Recalls Can Win The Day

Despite the early assault Governor Scott Walker and his Republican cohorts criminals have staged against the middle class in Wisconsin the endgame has yet to materialize. Their attempts to bust unions won't stand if we put all our efforts into recalling them from office.

Even if this budget repair bill is ultimately allowed passage by the courts the damage to unions will be minimal for the time being as most teacher unions and their respective communities have extended current contracts out covering the next couple of years. The wage and benefit concessions were probably inevitable due to the economic climate, and it seems as though most teachers accepted that part of the equation.

Wage and benefit concessions have become a part of the sacrifice a majority of the middle class has had to accept, union or non-union, not withstanding. I work in the retail sector and I'm currently in the 3rd year of a wage freeze. Three years ago our hours were cut from an 80 hour (two week) pay period to 75 hours, resulting in approximately $142 cut in gross wages per month.

I'll be honest, while I'm not a fan of giving up the hours and the resulting wage losses, I'm not hurting. Other people are but my situation is different. I've always been relatively frugal and my kids are now adults so I'm not trying to raise a family. It doesn't make it right though.

The retail sector took a great hit in 2008 through the first half of 2010. The corporation I work for has rebounded nicely and are among the multitude of corporations reporting record profits to their shareholders and Wall Street. Right after announcing their 2010 year end results to shareholders they also announced wages will still be frozen this year and the hours cut will remain in place permanently. Naturally these sacrifices were made by the middle and poor working class currently working for corporation I work for. It would be easier to accept if the top officials in the corporate office were also sacrificing as well. Alas, not the case. They took a wage freeze in 2009 and no bonuses were paid out as well that year. Last year and this year they received pay raises and significant year end bonuses. This isn't an isolated case as many corporations are doing the same thing.

State and the Federal governments still cater to corporations at the expense of the middle class. Bail outs, tax cuts, tax loop holes are provided to ensure corporations make a profit, which indeed is essential to remain in business. What are the corporations doing with their record profits? Not hiring is one thing. They're hoarding a record amount of money. Yet, we still allow our government to give in to them when it comes to actually paying taxes. Too many legislators have bought into "trickle down economics." In theory it made sense, had corporations actually allowed the windfall of tax cuts and tax loop holes result in hiring.

Who benefited from "trickle down economics" was foreign countries that many corporations fled to. American tax payers in part, financed the overseas moves corporations made. The middle class got to watch jobs trickle overseas, and adding insult to injury, partially financed it.

The most important thing we can do now is to recall every corporate shill which resides in our Wisconsin government. The protests and boycotts quite frankly aren't going to do this. We've got to be pounding the pavement getting recall signatures. When this is accomplished we've got to get the vote out to actually remove these parasites from office. The damage done by Walker and his cronies in our state government can definitely be undone, but only by removing them from office, and ensuring none of their kind ever get back into office again.

Recall is the real solution, not protests, nor boycotts. I think it wold be great to see not one single person protesting in Madison until we have the necessary signatures to recall all 8 state republican senators who backed Walker and this travesty of a budget repair bill. Let them wonder what we're doing by not protesting but having every single protester gathering signatures. Or let them become complacent and think the battle is over if they see no one in Madison protesting. Let them think whatever they want, but get the necessary signatures. We have plenty of time for protests and boycotts. Recall efforts have a 60 day timeline.

Our first failure was allowing these parasites into office. Our biggest failure would be not getting them recalled. That's how we'll ultimately win.

We're Tired Of It

As the fight continues in Wisconsin to protect middle class worker rights the social media circus continues, especially on Twitter.

Teacher bashing is in vogue apparently. Many of the negative tweets come from Tea Party trolls outside of Wisconsin. The Tea Party has been a bust from the get go. Remember when the economy tanked and the government bailed out Corporations, Banks, and Insurance giants deemed "too big to fail?" They were all up in arms about their tax dollars being used in this fashion.

It did them little good as the government just kept on bailing out the banks and corporations. Bitterness and defeat set in for the Tea Party movement and now they've directed their attacks on the middle class. The targets of their wrath is now teachers, social workers, firefighters, police, and clerical people in state governments.

We're tired of a Tea Party movement who now has targeted the middle class as demons because they failed to go after the real culprits of the downfall of our economy. The banks and corporations brought our economy to its knees. Instead of holding them responsible the logical step, to the Tea Party, is to attack the middle class.

We're tired of teachers being demeaned in Wisconsin. We appreciate our teachers, their efforts, and the importance of education in Wisconsin. That's our right and our choice. It's our state, not yours. If you don't see the value in education and adequate compensation for teachers in your state that's your business. That's not how we see it in Wisconsin, and the polls show it.

We're tired of politicians who don't follow rules, procedures, and defy open meeting laws.

We're tired of a Governor who is unwilling to compromise when every wage and benefit concession asked for has been agreed to, yet still demands to take away collective bargaining rights. Scott Walker never once mentioned, nor campaigned on taking away bargaining rights prior to being elected. We're tired of his bullshit.

