Prior to becoming Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker was a state legislator who became the Milwaukee County Executive after winning a special election in 2002. Posted on 03/07/2011 9:06:12 PM PST by MrTim29
Before Scott Walker was governor and Wisconsin was in the news, the unions and Walker were going at it tooth and nail. This battle is not new. In fact, it’s a battle that Walker has won before… and it is one that he will win again.
Prior to becoming Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker was a state legislator who became the Milwaukee County Executive after winning a special election in 2002.
The reason for the special election was because the County Executive at the time, Democrat Tom Ament, was forced to take an early retirement after approving a lucrative pension deal in 2000 that allowed state employee to get six-figure lump sum payouts -- some even as high as a million dollars -- when they retired from their jobs. Ament said he felt bad that the unexpected pension costs, understated by $100 million, caused harm to the county government, but he signed it because the public employee unions thought it was a good deal.
Over the course of Walker’s career as the County Executive, Walker gave over $370,000 of his salary back to the county. He also never submitted a budget with a higher property tax levy than the county board had approved, he cut the number of county employees by more than 20% and he reduced the county’s debt by 10%. It was no wonder why Walker easily won re-election in 2004 with 57% of the vote and again in 2008 with a 59% of the vote.
By the time 2010 rolled around, the economy was in the tank and Walker was faced with a county budget $10 million in the hole. As the leading 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate, Walker had an uphill battle keeping his pledge of not raising taxes while at the same time closing the budget shortfall. His final budget called for a wage freeze and changes in health and pension benefits. But that was only a budget and it required the blessings of the public employee unions, like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 48, in order to make it work.
Perhaps the public employee unions believed that they could force Walker into breaking his no raising taxes pledge? Or maybe they thought they could force Walker into not balancing budget? Whatever it was, it was an election year and the unions were clearly playing politics with the taxpayer’s money and the public employee’s salaries and futures, because they simply refused to meet and negotiate any changes in the public employee’s health and pension benefits plans.
Over the last decade, politicians in other states took on the unions and have failed. Perhaps the best known example is California Governor Schwarzenegger’s multiple failed referendum attempts. But Scott Walker was no Arnold Schwarzenegger. In response to the union’s refusal to negotiate, Walker ordered 26 unpaid furlough days for county workers. It saved millions and made the unions, under pressure from their members, to come back to the negotiation table; however, it was too late. The county appealed to the Wisconsin Relations Commission that they shouldn’t be required to bargain with unions on certain topics. So long as that brief was being entertained by the commission, the county no longer wanted to come back to the table.
The unions thought they would play hardball. They expected Walker to balk like so many politicians that face Big Labor… They never expected that he would actually swing and knock the ball straight out of the park. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union failed their members and Scott Walker balanced the budget. But that wouldn’t be the last union battle Walker would fight during the 2010 election.
In September 2010, the SEIU Local 1 found themselves in a precarious situation when their unregistered lobbyist was secretly taped illegally colluding with the Democrat Party, Milwaukee city officials and the media to illegally smear the Walker campaign. It took two days for the SEIU to fire the ethics and campaign violating coordinator, John-david Morgan, from his position. Unfortunately for Walker’s opponent, the unions and the Democrats were never able to bring the “army of green [AFSCME union colors] from all over the country to Wisconsin, with resources,” and they couldn’t “kick Scott Walker’s ass all over the state of Wisconsin.”
Both the AFSCME and SEIU unions failed to take down Scott Walker during the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign. Perhaps it’s because one simple sentence resonated with the hard working tax paying Wisconsinites faced with structural budget deficits in the billions and billions courtesy of former Democrat politicians and their union allies, “The status quo is working out pretty well for them, even though it’s been a disaster for the rest of Wisconsin.”
Scott Walker beat the unions all the way up to, and including, September 2010… and he won the Governor’s race a month later.
That’s when the real challenge began. Governor Walker was sworn in January 3, 2011 and immediately handed a $3.6 billion budget shortfall, much higher than the $2.2 billion promised by former Democrat Governor Jim Doyle. Incongruously, Doyle pledged “Leaving this State in Better Shape than it was Before,” yet he raised taxes and took a $3.2 billion structural deficit when he first took office in 2003 and increased it to $3.6 billion when he left in 2011. He started out with unemployment at 6.2% and watched it peak at 9.8% in March 2010. He increased the budget 33% during his two terms and left the state in a fiscal crisis some call one of the top ten worst in the nation. As of September 2010, Doyle was one of seven governors to receive a grade of ‘F’ in the fiscal-policy report card of the Cato Institute.
