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According to news reporter Jessica Arp, a Dane County judge in Wisconsin has halted the implementation of Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union law. Judge Maryann Sumi said that the prosecution was likely to succeed on their claim that the conference committee for the bill, which stripped collective bargaining from most state workers, violated open meeting requirements.
Sumi stressed that she was not judging on the merits of the legislation, but on the specifics of the open meeting requirements. Wisconsin law requires that public meetings are announced with 24 hours notice, 2 hours if there’s some extenuating circumstance which prevents advanced planning. The meeting in question, the conference committee, actually had less than two hours notice. “I have been shown no rule that overrides the statutory requirement,” Judge Sumi said.
The legislature in Wisconsin could simply re-do the conference committee, under the rules, and pass the bill again. Since they believe it’s a “non-fiscal” bill, quorum requirements would not apply. Alternatively, with the Fab 14 Senators back in Madison, they could just pass the budget repair bill they wanted all along, and have the quorum to do so, unless the Democrats leave the state again.
But this temporary restraining order will stop the implementation scheduled for March 25. And it drags out the process once again, keeping it in the headlines. This is not at all what Scott Walker and the Republicans facing recall elections wanted to see.
In addition, it gives time for other legal cases to be brought. There could be municipal challenges that the law’s changes in pension contributions violates “home rule” provisions that allow the cities and towns to govern their own pensions for their workers.
Meanwhile, the labor assault in the states continued this week, as Oklahoma became the latest to eliminate collective bargaining for state workers, reversing a 2004 bill that allowed unionization in municipalities. Like Scott Walker’s bill in Wisconsin, it exempts police and firefighters, but strips collective bargaining for “non-uniform” public employees. Four cities which had agreements before 2004 will get to keep them.
Clearly, this is a coordinated effort to bust unions across the country. But in Wisconsin, for the time being, they’ve been stopped.
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Speaking of assaults, will the death threats and vandalism against WI GOP members begin again?
When do the marches on behalf of federal union members begin, I want to sign up.
Thanks for the update David.
Has anyone reported the alleged threats to the FBI or the police? Or are they just another set of Republican lies, like Palin’s lies or like the “death threat” lie Randy Hopper used?
Any mechanism for the Dems to force reclassification as a “fiscal” bill? This piece of legislation was obviously financial in nature. How can the Dems force this issue?
Hey, princess. Glad to see you’re still shilling on David’s WI posts before the rest of the world even reads them.
Given the recall effort it is going to be very hard for Walker to scrape up the majority he needs pass this bill, if it ever gets that far again.
I had a conversation with a colleague last night who just got back from Madison. He’s an old-timer and the kind of liberal Lieberman loves. He still thinks that public service unions make out like bandits because the government can pass the bill onto the tax-payers. He’s a friend, so I didn’t get into a shouting match the way I did on the Iraq invasion (which he supported). I thought about sending him an e-mail giving him the data and explaining the analysis (he’s an economist, by the way, but has a hard time getting to the core of a theoretical argument), but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. All this to say that there is a lot of bad information out there, even among people who really should know better.
what??? judges that uphold existing law?? Wisconsin totally rocks!!
OT: Veteran Post reporter Shailagh Murray to join White House staff!!!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/veteran-post-reporter-shailagh-murray-to-join-white-house-staff/2011/03/18/ABLxiNq_blog.html
Reachin’ across the aisle for that bipartisan hopey-changey feeling.
sigh. it’s like asking a tribal member to stop being a member of their tribe. can’t be done. they have to open their own eyes when they hit rock bottom.
Got any links, homeboy? If not, then we’ll just go ahead and dismiss your mouthings out-of-hand.
Walker and the R’s had to know this was likely. It was a tactic to bring the Dems back to Wisc. Thing is the Dems can always leave again.
Links, please! Unverified assertions are to be viewed as complete hogwash unless or until proof is offered.
And just btw, there were protests against the federal workers’ pay freeze, albeit Obama did not (yet) propose to take away their collective bargaining rights:
http://www.wbaltv.com/r/26093687/detail.html
Speaking of paid-by-the-post spam accounts, how are you doing today, rafe? Got any “natural male enhansement” pills to sell us today? Maybe some more of those fabulous “lose weight without diet or exercise” drinks?
Not fiscal?
