Eau Claire (Wisc.) Leader-Telegram:
And while the way some protesters expressed themselves went overboard, the motivation for their sentiments was real. Walker's sudden attempt to eliminate most collective bargaining rights for public employees was heavy-handed, and some of his statements and actions since the Feb. 11 budget repair bill announcement have unsettling police-state connotations. ...
Add to this Walker's categorical unwillingness to negotiate with public employees, his efforts to avoid critics (after an appearance at an Eau Claire business Tuesday, he "slipped out a side door and into a waiting vehicle" to avoid hundreds of protesters, the Leader-Telegram reported), and his beefed-up security detail, and it seems our new governor may be on a power trip.
While that doesn't make him a dictator, Walker's "my way or the highway" approach won't win him any friends, and that will make it even harder to solve the state's critical problems.
John Nichols at the Madison (Wisc.) Cap Times:
I have always argued that Wisconsin leads the nation: We do better, ask little and give much. Our ancestors fought to end slavery, break up the trusts and make our state what Teddy Roosevelt called America’s “laboratory of democracy.”
A week ago, it seemed as if the laboratory was producing something toxic -- an assault on public servants that would quickly spread from Madison to other state capitols where Republican politicians want to use fiscal challenges as an excuse to score political points against unions.
But then Wisconsin pushed backed.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Democrats in the state Senate should return to their jobs and stop pretending their escape to Illinois was about democracy. It wasn't. In fact, quite the opposite. Democracy has creaked to a halt in their absence.
Republicans, led by Gov. Scott Walker, should stop pretending their budget repair bill is only about repairing a budget. It's not. It's also an attempt to break up Wisconsin public employee unions. Not necessary, governor.
But even now, there is ample room for compromise.
Green Bay Press Gazette:
This newspaper, which endorsed the governor in his race against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, has a tradition of supporting fiscal conservatism on the local, state and national levels. We think Walker is on target in his intention to reduce a massive projected deficit. And frankly, it's difficult to imagine every public employee union in the state would have agreed to the changes Walker seeks. Still, bypassing labor without even trying only muddies the waters.
Walker wants public employees to accept changes in pension and health care contributions already thrust onto workers in the private sector. We support the governor's insistence on taking those steps. That said, his approach casts the debate as an anti-union campaign, and not a tough-but-fair shared sacrifice.
We also are troubled Walker's budget repair bill makes an exception for police, firefighters and the Wisconsin State Patrol. When he introduced the bill, Walker said Wisconsin always has treated those groups differently from other state employees, but critics have a valid argument in that their exemption smacks of political payback for support in the fall election.
The Northwestern in Oshkosh, Wisc.:
The problem with Gov. Scott Walker's state budget repair bill isn't what it ends, but what it begins. If it ended at simply requiring public employees in Wisconsin to pay a higher share of health insurance and pension costs, it would be a tough, but reasonable and appropriate response to a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit.
Truth be told, the bill is the beginning of an effort to roll back the right of workers. Its lesser-known provisions set a dangerous precedent for granting the executive branch broad emergency powers where an emergency does not exist. The speed in which the bill is heading from proposal to adoption is also of concern. It is slated for a vote Thursday, just six days after it was released to the public. The fact that a national special interest group, The Club for Growth, began broadcasting ads in support of the proposal at the same time the bill was released shows that this is not a homegrown effort to fix Wisconsin's problems, but an orchestrated, ideologically driven campaign.
Cal Thomas seems to think Gov. Scott Walker could be presidential timber if he breaks the unions:
When three-fourths of the Boston police department went on strike in 1919, leading to broken shop windows and looting, then-Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge called out the state militia and broke the strike.
Coolidge declared, “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.”
His courage propelled him to the vice presidency and eventually to the presidency. ...
Now it’s the turn of Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker. So far, the 43-year-old governor, in office less than two months, has stood his ground against schoolteachers who called in sick (nice example for the kids) and other union members — many of them bused into Madison from outside the state.
J. Pari Sabety at the Akron Beacon-Journal:
Much ink has been spilled on the necessity and ramifications of Senate Bill 5, the bill to eliminate collective bargaining for state public employees. Polls show that taxpayers don't want a race to the bottom; they simply want government that works and doesn't cost too much. That means that we need to put away the baseball bats and use the simple skills of common-sense management, appropriate technology and practical solutions to create government that works in the 21st century.
Happily, we know this can happen in Ohio — because it already has with the full partnership of state employees and their union. ...
It's time for Ohio's lawmakers to stop attacking state workers and start working with them to create jobs and improve the services we provide to all Ohio families.
The Toledo Blade:
Some of the Senate bill's provisions are valid, or at least worth discussing. But taken together, these proposals go too far. However dire the immediate fiscal condition of Ohio governments, you won't fix it by imposing a 19th-century model of labor relations.
It isn't a coincidence that public-sector unions were among the most aggressive opponents of Mr. Kasich and other Republican candidates during last year's campaign.
"This is about payback, taking revenge," says Ted Iorio, a veteran Toledo labor lawyer who represents a number of public-employee unions in the region. "Kasich wants a complete evisceration of the public sector.
Marietta (Ohio) Times:
Senate Bill 5 simply proposes that public employees share some of the burden along with taxpayers.
It's almost certain Ohio will have to reduce the amount of money it disburses to county and local governments. To help counties and towns cope, Senate Bill 5 would provide the tools necessary to reduce labor costs.
Asking public employees to sacrifice before asking taxpayer to sacrifice is actually a fair and responsible move.
