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by Nordic » Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:46 pm
by 2012 Countdown » Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:44 am
by DevilYouKnow » Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:53 am
"The governor wants to divide us," says western Wisconsin farmer Joel Greeno, who will ride his tractor into the Capitol Square this morning. "But that won't happen. The governor's got his corporate contributors. But the state employees and the teachers, they've got us. Farmers understand that when you cut funding for road crews and schools, our rural communities get hurt. And we've been hurt enough."
Wisconsin workers and farmers will in the words of the tractorcade organizers "Pull Together!" That's a slogan that recalled the historic organizing of the farmer-labor movements of the upper Midwest, which has their expression in Wisconsin in the Progressive Party that sent Robert M. La Follette Jr. to the U.S. Senate and elected Phil La Follette as governor in the 1930s.
It has been a long time since Wisconsin has been this united, and since the farmers and workers of the state have spoken in so loud and clear a voice.
by chump » Sat Mar 12, 2011 12:28 pm
Gray Davis Pollster Bullish On Wisconsin Recall Elections
The lead pollster for Gov. Gray Davis (D-Calif.) in 2003, the year Davis was turned out of office by a recall election, says he is bullish about the prospects of forcing recall elections in state Senate districts in Wisconsin this summer and predicts that Democrats will succeed in recalling Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) next year.
The recall process in Wisconsin is daunting. Only incumbents who have served at least a year in office are eligible, so Walker and the entire state assembly are exempt from recall efforts until January 2012. Sixteen of Wisconsin's 33 state senators are currently eligible -- eight Republicans and eight Democrats -- and recall efforts have been formally initiated against all but two of the Democrats.
To force a recall election in a given district, petitioners need to gather -- in just 60 days -- at least 25 percent of the votes cast for governor in 2010 in each district. The signature threshold amounts to roughly 13 percent of Wisconsin's eligible voters statewide, or roughly 15,000 signatures in each district, though the exact number per district can vary widely.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Craig Gilbert reports that little precedent exists for an attempt to recall state legislators on such a wide scale:Scholars interviewed last week could cite only three times in American history when more than one state legislator has been recalled at roughly the same time over the same issue: two in Idaho in 1971 over a pay raise, two in Michigan in 1983 over a tax vote and two Republicans in California months apart in 1995 over their collaboration with Democrats.
But Paul Maslin, a Democratic pollster who worked for both Gray Davis and the Democratic ticket in Wisconsin in 2010 -- and who, full disclosure, I worked for from 1986 to '89 -- said he believes the efforts to force recall elections in Wisconsin will succeed. His Wisconsin clients include Sen. Herb Kohl, former Sen. Russ Feingold and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democrat who Walker defeated in last year's gubernatorial race.
Drawing on his work for Davis, Maslin said he believes both sides will succeed in gathering the necessary signatures to force recall elections. "I can remember many, many conference calls," he told The Huffington Post, "where various people who were supposedly experts" doubted the ability of Davis' opponents to force a recall. "The bottom line was, they had no problem getting the signatures. And this [was] 2003, before the advent of Facebook and social networking." The process is still more demanding in Wisconsin, however. California allowed more time (160 days) and required only about half as many signatures (12 percent of the votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election). But Maslin said he believes the Wisconsin efforts will succeed, since the bases on both sides are "inflamed" and since communication and organizing technology have "changed dramatically" in the last eight years. "If Egypt can overthrow their dictator in 18 days," he said, "Wisconsin can do it in 60."
Perhaps not surprisingly, Maslin predicted that Democrats will succeed in recalling Republican senators and reclaiming a majority of the Wisconsin Senate, which he described as the "first act" leading ultimately to a recall election against Scott Walker and his ouster from office. "We will have an election next year to see who our governor is going to be, and I don't believe that [Walker's] situation will change enough" to allow him to prevail, he said.