By Governor Walker’s second month, he presented his budget repair bill. It included the following provisions:
After the union’s hardball experience with Walker in the past, this time they opted for a little softball and issued a statement that they would be willing to go along with a proposal to increase their member’s pension and health care contributions, so long as bargaining rights are left alone. The Governor recognized the union stalling tactics and responded by saying that state contracts typically take up to fifteen months to complete, and the budget cannot be balanced while waiting for that to happen.
When Governor Walker balked, the unions brought out their hardball again.
In, presumably, a coordinated effort to gather some kind of momentum, the unions, the media and the Democrat Party adopted a strategy once used by the 2003 Democrat legislators in Texas… they left the state. If the right number of Democrats were not present at the state capitol, there would be no quorum, and no quorum means the legislature would not be able to pass Walker’s state budget plan. This worked out great for those Democrats in Texas, because they were near the end of their session, and the Texas legislature only meets once every two years. In Texas, they dodged that final redistricting vote, and it wouldn’t be brought up again for over a year; however, in Wisconsin, the legislature meets all year long. The Democrats who left the state and are hiding out at a resort in Illinois cannot intend to be out of their state and derelict of their duty for an entire year or even until their term is up, they can only be out for as long as the unions (organized mainly by the AFL-CIO) can apply political pressure in an effort to force Governor Walker to compromise.
So, in come the Pelosi-described “astroturf” protesters to Wisconsin… people bused in from out of state, handed their red, purple or green t-shirt, handed a pre-fabricated sign (unlike the Hitler-Walker homemade signs), probably given a lunch and, who knows, maybe even a check at the end of the day… and they stand along side the teachers – who called in sick to work and, in some cases, brought their students – who are there illegally organizing a strike. Get enough outraged people, a sympathetic media, and see how long it takes to get the Governor’s positive polling numbers as low as possible until he bends.
During the Democrat lawmaker’s exile, the state capitol has been bombarded by protesters. Tens of thousands of unions members, Democrats, community organizers, agitators and sympathetic others have camped out, complained, chanted and stirred up quite a media presence. Their efforts are making a little headway as Rasmussen, a pollster Democrats tend to reject except for when the results serve their purpose, recently found that Governor Walker’s approval numbers have slipped to 43%.
Why won’t Governor Walker compromise?
First, he’s right about negotiating new contracts and the length of time it takes to put them together, they will take longer than they should and will sidetrack his ability to properly balance the budget. That aside, he understands and does not underestimate the power of the unions.
Over time the unions have garnered Cadillac benefits that include health and pension plans (average Milwaukee teacher benefit plans averages $43,505) paid almost exclusively by the government that literally exceeds what entire families in Milwaukee make in income per year (average $42,950). This is separate and apart from what these union members are making as a salary (average Milwaukee teacher salary averages $56,500)... which also exceeds what entire families in Milwaukee make per year. Quite simply, it looks like this:
COMPENSATION Ave. Milwaukee teacher salary = $56,500 Ave. Milwaukee teacher benefits = $43,505 Ave. Milwaukee total teacher compensation = $100,005 Ave. Milwaukee FAMILY median income = $42,950 Ave. American FAMILY median income = $49,777 Ave. Milwaukee teacher works 184 days a year (7 hours a day) Ave. American private sector employee works 260 days a year (8 hours a day) (Both may end up having to take work home).
Governor Walker knows that unions renegotiate their contracts on a schedule and that saving $300 million over the next two years isn’t enough to save the state from future budget shortfalls. One would have to expect the unions to say yes to this salary and benefits deal from this point forward without ever trying to get more for their members. If the unions are not working on behalf of their members to increase their pay and benefits, then what is the purpose of paying the dues? Hopefully not to sit back and protect terrible job performance (two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education). And even if the unions did lay low for a long period of time, would they be silent forever? Of course not. The vicious cycle would again start all over again and the state would find themselves back in another budget crisis.
Governor Walker and the GOP in the state legislature simply want to usher in a new era of government responsibility that compensates public service employees what is reasonable and available within the confines of the budget. He’s not proposing taking away their ability to strike, he’s not proposing taking away any union protections, he’s not even proposing taking away all their collective bargaining… he wants to have the union members share the costs of the benefits and he wants those benefits to fit within the confines of the state budget by law and not by negotiation where collusion and paybacks run rampant (of the nearly $7 million Big Labor has contributed to state candidates in Wisconsin over the last six election cycles, 93 cents of every dollar has gone to a Democrat). Governor Walker wants to adopt the same laws that many other states currently have on the books like Virginia, Arizona and Texas.
