In a stunning blow to unions and far left progressives, Republicans won four out of the six recall elections that were held in Wisconsin yesterday, taking the Republican majority from 19/14 to 17/16. There will be two more recall elections next week where two Democrats face challengers, but even if both hold their seats the majority stays with the Wisconsin GOP.
Democrats called for the recalls after Walker launched his plan to eliminate most collective bargaining for public workers, and Tuesday's races were seen as a preview of a plan to force a recall of Walker next year.
Tuesday's recalls were launched in March, during the turmoil in Madison over Walker's plan, ultimately successful, to curtail collective bargaining by most public employees. Democrats tried to recall Republicans for that vote, while Republicans tried to recall Democrats for leaving the state for three weeks to block a vote on the issue.
Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) was the first to face a recall election, and he easily survived the challenge last month.
Wapo's Post Politics has Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's statement:
"Last November, the voters sent a message that they wanted fiscal responsibility and a focus on jobs," Walker said in a statement. "In our first months in office we balanced a $3.6 billion deficit and our state created 39,000 new jobs. It's clear the voters also want us to work together to grow jobs and improve our state.
"With that in mind, earlier this evening I reached out to the leadership of both the Republicans and Democrats in the Assembly and state Senate. I shared with them that I believe we can work together to grow jobs and improve our state. In the days ahead I look forward to working with legislators of all parties to grow jobs for Wisconsin and move our state forward."
More:
Outside groups on both sides poured more than $25 million into this fight, in addition to the more than $5 million raised by the candidates themselves. According to the non-partisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s Mike McCabe, Republicans had a slight edge in the money race, but it was “remarkably close.” Unions were the main source of funds for Democrats; limited-government groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity invested heavily on the GOP side.
Many expected the fall of three or more Republicans to either tie up the Senate or turn control over to Democrats but the Republicans held out and the Washington Examiner explains why:
A JSOnline editorial grudgingly provides some of the actual figures on the results gained:
But the news is good for many. The latest example is Milwaukee, where the most recent estimates show the city with a net gain of at least $11 million for its 2012 budget. That will take a slice out of the city's structural deficit, which is created by costs rising faster than revenue, and will reduce cuts that Mayor Tom Barrett and the Common Council must impose.
The city projects it will save at least $25 million a year - the figure could be as high as $36 million in 2012 - from health care benefit and pension changes it didn't have to negotiate with unions because of the changes wrought by the new law that ended most collective bargaining for most public employees.
That certainly will help the city deal with the $14 million in cuts in state aid in the 2011-'13 state budget.
Hard decisions have to be made when your state spends more than it brings in and Walker made those decisions, Republicans enacted the laws necessary to make up for budget shortfalls, and they did it without forcing the taxpayers to suffer with higher taxes.
Perhaps Barack Obama should ask Walker for some advice because Wisconsin showed, by example, how to create jobs and work toward a path of a balanced budget wihout increasing taxes.
On a state level, Walker has done what Barack Obama and Congress has not been able to accomplish on the grand scale for our country.
NRO provides more details into the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court saga where a female Justice Ann Walsh Bradley charged Justice David Prosser with "choking" her and other witnesses in attendance claim she went at Prosser with "fist raised" and he did nothing more than push her away.
Here are some questions to ask all the eye witnesses: Who approached who? Who got into who's personal space? Who provoked any type of physicality?
If it was Prosser the next question is very relevant. If it was Bradley, the next question is already answered.
The followup questions would then turn to, why leak it to the press (George Soros–funded Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism) instead of filing charges with authorities?
After conservative leaning Supreme Court Justice David Prosser won the controversial election earlier this year handing liberals a painful loss, then the recount where Prosser still came out ahead, one would think liberals wound have licked their wounds and moved on.
One would be wrong if they thought so.
Latest Wisconsin news involves Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley and Supreme Court Justice David Prosser where initial headlines quoting an anonymous source claimed that Justice Prosser "choked" Justice Bradley. No arrests were made and no charges filed against Prosser but liberals sites jumped off the cliff fast and furiousy before subsequent reports added a few facts to the news accounts.
Such as, there were other witnesses and according to another unnamed witness, Bradley charged after Prosser with fist raised and Prosser "put his hands in a defensive posture," adding "He blocked her."
Another source said the justices were arguing over the timing of the release of the opinion, which legislative leaders had insisted they needed by June 14 because of their work on the state budget. As the justices discussed the case, Abrahamson said she didn't know whether the decision would come out this month, the source said.
At that point, Prosser said he'd lost all confidence in her leadership. Bradley then came across the room "with fists up," the source said. Prosser put up his hands to push her back.
Bradley then said she had been choked, according to the source. Another justice - the source wouldn't say who - responded, "You were not choked."
He said, she said, they said.
Ann Althouse seems to be the go-to on this. Besides being a law professor, she also is local and is keeping a close eye on the situation and she makes a few good points.
I'm reading the Journal Sentinel's account as referring to 3 — not 2 — sources, with 2 of the 3 versions portraying Bradley as the aggressor: "the source... another source... [a]nother source...."
I want to know not only what really happened at the time of the physical contact (if any) between the 2 justices, but also who gave the original story to the press. If Prosser really tried to choke a nonviolent Bradley, he should resign. But if the original account is a trumped-up charge intended to destroy Prosser and obstruct the democratic processes of government in Wisconsin, then whoever sent the report out in that form should be held responsible for what should be recognized as a truly evil attack.
ADDED: Everyone who thinks Prosser must to resign if he attacked Bradley ought to say that if Bradley attacked Prosser, she should resign. If that happens, then the tactic of leaking the original version of the story to the press will have backfired horrifically for Democrats, as Governor Scott Walker will name the Justice to replace Bradley. If both Justices erred and must resign, that will be 2 appointments for Walker, both of whom, I would imagine, will be stronger, younger, and more conservative than Prosser, and, with Bradley gone, the liberal faction on the court will be reduced to 2, against a conservative majority of 5.
