One of the main justifications Governor Walker has provided over the past several days to justify getting rid of collective bargaining is that he is simply doing the bidding of local Wisconsin governmental agencies. Take, for example, this statement in his press conference last week. The unions had already said that they would concede all the cuts in salary and benefits he had requested. Why, a reporter asked him, was he not satisfied with this? The state budget would now be balanced. Why is it necessary to break the unions as well? The Governor's reply:
To protect our schools, to protect our local governments, we need to give them the tools they’ve been asking for, not just for years, but for decades,”
Really Governor? The local governments have been asking "for years, for decades" to get rid of collective bargaining?!
I thought, if only I had the time and the money myself to investigate what I knew was a total line of BS from the Governor - you know, to just get on the phone and start calling local Wisconsin government agencies myself to find out if, indeed, they had been asking "for years" to get rid of collective bargaining.
Thankfully someone else has started to do just that.
Over the past weekend, Joe Tarr of Isthmus newspaper in Wisconsin began making calls to find out if Governor Walker was indeed doing the bidding of local governments.
http://www.isthmus.com/...
Here are some of the things Mr. Tarr learned:
- Miles Turner, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators said, “Our position is we’ve sought significant modifications in bargaining laws, but we’ve never sought to eliminate collective bargaining rights."
Turner also said that "the association actually prefers the unions have collective bargaining because it’s an established system where everyone knows how it works and all have a seat at the table. He also said that he thinks the governor made a mistake by exempting police and fire unions from his edict."
-Dan Thompson, executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, said the Governor was trying to give them "a great deal more flexibility than we asked for.”
-Mark O’Connell, executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association, said his group asked for more power, but not to the extent Walker is demanding
If any of you have spoken to your local governments and found out if they have or have not been asking "for years" to get rid of collective bargaining, I would love to hear about this in "Comments" below.
In fact, if local Wisconsin governments have been clamouring "for years" to get rid of collective bargaining, now would be the perfect time to step right up and express their support for the Governor's bill.
But all I have heard is................. 'sound of crickets chirping.'
All I know so far is that there have been at least three local government agencies in Wisconsin who have just passed resolutions opposing the Governor's attempt to end collective bargaining for public employees, including the Eau Claire School Board, Eau Claire City Council and the Chippewa Falls City Council.
To me, it’s clear the Governor is just hiding behind the local governments to justify his BS budget bill. Of course, I don't know why he thinks he can get away with making these statements, when it is so very easy to make a few phone calls, search the Google, etc. etc. etc. to verify his claims. Maybe the Tea Baggers really don't read after all.
Let's face it, the guy has never given a decent justification for what he is trying to do - he may as well just keep making shit up and hope something will stick.