Maslin did note a "big difference" with the California recall. In 2003, "it was less 'I hate Gray Davis,' [though] they didn't like him, and more 'I'm just shaking my head about how many bad things are happening in California right now' -- and then you had a star emerge as the answer in Arnold [Schwarzenegger]," he said.
Wisconsin's current situation, he said, is focused much more on Walker. Maslin believes the most important survey measures will involve judgements about Walker. "The key [polling] number is going to be how independents view him, and ultimately do they view him as salvageable" as governor, he said.
Liberal Groups Raise Over $2 Million for Wisconsin Recall
By: David Dayen Friday March 11, 2011 6:55 am
Liberal groups can report that they have raised over $2 million to support recall efforts in Wisconsin. This includes $750,000 from the PCCC and Democracy for America, $860,000 from MoveOn and $340,000 from Daily Kos.
Since the state Supreme Court race, which comes April 5 and could shift the balance of power on the highest court in Wisconsin, is publicly financed, the recall of the Republican 8 is the first opportunity for national low-dollar donors to contribute to the effort in Wisconsin.
And we might want to modify that and call it the Republican 6, because in particular 6 of the 8 races are being looked at seriously:
Union officials and progressive activists on the ground in Wisconsin say that six specific lawmakers have been targeted for recall (before Wednesday night that number had been eight). Of those, three were considered top tier “gets:” Sen. Randy Hopper (District 18) who won his last election by 184 votes, Sen. Alberta Darling (Districtwho won her last election with 51 percent of the vote, and Sen. Dan Kapanke (District 32) who also won his last election with 51 percent of the vote, in a district where President Obama won 61 percent of the vote in 2008. The other three lawmakers on the list were Sen. Robert Cowles (District 2), Sheila Harsdorf (District 10), and Luther Olsen (District 14).
“Without full capitulation this is the best possible political outcome,” said one top-ranking labor official, trying to put a good spin on a damaging development. “It is going to drive [Walker’s] negatives over 65 [percent] and we are looking at possibly winning six recall elections”
MoveOn put out a poll yesterday on two of the top three in this race, Hopper and Kapanke, and the results were favorable, though it was a one-day poll. On the other hand, it came out before Hopper and Kapanke voted for the bill stripping public employee collective bargaining rights. So those numbers could swing even worse for them.
If three Republicans are ousted by Democrats, the state Senate flips back, and Walker’s narrow window for radical transformation in the state closes.
By the beginning of 2012, Walker himself could face a recall election. And by November 2012, the entire state Assembly will be up for grabs, including those candidates who flat-out lied to teachers. It’s plausible that by January, 2013, the entire state government in Wisconsin could flip from Republican to Democratic. And they would get there thanks to a people-powered, youth-labor, progressive alliance.
by 2012 Countdown » Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:04 pm
Already thousands of people are there walking in the traditional counter clockwise direction. The tractorcade is set for 11:00 am and because of the permit was limited to only 50 tractors... rumor has it there's a combine in the group,"yepper".
Distance view of crowd here.
http://www.channel3000.com/localvideo/index.html?v=live
Labor stream from the capital looking down State St. here... with blog.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/afl-cio-2010-rally
They were having sound problems because of the wind so be aware and turn down your sound initially.
Here's another from WORT the UpTake stream... they are currently having some technical difficulties and are showing recorded video but will be live shortly.
http://www.livestream.com/theuptake
There will be record crowds today.
by 2012 Countdown » Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:30 pm
by seemslikeadream » Sat Mar 12, 2011 5:08 pm
by 2012 Countdown » Sat Mar 12, 2011 5:12 pm
by seemslikeadream » Sat Mar 12, 2011 5:15 pm
2012 Countdown wrote:I was informed by someone that they couldn't see the images. All these images ARE showing up for me. Is anyone NOT able to see these photos?