I Own The World turns the original liberal headlines around now that there are more sources saying Bradley initiated the physicality of the exchange:
Four Ways Justice David Prosser Can Be Removed From Office
This was the heady “reporting” by Think Progress in the wake of the rumor that newly re-elected Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Prosser had “choked” Judge Ann Walsh Bradley.
Think did a thorough job of detailing how the class H felony was going to lead to Prosser’s
a: Resignation b: Impeachment c: Removal by Address d: Recall
This is a very useful article. We can now use it to have Judge Ann Walsh Bradley removed from her position. It seems the worm has turned.
Bottom line is unless charges are filed against either Justice and there is a trial, no crime has been committed.
It works both ways, both individuals are innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Perhaps the liberals that jumped on this bandwagon should have thought of that before they starting touting unproven, false headlines in the first place.
[Update]Althouse also has some relevant questions about the initial stories and asking whether the first so-called journalist, bill Lueders, had both sides of the accounts and deliberately only reported the one to which liberals jumped all over. (H/T Instapundit)
Lueders needs to tell us whether or not he knew the Bradley-as-the-aggressor story when he presented his original work of investigative journalism under the name of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. If he knew it, why didn't he present the whole context at first? And what was in the "reconstructed account" that got Prosser to decline comment? If Lueders didn't know the alternate version of the story, in which Bradley was the aggressor, why on earth didn't he know? The story he presented is so weird that any thinking person would demand to know more of the context. Did Lueders keep himself willfully ignorant of the more complicated version of the story, and if he did, why? What kind of journalism is that? Truly evil?
Now, let's go back to what Ian Millhiser said: "Should the allegations against Prosser prove true, it is tough to imagine a truer sign that our political system has broken down than if the calls to remove him from office are not unanimous." All right, Mr. Millhiser, I appeal to you. Let's be unanimous about this and show that our political system has not broken down. I agreed with you that if Prosser did what Lueders's story made it seem that he did, Prosser should resign. By your own standard, will you say that if Bradley initiated the physical aggression, running at Prosser with raised fists, that the integrity of our political system demands that there be unanimous calls for Bradley to be removed?
Finally, it must be said: If Lueders had the larger context of the story — including the allegation that Bradley was the aggressor — and he suppressed it in his original account, what he did was not only evil, shameful journalism, it was freaking stupid. All sorts of bloggers and tweeters like Millhiser committed themselves to the firm, righteous position that if Prosser did what is alleged, he must leave the court. Lueders's article lured them into stating a firm and supposedly neutral principle about physical aggression. With that principle in place, they are bound to call for Bradley's ouster, if Bradley really did take the offensive and transform the verbal argument into a physical fight.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision overturned a lower courts ruling, saying Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi overstepped her authority, and has ruled Governor Scott Walkers union rights law can go into effect.
A couple updates and a few interesting links Saturday, May 21, 2011.
First, let me say "whew", good to see the world is still here, despite all the hype from those-I-will-not-name, who thought Rapture was upon us and the world was ending!!
One of the updates include some reactions to the awesome, polite in-your-face history lesson Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave to Barack Obama at the White House in front of the press, which was shown live and now being passed around from YouTube and other video sites as well as videos on media sites across the web.
Video shown at WuA on yesterdays post, well worth seeing and something that needed to be said to Obama.
Andrew McCarthy calls Obama's original speech "Borderline Treachery" and provides a more in-depth history lesson for Barack Obama.
Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit, thinks Netanyahu's history lesson to Obama was "incredible" and that Obama appeared to be a "complete buffoon."
AllahPundit, Hot Air, thought Barack Obama looked like he was passing a kdney stone during the whole lesson.
Left Coast Rebel puts it best when he says "What Netanyahu said is exactly what he should have said and what I would expect our president to say to the leader of another nation; given we were being pushed into a precarious position, against our interests and safety..."
Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) delivered a similar message, arguing that reverting the borders would only embolden Hamas to launch more attacks.
"A two-state solution agreed upon by the Israelis and Palestinians should be negotiated through direct talks," Rothman said Friday in a statement, "but it is important to remember that a full return to the 1967 borders will be indefensible for Israel and that talking with terrorists who want to destroy Israel is a non-starter."
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) echoed that sentiment, saying the 1967 borders "were simply not defensible, and Israel must not be made to return to them."
"The President is correct that land swaps built into a peace agreement could make Israel’s borders safe and secure, but make no mistake about it – such territorial adjustments would be very significant so that Israel would no longer be 9 miles wide at its narrowest point."
"It would undermine Israel’s strategic depth, increasing its vulnerability to both military invasions and the sorts of rocket and missile attacks that Hamas carries out in Gaza," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Friday in a statement. "Doubling down on failed policies will not lead to the changes we need. It’s time for the Obama administration to change course.”
This is what happens when an inexperienced child decides to try to insert himself into an adult situation... Could Obama have screwed up more? [End Update]
[Another update with video of Gene Simmons, Israeli born KISS member]
GENE SIMMONS, KISS: President Obama, I voted for an idea. What I didn’t realize what I was getting was an idealist. If you’ve never been to the moon, you can’t issue policy about the moon. You have no f—king idea what it’s like on the moon. For a president to be sitting in Washington, D.C., and saying, “Go back to your 67 borders in Israel,” how about you live there and try to defend an indefensible border nine miles wide? On one side you’ve got hundreds of millions of people who hate your guts, on the other side you’ve got the Mediterranean. Unless you control, in Israel, unless you control those Golan Heights, it’s an indefensible position.
It’s a nice idea, when you grow up you find out that life isn’t the way you imagined it, and President Obama means well. I think he’s actually a good guy. He has no f—king idea what the world is like because he doesn’t have to live there.
[End 2nd Update]
The next update to one of yesterdays posts here at WuA is Obama's failure to obtain Congressional authorization for military action in Libya and the deadline which passed yesterday for getting such authorization.