We're tired of a Governor who flies around the state under the guise of meeting and talking with constituents, but really only meets with his supporters, a minority of the population. Many of his meetings and functions are closed events to the general public. He has no interest in truly listening to the people in Wisconsin. He talks to a small gathering of supporters and the media inside a building, while outside, the people who oppose him, and are a much larger gathering than inside, are allowed no entrance or voice.

We're tired of a Governor who puts corporations and big business interests ahead of the middle class.  These same banks and corporations who brought down our economy are now reaping record profits and paying out generous bonuses, at the expense of the middle class, who bailed their greedy asses out.

We're tired of a Governor who takes a phone call from what he thought was David Koch and shows his disdain for the working middle class. We're tired of a Governor who isn't smart enough to realize that it was a prank phone call but still stated that he wanted to insert troublemakers into a peaceful protest and showed glee at an offer to vacation in California with a corporate buddy once he busted the unions.

We're tired of the systematic dismantling of the middle class who now have to pay the price of corporate greed and mismanagement. We're tired of a system who feels justice has to be paid by the middle class rather than bringing to justice the criminals who wrecked the economy.

While we're tired of it, we're not going to become the bitter, ineffectual, and misguided movement the Tea Party has become.  We're not going to tuck our tails between our legs and allow our Governor and republicans make teachers out to be the scapegoats and villains. We're tired of the Tea Party trolls who have now become unwitting and unknowing shills for the corporations, the very people responsible for ruining the economy.

We're tired of it that banks, insurance companies, and corporations have become the De Facto 4th branch of the government and pull the majority of the strings, because they happen to have the purse strings to do so.

We're tired of the mess you've created Scott Walker. But don't fret, while we're definitely tired of you, our efforts are tireless in recall efforts for your 8 buddies now. I suspect next winter you'll get to see the tireless effort to remove you as well, because we're tired of it.

A Little Rain Never Hurt Anyone, Except Maybe The Republicans?

I was off today, sort of.

It's a rarity for me to have a weekend day off. That's the reality of working in retail. The "sort of" part of the equation noted in the first sentence refers to a mandatory work meeting I had to attend this morning. That wrapped up at 10:00 am and I decided since I was out I might as well hit the recall canvassing trail.

In the pouring rain. Thank you umbrella makers everywhere.

As I was walking the neighborhood collecting signatures I finally met a man who wouldn't sign the Kapanke recall petition. I've been canvassing off and on since last Thursday and he was my first refusal.

He was comically abusive and not much really gets me flustered. He decided that I "wasn't smart enough to come out of the rain" even.

I then asked him if he thought a Republican would be out in the pouring rain doing something like this.

His reply involved telling me no, they were too smart to go out in the rain, once again letting me know how stupid I appeared to be.

My reply: Sir, we have dozens of people out today. A little rain won't hurt us. When we're done collecting the signatures and Kapanke is recalled please remember how dumb I am. We're hoping your party remains too smart to come out in the rain, or any weather for that matter.

Then the door was closed and I went on my merry way.

A Bit Of Advice For Wisconsin Teachers

While we can hope that the latest set back to Walker's "Budget Repair Bill" by the temporary restraining order issued today will result in a pull back from the demands of Governor Walker it's highly unlikely that will happen. He has shown that he is incapable of compromise and that his real intent all along is simply union busting.

You've shown the spirit of compromise by agreeing to wage and benefit concessions to no avail. Not only has he demanded this, he's also cutting 900 million dollars to school budgets over the next two years further hampering your efforts to properly educate Wisconsin children. Until we can officially remove him and other state republican legislators from office your hands, and ours, are tied.

What I'm about to suggest probably goes against the grain but I believe it's necessary to highlight the plight of public education in the state. Many of us know you spend your own money for supplies and teaching aids. That has to stop. What I'd suggest is when the need arises for supplies or teaching aids a note be sent home to the parents telling them what is needed. Point out that your wage and benefit concessions no longer afford you the luxury of spending your own personal income. Pointing out the 900 million dollars in budget cuts is advised as well.

Many of us also know the true amount of time you spend working as teacher despite having a little over two months off during the summer months. Most people get two weeks of vacation a year therefore requiring them to work 2000 hours in a 12 month period. It's time to quit giving your time away freely by exceeding this amount of time devoted to work. When 2000 hours is exceeded are you getting over time pay?

While I know most of you would prefer not to do this it is truly needed. It's not your fault that we have a Governor with so little regard for you, your efforts, and lastly, the children of Wisconsin. He is the one, along with his republican legislators, to blame for this. Why should you have to suffer even more from the callous treatment Governor Walker is heaping upon you?

La Crosse Area Recall of Kapanke Events

As noted above there is a strategy meeting in the works for tonight (3/17/11) in the recall effort to remove Dan Kapanke from office. I'd love to see a huge turnout in support of the people who are working tirelessly in this effort. This is what democracy is all about!

Senator Jon Erpenbach will be speaking to supporters of the Dan Kapanke recall effort in La Crosse, WI on Saturday, March 19th @ 5:30 pm and Sunday, March 20th @ 11:00 am.