Oh and you're welcome SLAD, many thanks to you in return.
by Canadian_watcher » Sat Mar 12, 2011 5:20 pm
by 2012 Countdown » Sat Mar 12, 2011 10:17 pm
by 2012 Countdown » Sun Mar 13, 2011 11:44 am
by norton ash » Sun Mar 13, 2011 11:59 am
by 23 » Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:03 pm
One of the loudest and most persistent slogans from protesters last night in the Capitol in Madison, beyond “Recall,” was “General strike.” The Capitol Times looks into that possibility:
Representatives of the union that represents blue-collar, technical and safety officers at UW-Madison said the possibility of a general strike has been discussed. “Anything is possible,” said Local 171 steward Carl Aniel.
Aniel said only locals can call a strike, and it would be up to each one to do so individually.
Anne Habel, a steward with AFSCME Local 171, said Wednesday’s action will further inflame the unions, which have staged repeated protests since Walker introduced his budget repair bill in mid-February.
“Every time something happens, people become more militant,” Habel said.
But some labor leaders did not join the call for a general strike. WEAC (the teacher’s union in Wisconsin) Mary Bell said, “I ask Wisconsin’s educators to be at work tomorrow. We will not back down…we will continue this fight.” Leaders with Madison Teachers Inc. also asked teachers to be in the classroom tomorrow.
Part of this is a pose. Most people don’t realize how the federal Taft-Hartley Act makes general strikes extremely difficult. And there are state statutes governing this as well. Reasons for striking are extremely limited. Labor can only endorse the general concept, rather than explicitly calling for a general strike. However, there are two items working in labor’s favor. First, labor contracts for most state employees expire March 13. Really all bets are off after that. Second, while under Wisconsin Statute 111.70(4), public employees are unable to strike during negotiations with an employer, a recent court ruling stipulated that the legislature is not the employer of public workers, and therefore workers could go out on strike against them.
However, there’s a part of the bill passed by the Senate last night that would make a general strike nearly impossible. Thomas Bird of the ASO (Autonomous Solidarity Organization) caught it:
In the Legislative Financial Bureau’s memo on modifications to SB 11, page 16, there is a provision titled “Discharge of State Employees.” It states that under current law, “the Governor may issue an executive order declaring a state of emergency for the state or any portion of the state if he or she determines that an emergency resulting from a disaster or imminent threat of a disaster exists.” Remember that the Wisconsin Republicans have shown a disturbing penchant for complying with existing law in the most limited sense. In the event of a Governor declaring a state of emergency, the new SB 11 would allow an appointing authority to discharge any employee who fails to “(a) report to work for any three days during the state of emergency, (b) participates in a strike, work stoppage, sit- down, stay-in, slowdown, or other concerted activities to interrupt the operations or services of state government.” There is a clear coordination between the language used to vilify those exercising their 1st amendment rights and the language used to activate this provision. The Republicans very clearly are interested in giving Governor Walker the ability to wield unreasonable, unprecedented power.
I don’t see any reason why Scott Walker would not call a state of emergency upon the first attempt of the general strike, and fire all the workers. He worships Reagan for firing the air traffic controllers. The threat of this is probably holding many labor leaders back. As Marty Beil of the Wisconsin State Employees Union said last night, “Tonight, Scott Walker and his cronies in the Senate Republicans turned our proud state of Wisconsin into a banana republic.” That rider is certainly a banana republic kind of move.
So this fight will probably be taken to the ballot box in recall elections. That’s what Mary Bell and Marty Beil discussed last night and what many are discussing this morning. Labor leaders must figure that Democrats would return the favor very quickly and restore bargaining rights if and when they regain control of the Governor’s position and Legislature. However, with all the union-crushing provisions in the bill, they’d better hope they can survive long enough.
I should note that all this does not mean that there won’t be some actions of disobedience occurring today. from the CapTimes:
Outside the Assembly chambers, about 50 protesters were sleeping and planned to remain until the body takes up the Senate’s amended budget-repair bill, scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday. Police and protesters continued to get along, with no incidents reported and no arrests.
by norton ash » Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:08 pm
Madison would be a great place to conduct the summer RI confab, IMO. Whether a general strike or continued acts civil disobedience will be taking place then.
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