Jake Tapper, ABC News' Political Punch reports that Obama sent a letter to Congress asking for a resolution to support military action in Libya and suggests that it doesn't fall under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, therefore isn't a law Obama must obey.
David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post, explains that the War Powers Act "makes no specific exception for limited or supporting action: It applies to any instance in which military forces are “introduced into hostilities,” or sent into foreign territory or airspace while equipped for combat."
You can look at the War Powers resolution for yourself and determine where you come down on this.
Liberal Taylor Marsh provides the snark for this one with "Pres. Obama, a man who said he wasn’t going to be like Bush, is on the cusp of making the War Powers Act obsolete by simply ignoring it. Hey, but no worries, he’s the president so we can trust him."
Democratic Rep. from California, Brad Sherman, states that Obama is trying to "bring democracy to Libya while shredding the Constitution of the United States."
He continues with "He cannot continue what he is doing in Libya without congressional authorization. When a president defiantly violates the law, that really undercuts our efforts to urge other countries to have the rule of law."
Harsh when that is coming from your own supporters huh?
If the left is coming down hard on Obama on Libya, then you can imagine the reaction from the right.
Those are the updates on yesterday's news, now for some links on other things.
The million dollar recount in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election is complete and Supreme Court Justice David Prosser is still 7,000+ votes ahead.
Defeated Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, after wasting a million plus in tax payer money on the recount, is now debating whether or not to finally concede to the will of the voters or challenge the results in court.
KETV Omaha reports "Best known as the former chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza, Herman Cain says he's running for president of the United States in 2012."
In the South Carolina televised GOP debate, Cain came to the debate with one supporter in the Lutz focus group and by the end of the debate over half of the 29 people in the group raised their hands for Cain as top choice.
Rebel Pundit is spot on in calling them unhinged lunatics.
Quote from RP:
These protesters at the Madison, Wisconsin Tea Party Protest featuring Andrew Breitbart and Sarah Palin unleashed a furious message in the following video. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no idea what this message means…
Note to RP- It isn't just you, I also haven't a clue what the hell they are screaming about, but the comedy of it, is pure gold, so thank you!
The very end of the video has the key quote: Sarah Palin to Barack Obama "Game On"
The video below is Sarah Palin at the Madison Wisconsin Tea Party rally on 4/16/11.
Palin covered a variety of issues, she gave support to Governor Scott Walker in his battle with union leaders, took the GOP to the woodshed for failing to fulfill campaign promises, tore into the left's big government agenda and how the 2010 elections showed voters rejecting that agenda by handing Democrats historic losses.
Then she ripped into Barack Obama and she did it well by comparing Obama's 2008 campaign promises with the reality of what he did, providing the example of his promise to cut the deficit in half then proceeding to triple it when he was in office.
Some highlights:
GOP:
"We didn’t elect you just to rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic. We didn’t elect you just to stand back and watch Obama redistribute those deck chairs. What we need is for you to stand up GOP and fight! "
Invoking the national champion University of Wisconsin women's hockey team:
"Maybe I should ask them if we should be suggesting to GOP leaders they need to learn how to fight like a girl."
Governor Scott Walker
"He understands that states must be solvent in order to keep their promises, and that’s what he’s trying to do. He’s not trying to hurt union members. Hey folks, he’s trying to save your jobs and your pensions."
Obama
"We're flat broke, but he thinks these solar shingles and really fast trains will magically save us. So now he's shouting, all aboard the bullet train to bankruptcy."
"..flushed a trillion dollars down the drain on a useless stimulus package and then he bragged about the jobs he created in congressional districts that don't even exist."
"The only future that Obama is trying to win is his won re-election. He’s willing to mortgage your children’s future to ensure his own. And that’s no the audacity of hope, that’s cynicism. Piling more debt onto our children and our grandchildren is not courage! No that’s cowardice. "
"Our president isn’t leading; he’s punting on this debt crisis. Win the future? The only future he wants to win is his re-election."
If Sarah Palin’s not running for president, what a terrible waste that would be of the single best stump speech I’ve heard since, well, Palin’s ’08 convention speech, which just happened to be the single most electrifying political moment of my adult life. A thrill didn’t just run up my leg that night, it ran up everything in me that’s American, and today in Madison, WI, it happened again. Surrounded by an obnoxiously hostile, astro-turfed, pro-union crowd that tried and failed to drown out her message with obnoxiously hostile astro-turfed noise, the former Alaskan Governor took the fight directly to the growing pile of Obama’s failures in the most effective way we’ve heard yet from a potential GOP challenger.
If you want to know why Obama’s Palace Guards in the MSM are determined to destroy this woman and all of popular culture has risen up to help, press PLAY. If you want to know why the GOP Establishment had better start looking over their collective shoulders, press PLAY.
It's ironic to watch so many so called establishment Republicans who seem to want to be leader of the free world dance their way around the more serious political battles of our time. They criticize, they pontificate, or editorialize, yet from ObamaCare to a budget deal, they're also careful to not too directly engage. The same can be said of them for what has played out in Madison, Wisconsin over the past month.
Whether it's talking about death panels, or blood libel, to now showing up in Madison - that's not former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. As I said to a friend and colleague tonight, wherever the current battle is, that's very often where you can find Palin. One of the first requirements for leadership is to show up out front. No one will ever accuse Palin of not doing that. Doing so also has an interesting side benefit for any would be leader. When you lead, people tend to follow and support you, even if not at first.
States running a deficit, like Wisconsin, voted in Governors that promised to get their fiscal house in order and according to The Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Wisconsin Legislature's nonpartisan budget office, has run the numbers and finds Governor Scott Walker's budget plan would put the state's finances in the "best shape they've been in for more than 15 years."
The property tax bill on the typical Wisconsin home would rise by less than 1% annually over the next two years under Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office reported Friday.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau also said Walker's plan would put the state's finances in the best shape they've been in for more than 15 years.
It found the so-called structural deficit - the imbalance between spending and tax revenue as laid out in state law - for the 2013-'15 budget would be $31 million. That assumes Walker's budget passes the Legislature without new spending increases or tax cuts that would add to the deficit.
