbalance -- Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit -- it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January.
This just posted on TPMDC...
The weather in Wisconsin is cold this time of year -- but the budget fight is only getting hotter. Following a walkout by the state Senate Democrats, depriving Republicans of the three-fifths majority needed to pass the budget and its controversial anti-public union provisions, the NBC affiliate in Madison now reports that sources say the Dems have left the state entirely. (Democrats with backbone!!)
This comes after the state Senate majority leader said that the State Patrol could be called in to round up the Dems. However, leaving for another state would presumably place the legislators beyond the state's jurisdiction. (Fun fact: The state Senate leader and the Assembly Speaker are brothers -- and the new head of the State Patrol is their father.)
Democratic Minority Leader Mark Miller released a statement on behalf of all Democrats urging Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans to listen to opponents of the measure and seek a compromise. His statement did not address where Democrats were or when they planned to return.
Bill opponents in the Senate gallery cheered when Senate President Mike Ellis announced that there were not enough senators present to proceed.
This is an on going event, minute by minute... events courtesy of TPM, Yahoo news,
My cousin Jeanette wrote this for me, she lives in Wisconsin......
I was in Madison on Tuesday and the similarity with what was happening there, and what I had just witnessed on TV in Egypt was striking. Thirteen thousand people marched on the Capital, filling the Capitol Building and chanting "Kill This Bill" and spilling out into the square. Teachers and Public Employees are under attack with a bill that Governor Walker has proposed which would dismantle their collective bargaining rights. The so called Repair Bill is being driven through (and will probably be voted on today) under the guise that it will help the state budget's bottom line. But this is not about the budget! This is about union busting! You can almost see Scott Walker smacking his lips! Nothing would make him happier than to see Wisconsin, a leader in Progressive politics for the last century, become a Right to Work State. By pitting worker against worker, he and the Republicans are trying to make villains out of public employees because they have a union which has survived during this recession, while one by one, unions in the private sector have fallen by the wayside. Workers have suffered in the last 30 years while companies have moved, first to the South where unions were weak or nonexistent and then out of the country.
This is class warfare! An injury to one is an injury to all!
I'll be back with updates!