So as the Democrat lawmakers continue to practice anti-democracy and hide out in other states, the Wisconsin Republican lawmakers are making every legislative maneuver to get the business of state on track again. As the astroturf protesters create $7.5 million in damages and clean up at the state capitol, the Tea Partiers go there and clean it up. As Congressional Democrats crank up the violent rhetoric, Congressional Republicans point out the hypocrisy so close to the Representative Giffords’ shooting. And as President Obama expresses his support for the unions in Wisconsin, Governor Walker points out the hypocrisy that federal employees have no collective bargaining for wages and benefits.
It’s a battle. But it is not a battle from which Governor Walker is going to back down. It is a similar battle that he’s won in the past. And it is a battle that is going to end with the unions losing and once again being a disservice to their membership and to the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsinites are reminded, “The status quo is working out pretty well for them, even though it’s been a disaster for the rest of Wisconsin.”
Until the Democrats come back and be a part of the solution, the only way to balance the current budget is to lay off 1,500 state employees for the next three months and take 200,000 children off BadgerCare, a state sponsored health plan.
So, as the Democrat Party, the media, the angry overpaid and under-performing Milwaukee teachers, the AFL-CIO, the SEIU, and AFSCME unions collude to undermine Governor Scott Walker and the Wisconsin budget process, the state remains broke. And because those Democrats remain derelict of their duty, Governor Walker did exactly what he said he was going to do… begin the process to layoff 1,500 public service employee union members.
The unions are again playing fast and loose with their members livelihoods and futures. And again, Walker is not backing down. They pitched, he swung. The ball is in the air. Only the next election will tell if the ball is caught or if it goes over the wall. Judging by what Walker has done in the past to union hardball, it's going to be a grand slam.
WHY WALKER WILL WIN IN WISCONSIN
A new tongue-twister...
(There was one small county where the Democrats had a bigger percentage of the vote in both 2004 and 2008).
bump for later
Hey Pawlenty!
Choke on it.
Indeed!
I wish more elected Republicans were like Scott Walker.
This read makes me feel better. It will take a tough guy to win this one, and just maybe Walker be the man.
Milwaukee population is 50% black and Hispanic. Prime Dem territory.
The dems also cheat here and Madison with total security.
Not for long, voting ID/registration reform is coming and will end much of the cheating the dems do now.
Walker will win in the end for one reason, and one reason alone.
In about a week and a 1/2, Walker can declare those Democrat Fleebagger seats ABANDONED, and call for special elections. The quoruum number also drops.
Is there ANYBODY that thinks these Democrats are going to destroy their own future careers over this??? I don’t...
They’ll declare that losing was “Victory!”, the media will play right along, and in the end, Scott will get everything he wants, because the Dems screwed any cred they ever had.
I like Gov. Walker. He is a leader.
My favorite.
I would love to see he and Allen West and a few others running this country.
Nicely done. One minor thing, refer to:
“...exceeds what entire families in Milwaukee make in income per year (average $42,950).”
I think you want ‘median’ there, not average.
Walker is looking great, hope he can keep the rest of the Repubs together and win this thing.
If Walker wins, then Wisconsin wins.
The unions have abused and walked over the weak negotiators representing the taxpayers. Even now the running away rats have allowed the unions to negotiate better deals with local governments before the Walker budget cuts go into effect.
There were payroll surveys in the 70’s and 80’s that documented the significantly higher wage and benefits paid to government workers than local work force. Their comment was government workers should be compared to Fortune 500 company wages.
I fully support Walker and his efforts to control costs of government. I would recommened a significant reduction in number of government employees. Let competition make Wisconsin better.
A 93% support of Democrat candidates indicates who is giving taxpayer money away to a special interst group. To me this indicates that Democrats have a conflict of interest and should recuse themselves from voting or negotiating on union matters.
From my first membership in a union (back in high school) was in 52-54, in a retail clerks union. It was just a dues paying thing where you boss and union rep were often the same! It was abused!
When I got out of service (June 1956)I was a communications worker; and after a short time, I was told if I did not join the union, the union members would not work with me, then I would be fired! I joined just to keep peace!
During the next 3 years, we had 2 slow downs, a short strike, then a lay off! After those experiences I chose a career that had no unions.
After a few years the organizer begun to organize unions in the government, which I believe had been illegal. But did they not have a no strike clause. But it was not long that the no strike clause was ignored. (Such as the garbage workers in Memphis and around the nation).
Now what have we got? Anarchy! I stand with the Govenor!
Remember what President Reagen did when the Flight Controllers refused to go back to work! He fired them!
I saw your truck at Sendicks. Way to go. I liked that you were getting horn honks.
nice alliteration
bump.
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