Under its existing form, Walker's budget leaves the state with a fraction of the structural deficits seen in the past eight budget cycles. The next lowest structural deficit in recent years was $1.5 billion, or 48 times as much as what Walker's proposing.
Republicans are hailing it, Democrats are criticizing it, but the non-partisan organization set up to run the figures has no political agenda and shows that the voters who elected Walker got exactly what they asked for.
A budget that helps put their fiscal house in order.
Our politicians in Washington could certainly learn something from Scott Walker.
Results from Wisconsin counties show a conservative state Supreme Court justice has won re-election in a race seen as a referendum on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's divisive union rights law.
County tallies show Justice David Prosser defeated JoAnne Kloppenburg by 7,316 votes.
State election officials must review those numbers before declaring an official winner. They say they won't start that process until Kloppenburg has a chance to request a recount. She has until Wednesday.
[Update] More from the AP who titled their article with "Prosser Declared Winner In Supreme Court Race."
[Update #2]Prosser campaign declares victory now that canvass is done (at least he waited for the actual results unlike Kloppenburg who tried to declare victory with only 204 vote lead before canvassing was even started!!).
A spokesman for Justice David Prosser this afternoon declared victory this afternoon, saying the "will of the electorate is clear" with the final canvass now in.
"Justice Prosser extends his appreciation and respect to Joanne Kloppenburg and her spirited campaign," Brian Nemoir said. "With certified results in-hand, Justice Prosser hopes that a shared respect for the judiciary allows the campaign to move to a positive conclusion."
Nemoir said Prosser looks forward to thanking voters and expects to make a public address soon.
It truly has to hurt when far left liberal blog Huffington Post is the one to debunk the claims of the far left liberal loons, but that is exactly what has happened in the hoopla surrounding the additional official nearly 15,000 votes that were not reported to media in the WI Supreme Court election.
When the story first broke that almost 15,000 votes hadn't been reported to the AP on election night, accusations and headlines from liberal blogs using quotes to surround words like "finds" and "missing votes", "human error" and the meme of the day was that Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus somehow pulled votes out of her ass to assure a victory by the conservative incumbent Justice Prosser over liberal candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg.
Looks like the votes were reported and documented, they just hadn't made it into the vote total that made it into the news outlets.
Since liberals would never believe the truth coming from conservatives, it is poetic justice that it is Huffpo that delivers the blow:
UPDATE: 11:20 p.m. -- Perhaps the most convincing evidence so far that human error explains the initial omission of Brookfield's results comes from our colleagues at the Brookfield Patch. On election night, they reported a vote total for Brookfield that exactly matches the vote total Kathy Nickolaus did not include in the County level count until Thursday. As Joe Petrie and Lisa Sink of the Brookfield Patch reported on Thursday...
Then head over and please notice the date of the report at BrookfieldPatch which is April 6, 2011... and yes, that is before Nickolaus publicly gave her mea culpa and blamed her own human error which the left derided so loudly.
Because salt feels so good in an open wound, lets point out the additional votes "found" elsewhere during canvassing, which the whole purpose of IS to confirm, verify and catch any type of "human error."
Waukesha County vote totals may have caused a stir in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election Thursday, but as vote results from additional counties become official, Justice David Prosser continues to lead JoAnne Kloppenburg.
The results from Waukesha County became official Friday, and were added to the Wisconsin state Government Accountability Board's website of officially reporting counties. Ballots from the city of Brookfield that had been left out of unofficial vote totals were discovered, changing the final vote tally and swinging results in the favor of Prosser in that county.
The Wisconsin state Government Accountability Board has added canvass results from 53 counties and 19 still remain. Vote totals tabulated from each county of the 53 reflect that Prosser leads Kloppenburg by roughly 100,000 votes. Of the nineteen counties remaining, canvass vote totals from populous Milwaukee and Kenosha are still outstanding.
I do not see a whole lot of liberal bloggers, those that implied or directly accused Nickolaus of foul play, apologizing or even offering corrections to their initial stories lamenting how she magically found votes. I also do not see them calling for the resignation of officials in the other counties that magically found votes using the canvassing process meant to determine "official" election results.
I guess those outlets and/or blogs would prefer the public simply forget they jumped the gun and made accusations that had no basis in fact or reality.
Classy versus tacky is how I see the reactions by the two candidates for the WI Supreme Court seat that is presently held by David Prosser.
Long story short, after the canvassing process which is meant to verify and confirm initial election results as well as correct any errors, was concluded, Justice David Prosser took a 7,500+ vote lead against JoAnne Kloppenberg, who prematurely declared victory before the canvassing had begun when it was reported she held a 204 vote lead.
Kloppenburg, before the canvassing and verification process when she believed she had a 204 point lead:
“We owe Justice Prosser our gratitude for his more than 30 years of public service. Wisconsin voters have spoken and I am grateful for, and humbled by, their confidence and trust. I will be independent and impartial and I will decide cases based on the facts and the law. As I have traveled the State, people tell me they believe partisan politics do not belong in our Courts. I look forward to bringing new blood to the Supreme Court and focusing my energy on the important work Wisconsin residents elect Supreme Court justices to do.”
Prosser, after partial canvassing had been done during which he has taken a 7,500 vote lead, tells Fox News:
"I like to think that I have survived a nuclear firestorm of criticism and attack and smear. As far as I'm concerned, if these results hold up, I will be the winner."
"I'm not conceding, and I'm not congratulating. And I'm not claiming victory"
Below is a video from Huffington Post showing Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus making the public announcement, calling the new totals a result of the canvassing process meant to catch any errors and Ramona Kitzinger, a Democratic member of the county board of canvass, backing Nickolaus up on her announcement.
(The reason for bold print above the video is because many left leaning sites and news outlets are conveniently leaving out the little fact that a Democratic representatives was witness and part of the canvassing process and is verifying the human error aspect of what happened.)
