Recall Election Day in Wisconsin

[Tarheel]

It's Election Day. 

And for those of you who think that Republicans are no different from Democrats I'd like to direct your attention to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who is up for yet another recall election in his state of Wisconsin.  Against the full force of the Public Workers Unions and the Democrat Political machine in the deep blue state that he represents he has prevailed in implementing an impressive budget repair bill that has put Wisconsin back on fiscal track, defied the Pharaoh's implementation of Obamacare in his state by returning a healthcare grant which had Obamacare strings attached, implemented a photo ID voter law, implemented a policy as a part of his budget repair bill which eliminated the requirement that union dues must be automatically withheld from public workers to directly fund the unions (much to the fury of the union bosses), and prevailed in an primary recall attack (he's in the actual recall election today).  The Left, the Unions, and Democrats have been politically gunning for this guy for at least two years if not longer.

It looks like he's going to win again today which will be a massive defeat for the public employee unions and the Democrats.  I have to imagine that there are some public employees secretly voting for him today judging by the fact that the (now voluntary) union dues revenues are down in Wisconsin.

I'm not entirely convinced that this is a bellwether for the upcoming general election in November but it does say something about the political climate today in a solid blue, mid-western state.  I think a win by Walker today definitely throws Wisconsin into the toss-up category which is not good for The Pharaoh in November.

Anyway, here's an interesting story that explains a little about the union issues and why Wisconsin matters and also offers some insight into this difference between the Democrat Party and the Republicans, all emphasis is my own:

Morning Jay: Why Wisconsin Matters
Jay Cost, June 5, 2012 6:00 AM

Today is the Wisconsin recall election. If Republican governor Scott Walker prevails, so will conservatives, since his reforms of collective bargaining will survive, and he shall have curbed some of the worst excesses of the American labor movement.
 
There have been, and still are, public benefits to unionism.
...
 But what about government unions? It’s hard to argue that there was ever a compelling social need for them, and indeed up through the late 1950s there was no substantial push to unionize government workers, ... one reason government workers are unionized today has to do with the decline of the craft and industrial unions, starting in the late 1950s. This put pressure on the Democratic party to find new loyalists to replace the old ones in the steel, auto, coal, and rubber industries.
 
They are partially responsible for the Democratic party’s lurch to the left. The old craft and industrial unions had a stake in the private economy: the faster it grew, the more workers were needed, and the more money everybody made. However, that is not how public sector unionism works at all. In fact, the interest of the public sector unions is not in growing the private economy, but of socializing an ever-greater portion of the national wealth.

And these unions have a decidedly clientelistic relationship with the Democratic party. They provide money for the campaign in exchange for special benefits after the election. In 2010, public sector unions (notably AFSCME, the AFT, and the NEA) chipped in $28 million to the Democratic effort; that's almost a third of the total money Democrats received from organized labor, and it does not count the value of their formal endorsements of Democratic candidates or their GOTV volunteers.
...
So, if it seems to you that, during your lifetime, the Democratic party has gone from being the party that utilized government to help the little guy, to just being the party of government, the rising influence of government unions is a big piece of the puzzle.
...

Source:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/blogs/morning-jay-why-wisconsin-matters_646501.html

[Tarheel]

It looks like Gov. Walker wins his second election as Governor during his first term.  I can't wait to see how The Pharaoh Obama spins this one.  What a repudiation of the power of the increasingly irrelevant public sector unions; and it shows that a fiscal conservative Republican can win (and then win again) in a blue state.

On Wisconsin!

From RealClearPolitics.com, all emphasis is my own:

Wisconsin Gov. Walker Wins Historic Recall Election
By Caitlin Huey-Burns - June 6, 2012

WAUKESHA, Wis. -- Sixty million dollars in campaign spending and 15 months of protests later, Wisconsin voters decided Tuesday that Republican Gov. Scott Walker should keep his job after all.
 
Walker defeated Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a tight and heated recall election that began in the corridors of the state capitol and then transformed into a national test of the conservative grassroots and the power of organized labor. Walker's win deals a blow to the latter and energizes the former.
...
With turnout in this special election reaching presidential levels, observers will be reading the tea leaves for clues to the Obama-Romney contest this fall.
...

Source:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/06/06/wisconsin_gov_scott_walker_wins_recall_election_114387.html

[Tarheel]

Oh by golly; the cheese-head Democrats are on teh networks saying that their guy could still win this; they're still counting the votes in Madison and in the Bryant Center; golly they had more than a thousand voters turn out there today...

[Tarheel]

The people that will truly be spinning this story tomorrow will be the pollsters; if these double-digit margins hold I don't see how any of them have any credibility.

[Townhallsavoy]

Even Artur Davis likes this story. 

[Townhallsavoy]

But this guy does not like this story:

[GH2001]

Gov Walker is who all the neocons should look at and strive to be like. Ive always said (and I think Sani has too) that I would be a one term politican most likely, because I would actually get in there and piss people off doing the right thing. That's what Walker has done. Wisconsin is in great shape financially now. This statement I read from an article sums it up nicely:

School budgets in Wisconsin are balanced, property taxes are down slightly, and now the state budget has a surplus and savings to put in a ‘rainy day’ fund for the first time in a decade. So what exactly is the reason for recalling Scott Walker and spending $16 million for this special election? Oh, wait, I forgot. There isn’t a reason, and under the Wisconsin constitution, there doesn’t have to be one.

Under state law, local officials can be recalled only if the recall petitions specify a reason related to the ‘official responsibilities’ of the official involved. The state constitution establishes the right to recall state officials, however, and no reason at all needs to be stated, let alone one related to Walker’s ‘official responsibilities.’ The constitution ought to be amended.

HIS state government was in a crisis financially. He took steps to remedy it even though it involved removing the pacifiers from the unions. The unions are bogging down state and corporate budgets with their outrageous demands. They are NOT NEEDED anymore with the labor laws that exist at the federal level. Let them cry, who really gives a fuck what they think anymore.

[AUChizad]

Gov Walker is who all the neocons should look at and strive to be like. Ive always said (and I think Sani has too) that I would be a one term politican most likely, because I would actually get in there and piss people off doing the right thing. That's what Walker has done. Wisconsin is in great shape financially now. This statement I read from an article sums it up nicely:


HIS state government was in a crisis financially. He took steps to remedy it even though it involved removing the pacifiers from the unions. The unions are bogging down state and corporate budgets with their outrageous demands. They are NOT NEEDED anymore with the labor laws that exist at the federal level. Let them cry, who really gives a fuck what they think anymore.

Completely agree.

Also of humorous note, Michael Moore steals a sour grapes play from the bammer playbook.

https://twitter.com/MMFlint/status/210214610937192449

Michael Moore ‏@MMFlint
Wi$con$in

[GH2001]

Completely agree.

Also of humorous note, Michael Moore steals a sour grapes play from the bammer playbook.

https://twitter.com/MMFlint/status/210214610937192449

And here is a little tidbit about him: He's not even from Flint like he boasts about. He was from a very middle class family not from Flint. He just says that shit to appeal to the people he can profit off from....the working and lower class.

Its still amazing to think about how Walker turned a 3 billion dollar deficit into a surplus in 2 short years. It can be done.

[AUChizad]