Ceding one’s benefit rights to the whim of someone else has fiscal consequences, as far as I can see. After, the governor would not want those rights done away with unless there was some sort of fiscal reason, right?
There is already another lawsuit filed that addresses the fiscal nature of the bill.
It wouldn’t surprise me, but I really don’t think they want to see another record turnout in Madison anytime soon.
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I dunno. The Regressives are pretty hard headed. I’d be willing to bet they’ll try again, and the Dems may well bail again.
I don’t think the fab 14 will leave again. the Republican’s cards are on the table and they’re going to have to sell this piece of shit as it is. Wisconsinites just aren’t buying it.
Walker probbaly has his privately funded para-military goon-Koch squad shadowing these 14 dems. So, on his orders, they “escort” them to the capital for the vote, not allowing them to leave. Wait and see.
Well, it woudl be about time, eh?!!! I’ve not heard anything before except your unsourced assertion here, but it’s never too late to bring out the tar+feathers, or guillotines!! Still, there is not much need at this point. Herr Walker and his goosestepping goonsquad Senators have lost, badly, and its only a matter of time before they have moved on to their wingnut welfare sinecures, like you are obviously working toward.
#1 would demand hand marked, hand counted paper ballots counted in open in each precinct.
Watch the Wisconsin supreme court election considering the public outrage.
Killing Diebold kills the republican scam elections.
They are driving head-long off the Deep End.
War On The Poor: Minnesota Republicans Want To Bust Poor People Who Carry Cash
LINK.
David, as you noted, this wave of Republican public-union-busting has clearly been coordinated, and there is a very precise script that they’re reading from. My question is whether there is any reporting on the precise source of this effort.
We know that Koch and other reactionary money has funded think-tank papers on the evils of public unions for a while now; but I really wonder what room, what participants, who sent the minions out with their marching orders on the days after the midterm election? Is it at that shindig in Palm Springs every year? The Federalist Society board meeting?
Sounds like a Pulitzer prize story to me! But mainly, inquiring progressives want to know….
Re the war on the poor, in my state, people without bank accounts for direct deposit will no longer get unemployment checks. They will be forced to accept a Bank of America debit card for their benefit payment. I’m wondering what the state is paying BofA for this service and whether it is really cheaper than issuing checks. Color me skeptical.
If you are going to be a troll, Rafe, at least try to a better job of it. Incompetent shills like you are a pain in the ass.
One can only hope.
Color you smart.
Everyone focuses on cutting spending because of right wing propaganda pounding home the ludicrous message that the rich “earned” their money and should therefore not be taxed heavily.
The problem is that money flows around a system which is in fact a closed system. In a system designed to enrich the few and pauperize the many, like ours, the money is systematically drained from the pockets of everyone except the rich. More and more money accumulates in their pockets. The idea that they then use that money to make jobs is PURE fantasy. No, the majority of the money is “invested” in the stock market casinos. This “investment” does not produce jobs. Venture capitalists and initial stock offerings fund startups, not buying and selling pieces of paper.
So, as the laws become increasingly favorable to the wealthy and as they give themselves increasingly lucrative tax-breaks, the money piles up in the pockets of the rich, further impoverishing the poor. That money is effectively out of circulation. So, if you cut more “government” by either giving the rich more tax breaks (more opportunity to hoover up the loose cash) or cutting services which would have resulted in money circulating through the hands of the non-rich, it all leads to more and more money being locked up the hands of the rich. This is a downward cycle.
Therefore, the answer is to unlock that money from the death grip of the rich and get it back into circulation. That means taxing the rich. A lot!!
Now, before you get all weepy-eyed and lamenting that these people have “earned” this money, be sure to ask for their time card. Who ACTUALLY earned this money? Thousands of people, if not tens of thousand of people who do actual work who then are TAXED by the rich through “PROFITS.” In other words, all profits are actually taxes levied without representation.
If we are going to tolerate leeches on society, we must insist that some mechanism exist that extricates money that has accumulated and become stuck in the smelly folds of the corpulent rich and return it into circulation deep into the economy. We will, of course, have to wash the money to remove the stench of its owners.
I saw this about Connecticut: “The State Saves Money on Issuing Unemployment Benefits, as the Check-Cashing Industry Loses” (The Hartford Advocate, By Gregory B. Hladky, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011)