Despite the hyperbole on the web at the moment with Democratic supporters implying some type of foul play and initial reports from both sides about voter fraud, the final numbers are still not in and verified.
Left leaning statistician Nate Silver from FiveThirtyEight is trying to insert a little logic into the emotionally charged issue.
There are, of course, suggestions in some liberal-leaning blogs that Ms. Nickolaus (who has worked for Republicans in the past) is attempting to steal the election. But a look at the turnout estimates in Waukesha County, before and after the problem was corrected, suggest that her mistake was probably an honest one. The original turnout figure was somewhat lower than what might have been expected statistically, and the revised one is more in line with reasonable expectations.
[Multiple updates below post] Human error blamed for election night totals being way off.
Huge update on the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat election, where initial numbers had Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg ahead of incumbent David Prosser in votes by 204.
A tally compiled by The Associated Press Wednesday and used by news organizations statewide, including the Journal Sentinel, indicated Kloppenburg was leading the race by 204 votes. Figures on Winnebago County's website are now different from those collected by the AP.
Winnebago County's numbers say Prosser received 20,701 votes to Kloppenburg's 18,887. The AP has 19,991 for Prosser to Kloppenburg's 18,421.
The new numbers would give Prosser 244 more votes, or a 40-vote lead statewide.
An editor at the AP said the news service became aware of the discrepancy in the past hour. The AP last checked figures with Winnebago County at 10:14 a.m. Wednesday, according to the AP. The county adjusted its figures at 2:27 p.m.
HUGE news.
I think it is safe to assume that when the final figures are in 1) It will still be a very close race and 2) there will be a recount.
[Update] Things are looking even better for Prosser than what was originally reported above. No longer is there a difference of a couple hundred votes. Now we are talking in the thousands.
DAVID T. PROSSER, JR - 20701 JOANNE KLOPPENBURG - 18887 Write-in Votes- 52
[Update #2] The mistakes in the originally election vote totals is being blamed on human error.
Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus apologized this evening for human error that she blamed for failing to include the city of Brookfield's vote totals in the tally she reported to the media Election Night.
The mistake and two other changes in the county helped net Justice David Prosser 7,583 votes over JoAnne Kloppenburg and swung the race dramatically in his favor.
Nickolaus said she failed to properly save a spreadsheet after inputting the Brookfield numbers Election Night, leading to the error. Once she ran the report to show the aggregate numbers for the county, she assumed incorrectly the Brookfield numbers were included.
She said the mistake was discovered yesterday during the canvass.
She stressed it was not a case of votes being found.
"I’m thankful that this error was caught early in the process and during the canvass," Nickolaus said. "The purpose of the canvass is to catch these kinds of errors."
Nickolaus said there were two other changes in municipal vote totals in the county.
In New Berlin, the initial total in one ward for Prosser was reported as 37 when it was actually 237.
In the town of Lisbon, both candidates had lower vote totals after the canvass.
I expect more will be reported about this throughout the night and tomorrow.
[Update #3] Talk about an immediate news firestorm!!!
Not bad enough that Union thugs and their supporters would threaten anybody that supports Governor Walker and the Wisconsin GOP's budget repair bill, but now they are even threatening people that take no stand, that do not publicly support either side.
~~~~With that we'd ask that you reconsider taking a sign and stance to support public employees in this community. Failure to do so will leave us no choice but do [sic] a public boycott of your business. And sorry, neutral means 'no' to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members." ----- Portion of letter sent to business owners from Union thugs.
Wisconsin business owners are fighting back against Union thuggery and letters being sent out by unions which threaten to target business owners with boycotts if they do not publicly join the the battle between unions and state government over the budget repair bill that the state has passed that would limit collective bargaining by unions for public employees.
You can read the letter in whole that is shown in the video below, here-PDF)
PDF of a letter sent out on March 10, 2011 found here.
The ending is a clear threat to those business owners that received the letter:
The undersigned groups would like your company to publicly oppose Governor Walker’s efforts to virtually eliminate collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin. While we appreciate that you may need some time to consider this request, we ask for your response by March 17. In the event that you do not respond to this request by that date, we will assume that you stand with Governor Walker and against the teachers, nurses, police officers, fire fighters, and other dedicated public employees who serve our communities.
In the event that you cannot support this effort to save collective bargaining, please be advised that the undersigned will publicly and formally boycott the goods and services provided by your company. However, if you join us, we will do everything in our power to publicly celebrate your partnership in the fight to preserve the right of public employees to be heard at the bargaining table.
Dawn Bobo, pictured at the top of this post, is one of those business owners that are fighting back and she tells Fox News that people are coming from miles away to show support to her plight and that she has done a weeks worth of business in just one day. (H/T Jim Hoft)
With the announcement that the Wisconsin Senate had finally found a way around the runaway Democrats who left the state to prevent a vote on Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill and passed the bill after stripping out the "fiscal components" so that a quorum wasn't required, there also came the first reports of death threats on the GOP lawmakers in Wisconsin. (I showed that disturbing email as an update on this post at the time)
That was March 10, 2011 and 620WTMJ NewsRadio produced the email sent to the Republican Senators.
A 26 year old woman by the name of Katherine R. Windels has been charged with sending those emails and according to the criminal complaint (found here- PDF)that threat was sent to 15 Republican lawmakers on Wednesday, March 9, 2011, at 10:18 p.m.
Reminder of what was in the email (page #'s 3-4 of criminal complaint):
Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.
WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me have decided that we've had enough. We feel that you and the people that support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand for it any longer. So, this is how it's going to happen: I as well as many others know where you and your family live, it's a matter of public records. We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn't leave it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the message to you since you are so "high" on Koch and have decided that you are now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent. This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won't tell you all of them because that's just no fun. Since we know that you are not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it's necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families and themselves then We Will "get rid of" (in which I mean kill) you. Please understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel that it's worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!
Also according to the complaint,(Page #'s 2-3) that was the second email sent, the first going to Republican State Senator Robert Cowles, two hours earlier than the one that went out to the other 15 lawmakers.
