Many of you are familiar with Act 10, the illegally passed act that stripped collective bargaining rights from public servants across the state of Wisconsin. (I was under the windows of the conference room blogging about it when it "passed.") However, Act 10 was not Scott Walker’s first slash and burn move. I think Wisconsinites first had an inkling of how bad Walker was going to be when, before he was even sworn in, he was making demands of the lame duck Democratic legislature and the outgoing Democratic governor. His demand to then Governor Doyle was:
[T]o freeze implementation of the federal health care law — an issue [Governor] Doyle [was] especially passionate about — and suspend contract negotiations with state employees. Walker also requested that the administration stop making permanent hires, start revamping the Charter Street power plant, and delay any new rules for agencies until after he takes office Jan. 3.
Walker also quickly killed the train from Madison to Milwaukee at the behest of conservative talk radio. It's not just that I hate driving to Milwaukee—it also killed jobs and cost the state $810 million. Walker thought he could talk the Obama administration into giving him the rail money for road projects. California and Florida got Wisconsin’s rail money. That was the start of the debacle known as the Walker administration.
On February 6th, 2011, Scott Walker told his staff during the Super Bowl of his plans to destroy public sector unions in Wisconsin. That day my beloved Green Bay Packers won their fourth Super Bowl and just a few days later Scott Walker killed the state of Wisconsin’s Super Bowl buzz. He and the Fitzgerald boys ignored protests of up to 120,000 people and jammed their union-busting legislation through.
What have the costs been to the people of Wisconsin? Recently the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future completed a study on “The Price of Extremism: Wisconsin’s economy under the Walker administration.” The study details what many of us living here already know. We knew that public sector workers are making $500 a month less; however, that only scratches the surface of the damage Walker and his minions have done to the state.
According to the report, the one-year impact of taking $975 million out of state and local programs from education to recycling and everything in between, "will cause the loss of about 5,400 full‐time jobs in the private sector.
That’s not all. The cuts that directly impact individuals include a one-week waiting period for unemployment insurance, elimination of tax credits for the poor and higher tuition rates which will cost individual taxpayers in Wisconsin over $119 million; "Taking this much money out of the economy will cause the loss of about 1,200 full‐time jobs in the private sector."
According to the report the average public employee will lose $70 a week in take home pay due to Act 10 itself. This takes approximately $700 million out of the state's economy, which "will lead to the loss of about 6,900 full‐time jobs in the private sector during the first year of Walker’s budget."
Remember the train Walker rejected? Because of that, Wisconsin is on the hook for $390 million for rail maintenance and upkeep.That, coupled with other federal monies that he has rejected, from high speed rail, to broadband technology, vocational rehab, health exchanges and other federal programs, has cost Wisconsin $553 million, which, "will cause the loss of about 4,700 full‐time jobs in the private sector."
In Wisconsin we have, for the most part, always had a tradition of clean, honest and fair government. When one side captured the executive and legislative branches of state government they were always respectful to the minority party. Walker’s slash and burn politics have gone against the “Wisconsin Idea” and he must be recalled.
Many on the right are saying that the recall is about “sour grapes,” but looking at these numbers I can assure you that it is not. Walker must be recalled in order to save Wisconsin while we can. If anything his one year in office has proven that reactionary right wing principles do not work. He claimed Wisconsin was open for business and that he would focus on jobs. Governor Walker has focused on jobs—he has focused on getting rid of them.