That email was worded quite differently, see below:
I want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in t=e past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me =ave decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and your republica= dictators have to die. This is how it’s going to happen: I as well as=many others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of publ=c records. We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and=putting a nice little bullet in your head. However, this isn’t enough.=We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the message. So w= have built several bombs that we have placed in various locations around =he areas in which we know that you frequent. This includes, your house, yo=r car, the state capitol, and well I won’t tell you all of them becaus= that’s just no fun. Since we know that you are not smart enough to fi=ure out why this is happening to you we have decided to make it perfectly =lear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it’s necessary to strip=the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making them unable to f=ed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families and themselves t=en We will “get rid of” (in which I mean kill) the 8 of you. Ple=se understand that this does not include the heroic Senator that risked ev=rything to go against what you and your goonies wanted him to do. The 8 in=ludes the 7 senators and the dictator. We feel that it’s worth our liv=s because we would be saving the lives of 300,000 people. Please make your=peace with God as soon as possible and say goodbye to your loved ones we w=ll not wait any longer. Goodbye ASSHOLE!!!!
Windels has been charged with 2 counts of "bomb threat" and 2 counts of "computer message- threaten/injury or harm."
Via JSOnline, if convicted, each felony count carries a maximum penalty of three years and six months in prison and a $10,000 fine, and each misdemeanor count carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Since the news of Windels being charged was reported, bloggers did some good research to find out more about Windels and some interesting information has come to light.
She is a 2010 graduate of Madison Area Technical College with an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, which would fit, since on her PeekYou profile she lists Wexford Head Start as one of her work experiences. She also lists a place called The Red Caboose; a Google search turns up a Red Caboose in Madison for Toddler, Preschool and School Age programs.
Hot Air discovers that Windels was investigated by Madison police officers last fall over text messages, which implies a pattern of threatening behavior.
Morrissey also poses a very interesting question regarding the fact that Windels has been charged, but not arrested.
I’d say it demonstrates precisely that the case hadn’t been taken seriously by law enforcement or the prosecutors. Why would a terrorist suspect not be arrested in a felony case? Do police really think that someone unstable enough to send death threats doesn’t represent a threat to her community, at least enough to book her? I wonder how her victims feel about that — and I wonder how the DA’s office and police department would handle Windels if she turned out to be a deranged Tea Party supporter rather than a deranged lefty.
Via Hot Air, video below of the news account on this story.
Seriously?
A woman threatens to kill 16 lawmakers with the use of bombs and threatens to kill their families, admits to doing so and the brilliant officials in charge of this case did not consider her as an imminent threat?
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne filed the charges Thursday. He says "it's odd" law enforcement never took Windels into custody.
That goes way beyond "odd".
Here is something else that is a bit odd... doing a Google news search for "Wisconsin teacher death threats" as keywords lists, at this time, Fox Nation, CBS and CNN as major news outlets that have reported this.
Where are NYT, Washington Post, ABC News, NBC News, etc.... what is taking them so long? They trying to figure out what spin to give this news?
When you look at the Memeorandum threads on this story (memeorandum provides the most talked about/blogged about political news stories and is constantly updated) you see JSOnline, WKOW, Gateway Pundit, Underground Conservative and the discussions list over a dozen bloggers reporting, but no other major news outlet and also absent and completely silent are the liberal blogs.
I guess they haven't been notified by the mother-ship on how to spin the story either.
[Update] I do see one liberal story on this and the spin they are trying is that conservative bloggers are reporting much more about this than they did about MLK day backpack bomb arrest and they even provide Memeorandum thread snapshots to supposedly prove the point.
Problem with that line of attack is that the snapshot No more mister nice blog provides is just 6 hours after the Seattle Times story and today's story thread is a day after the initial news broke, hence more time for the thread to gather steam.
MLK Bomber story
Initial Seattle Times story "Originally published March 9, 2011 at 11:06 AM" Memeorandum thread liberal blogger links "March 9, 2011, 5:35 PM"
Wisconsin teacher charged but not arrested in bomb/death threats against lawamakers
Quick background, although if were interested enough to click the link, you know the basics, so I will make this short.
Governor Scott Walker proposed a budget repair bill for Wisconsin who is in the red, in that bill Public Employee Unions would no longer be able to have the state collecting their dues for them to be handed over, public employees would have to contribute more towards their health and pensions, but less than regular employees have to contribute.
Democratic politicians who are in the minority ran away from home to prevent passage of the bill, Unions protested, everything came to a standstill until Republicans stripped out appropriations from the bill so they no longer need a quorum just a majority and passed the bill, so did the House and the Governor signed it.
To the courts they all went. Opponents to stop the new law from being implemented, Proponents to argue the law was passed legally. Initially a judge ordered specific players not publish the law, so the Legislative Reference Bureau published it instead (They were not named in the order).
Today both sides go to court as announcements come out that as of Sunday, the state will stop collecting Union dues on behalf of the Unions and the employees will be having the new charges for their health and pension benefits taken out.
Critics of Gov. Walker's move cite an opinion from the Legislative Council, essentially the staff attorneys at the Wisconsin legislature, who opine that the bill has not yet become law.
As pointed out by Kevin Binversie at Lakeshore Laments, it is quite ironic for opponents of the bill to rely on the opinions of the Legislative Council, since it was the Legislative Council which also opined that the actions of the Republican state Senators in passing the bill complied with Senate Rules.
If the Legislative Council was right that the bill passage complied with Senate Rules, and since legislative Rules trump the Open Meetings Law, then the bill should survive court challenges and there should be no injunction, temporary or otherwise.
Tomorrow will be interesting, as Judge Sumi grapples with the mess created by a precipitous Temporary Restraining Order.
With the law now in effect and paychecks getting an increase since union dues are not being withheld, Democrats are the party arguing for a reduction in state worker paychecks.
There are a couple Twitter members following this closely and reporting from the courtroom, one of which is News Reporter for WISC-TV in Madison, WI, Jessica Arp, and you can keep updated on where things are going in the courtroom at her Twitter feed.
Earlier it was reported widely that the Wisconsin Senate bypassed the standoff with the runaway Democratic Senators that left town to prevent a vote on Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill, by stripping the bill of the fiscal components and voting on the rest with a simply majority and not a quorum (having a set amount of Senators present to complete the vote).
Democrats have grabbed onto the argument that the GOP Senate members violated the state's Open Meetings Law, but Senate Chief Clerk Rob Marchant asserts that the requirements of the rules and statutes were satisfied by sending notice to the Conference Committee:
Tonight's Conference Committee was properly noticed. From the Senate Chief Clerk, Rob Marchant:
FYI . . .
There was some discussion today about the notice provided for the legislature's conference committee. In special session, under Senate Rule 93, no advance notice is required other than posting on the legislative bulletin board. Despite this rule, it was decided to provide a 2 hour notice by posting on the bulletin board. My staff, as a courtesy, emailed a copy of the notice to all legisaltive offices at 4:10, which gave the impression that the notice may have been slightly less than 2 hours. Either way, the notice appears to have satisfied the requirements of the rules and statutes.
I thought you might find this information to be useful.
I was wondering how long it would take the Wisconsin Senate to get back to work despite the deliberate obstructionism of 14 Democratic Senators running away from home like children so they wouldn't have to vote on the budget repair bill and last night my question was answered.
20 days after the 14 Wisconsin Democratic Senate members made a beeline for Illinois so they couldn't be compelled to return to their jobs, Republicans called an immediate conference committee meeting, open to the media, stripped out elements considered "fiscal components" (which is why the majority couldn't vote without at least 1 of the missing Democrats present for a quorum), voted 4-2 to allow the Senate vote to be held on all other portions of the bill, which do not require a quorum, and the Senate voted 18-1 to pass the budget repair bill.
Governor Scott Walker issued a statement addressing the passage of his budget repair bill through the Senate, which now heads to assembly who have already passed the version with the elements just removed, so it is expected to fly through easily.
"The Senate Democrats have had three weeks to debate this bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come home, which they refused. In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government. The action today will help ensure Wisconsin has a business climate that allows the private sector to create 250,000 new jobs."
Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald also issued a statement:
Before the election, the Democrats promised “adult leadership” in Madison. Then a month and a half into session, the Senate Democrats fled the state instead of doing their job.
In doing so, they have tarnished the very institution of the Wisconsin state Senate. This is unacceptable.
This afternoon, following a week and a half of line-by-line negotiation, Sen. Miller sent me a letter that offered three options: 1) keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 2) take our counter-offer, which would keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 3) or stop talking altogether.
With that letter, I realized that we’re dealing with someone who is stalling indefinitely, and doesn’t have a plan or an intention to return. His idea of compromise is “give me everything I want,” and the only negotiating he’s doing is through the media.
Enough is enough.
The people of Wisconsin elected us to do a job. They elected us to stand up to the broken status quo, stop the constant expansion of government, balance the budget, create jobs and improve the economy. The longer the Democrats keep up this childish stunt, the longer the majority can’t act on our agenda.
A letter Democrat Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller sent the governor today, indicating Miller’s unwillingness to further negotiate any details of the bill, was what prompted the GOP’s decision to take the bill to the floor.
“It was like, ‘I’m in the minority, and I’m going to dictate to you what your options are,’” said one GOP source about Miller’s letter. It was just three days ago that Miller had sent Fitzgerald a letter urging more negotiations, despite the fact that Governor Walker had been negotiating with at least two Democrat senators for nearly a week. “With his recent letter, it became clear that all he wanted to do was stall,” said the GOP source.
Another action that provoked the GOP senators to act was Democrat Senator Lena Taylor’s very public decision to have a spring election absentee ballot sent to her in Illinois. The spring election is scheduled for April 5th, which indicated Taylor’s desire to stay out of the state for another month. “That sure didn’t help,” said one GOP source.
Ironic that the runaway WI Democratic Senators watched it all live streamed from their hideaway in Illinois instead of being there to witness and participate in the procedure, yet they are crying foul now.
The lead runaway, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, told the AP"It's a done deal," and there is nothing Democrats can do to stop it.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Miller said there is nothing Democrats can do now to stop the bill: "It's a done deal."
The Democrats may now turn renewed energy toward current efforts to recall eight of the Republican state senators. Six Democratic senators also are the target of recall efforts.
Senate Democrats met late Wednesday night to discuss when they might return. They said they would not be back Thursday, but gave no indication when they might come home.
"We are going to watch and see how the Assembly unfolds," said Sen. Spencer Coggs. "There will be fireworks. There will be a lot of people at the Capitol and so it will be hard to get in and out of the Capitol."
Assuming Scott Walker’s procedural maneuvering last night was legal — and, as I’ll explain in a moment, there are some questions about that — then it was also legitimate. Certainly as legitimate as the Democrats fleeing the state to deny the Republicans quorum. They did something procedurally extraordinary to stop the bill from being passed, and he did something procedurally extraordinary to get the bill passed.
Personally I do not think it should have come down to any "procedurally extraordinary" actions in the first place. Republicans were handed control, they have the majority, Democrats the minority, both sides should have done their jobs and if the public, after all was said and done and votes were taken accordingly, didn't like what Republicans had done, then voters would be able to rectify that at the next election.
Had Democrats been in control and Republicans ran away from home to hide out rather than allow Senate to function and vote on items that needed a quorum, my heavens we would never have heard the end of it from liberals.
Put the shoe on the other foot and you have people like Klein referring to the action with the word "legitimate" in the same sentence.
Even more ironic than the runaway Democrats having to watch the proceedings from their hideaway, is a comment I see over at Taylor Marsh's blog:
As an aside, can you imagine if Democrats had a majority that they would ever act like this to push their ideology against what the people want?
Excuse me for a second while I laugh my ass off before responding.
Okay, now, a one word response to Ms. Marsh- OBAMACARE (Scroll down at that link to see poll after poll after poll showing exactly how the "people" and their "wants" were completely ignored by the Democratic majority.
I am still laughing at the brass balls it took for Marsh to write that little bit of entertainment and not see the glaring hypocrisy of it.
Better yet, imagine if it were Obamacare protesters that pulled this stunt:
A highly connected source in Wisconsin politics tells Fox Nation all hell is breaking loose at the state capitol.
“Republican leadership was considering calling in SWAT teams or the National Guard. Plans have been set. We have almost completely lost control of the capitol building. Protesters now control the first and second floors and are amassing outside the governor’s office. The third and fourth floors are under control but we’re not sure what side our security is on. Law enforcement is leaking evacuation plans to the protesters. An official tried to evacuate through a secret underground tunnel and was turned back by protesters. No one is safe. Protesters have broken down doors, broken windows, Democrats are helping them into the building and they’re building momentum. They’re robo-calling like crazy, trying to pack as many people into the capitol so the Assembly can’t vote today. Right now there’s no way the Assembly can vote…we can’t secure the Assembly and we can’t protect our legislators. If the protesters fill up the capitol all the way, the governor would have to declare a state of emergency and hold a vote off site.”
Stay tuned for more developments…
UPDATES: Sources say: "Police control the lobby to the Assembly Chambers and they think they are in a position to take back control of the Assembly Chambers. However, right now all they control is the lobby."
Photographer Bob Lee says protesters are being forcibly dragged by police out of the Wisconsin Assembly room. They are dragging and escorting the protestors that are blocking entrance to the assembly now. Related Stories
Protesters were chanting last night that the world is watching.. yes, it is, watching union thugs and temper tantrums run rampant.
Furthermore Unions are talking about massive strikes to try to shut the state down, well a provision in the bill says if they do that, they can be fired for it.
The reactions to this are coming out fast and furiously, with updates, news, photos and video being provided from a variety of sources. You can keep up with it all over at Memeorandum.
Among the threats the Justice Department is investigationg is one that was emailed to Republican Senators Wednesday night. Newsradio 620 WTMJ has obtained that email.
The following is the unedited email:
Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.
WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me have decided that we've had enough. We feel that you and the people that support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand for it any longer. So, this is how it's going to happen: I as well as many others know where you and your family live, it's a matter of public records. We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn't leave it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the message to you since you are so "high" on Koch and have decided that you are now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent. This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won't tell you all of them because that's just no fun. Since we know that you are not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it's necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families and themselves then We Will "get rid of" (in which I mean kill) you. Please understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel that it's worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's office has released email exchanges showing ongoing negotiations to the controversial budget repair bill. The emails show Walker's office willing to make concessions on certain portions of the bill in order to get the runaway Democrats (aka "Fleebaggers") to come back to Wisconsin and vote on the bill.
14 Democratic WI Senators left the state mid February and have been hiding in Illinois to avoid having to vote on the budget repair bill.
Some key concessions on the part of Walker include:
• Public employee union bargaining over wages would no longer be limited to the rate of inflation.
• Unions would be allowed to bargain over certain economic issues, including mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay and classroom size. On this set of issues, both labor and management would have to agree to discuss them for bargaining to happen.
• Unions could bargain over workplace safety, but that would be limited to workers' physical health and safety. It would not allow bargaining over hours, overtime, sick leave or family leave, work schedules or vacation.
• Unions would have to vote every three years to remain active, with the first of those votes coming within one year of the bill becoming law. The current version of the bill would require unions to vote to recertify every year - starting this April - and require them to get at least 51% of workers' votes.
• Employees of the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority would not lose all union bargaining rights.
• The Legislature's budget committee would have to approve changes to state health programs for the poor sought by the Walker administration. The budget-repair bill gives Walker broad powers to reshape those Medicaid health programs, which cover more than 1 million state residents.
The email exchange can be found here (12 page PDF).
When discussion turned to Walker's anti-union push, Fenty jumped right in.
"This is kind of what I faced in four years as mayor," Fenty told hosts Mike Barnicle and Mika Brzezinski. "He's right on the substance, I think. I tend to agree with him on the need for collective bargaining reform. But he's also right on the politics. I just don't understand why the legislature has been given this pass to go to another state and not do what they were sworn to do, and that's to take a vote. Unfortunately for Gov. Walker, he hasn't been able to get that out. He needs to point the finger a little bit more at them and say. 'Listen, they should take a vote. All I want is for them to vote up or down, and I will be fine with whatever they decide.'"
Brzezinski asked Fenty if he agreed with what Walker is doing.
"The substance of it, I do," Fenty said. "Most governors and mayors would love to be able to manage their team without the interference of collective bargaining. ... I believe that managers have the ability to set fair wages, and to set fair hours, and to reward people or hold them accountable. I think it's a new day. I think a lot of these collective bargaining agreements are completely outdated."
When politicians are campaigning and they promise to work towards fixing their state budgets, hard decisions have to made when the public gives them that chance.
Walker took the challenge and he is standing by it and the emails show he is negotiating in good faith, completely blowing assertions to the contrary from runaway Dems, right out of the water.
As Greta points out in the interview, everything stated as the runaway Democrats' reasoning for leaving town, hiding and refusing to vote for Walker's budget repair bill, has been accomplished (people seeing the bill, legislators reading the bill, etc...) and Greta never does get an answer as to why they are still refusing to come back home and do their jobs, which is to vote for or against the bill itself.
Meanwhile, JSOnline reports that Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D) is asking Republicans to meet and discuss the bill, not in the setting that is specifically there for legislators, but "near the Wisconsin-Illinois border to formally resume serious discussions."
In a stunning blow to unions and far left progressives, Republicans won four out of the six recall elections that were held in Wisconsin yesterday, taking the Republican majority from 19/14 to 17/16. There will be two more recall elections next week where two Democrats face challengers, but even if both hold their seats the majority stays with the Wisconsin GOP.