Location: The Committee to Recall Kapanke Office, 116 5th Ave South, La Crosse, WI, 54601.






I just returned from a visit to the Kapanke Recall Office very impressed with the volunteer staff on hand. Up until recent events in Wisconsin I'd been pretty apathetic in the political arena. The people involved in this effort really impressed me with their dedication and fervor. They are truly fighting for the middle class.

I asked how the recall effort was going and was told very well. They wouldn't divulge actual numbers for strategy purposes but indicated that they were pleased with the results so far.

I donated $50.00 to the recall effort and left with recall petitions in hand vowing to gather a minimum of 20 signatures before the weekend. I urge anyone interested in standing up for the middle class to do what they can in Wisconsin to help. It's time to let Governor Walker and the republicans know that Wisconsin is our state and we're not going to support the corporate stooges they've become.

If The Shoe Fits.....

If you're to believe what the right wing and tea party nuts are spouting the picture to the left of the map of WI as a raised fist is a sign of Communism and Socialism.

They seem to be awful scared of a raised fist as a sign of solidarity.

Kind of makes a person wonder what they think of the pictures below with some of their heroes showing this evil sign of Communism and Socialism.

The Tea Party Is Late To The Party Once Again

Cries of socialism, with the right and the Tea Party goofs leading it, decry the redistribution of wealth they state the Democrats are pushing for is simply nonsense. Their fear of the redistribution of wealth began in earnest during Ronald Reagan's presidency. We no longer have to worry about the wealth being redistributed any longer, it's already occurred.

Ronald Reagan's tax cuts and "trickle down economics" was a complete failure, unless of course you were on the receiving end of them. The middle class wasn't in this case. The past 30 years have seen the rich get richer,  the middle class shrink, and the poor got even poorer. Four hundred of the richest Americans have a combined wealth greater than 155 million citizens.

Apparently that disparity isn't enough though.

Corporations are paying about half the taxes they did 30 years ago. We were told the Reagan tax cuts to big business interests and corporations were needed to create jobs. The only problem with that is who knew the jobs would be created overseas as corporations abandoned the USA in favor of employing other countries citizens with jobs. Corporations used the tax cuts to offset the cost of moving operations and building plants on foreign soil for bigger profits and greed.

U.S. corporations are sitting on an estimated $2 trillion in cash yet politicians insist we have to continue to give them tax cuts. We were told just last December that folks making in excess of $250,000 couldn't afford a tax increase of four percent. Naturally the answer to this is in Wisconsin is to demand that these "greedy" teachers making an average salary of $45,000 take a wage cut of approximately seven percent. Scott Walker has decided they need to make a sacrifice to cover for state budget woes.

What has Walker demanded from corporations or himself to help with the budget gaps?

Has anyone seen where he's cutting his own wages and benefits? He's already signed several bills giving even more tax cuts to businesses and corporations. We give more tax cuts to the people most responsible for creating the economic mess we're in. What have corporations done to spur the economy, other than sit on a hoard of cash and pay themselves bonuses, with essentially our tax dollars? What sacrifices have they made?

The teachers in Wisconsin were willing to give in to wage and benefit concessions demands by Walker. They just didn't want to lose collective bargaining rights. What have the wealthiest in our nation given up?

Our nation has a population of approximately 310 million people. The Republicans would like to keep us on the same course so that the wealthiest 400 people in our country have a combined wealth that exceeds the rest of the citizens. That's the true redistribution of wealth that is occurring.

The Clock Is Ticking

The clock is ticking in the recall efforts to get Walker and his 8 "buddies" out of office. We only have 60 days to get this accomplished and this is the most important step, at this point, to be taken to get "Our House" and our state back from these crooked politicians in Madison.

The rallies in Madison, the nation, and around the state are important.

Boycotting Koch Industry products is important.

Boycotting M & I bank and removing your money from them is important.



These efforts list above are a great way to show solidarity and support for the middle class. They also pale in comparison to putting more efforts into the actual work of the recall effort. That is going to be the winning strategy to getting our state back. Right now there is nothing more important than removing these parasites from office as soon as possible. That's how we'll really win this battle.

There is no time line in organizing rallies and boycotts. They can go on well beyond 60 days. Recall efforts can not go beyond that time line. This is the number one priority and to be successful it can't be ignored.

Nineteen states allow the recall of politicians at the state level, with an additional 10 states allowing recall efforts at local or municipality level. Wisconsin, Idaho, and Nevada have the strictest time limit involved for recall efforts.

The required number of signatures in Wisconsin to trigger a recall election is 25% of the number of persons that voted in the last preceding election for the office of governor within the electoral district of the officer sought to be recalled.

A Little History In Recall Efforts: (Source and Attribution)

Recall attempts at the state level have been singularly unsuccessful. Prior to California's 2003 recall election, the only successful recall of a governor to date took place in North Dakota in 1921, when voters removed from office not only Governor Lynn J. Frazier, but also the attorney general and the commissioner of agriculture. California voters have initiated 32 gubernatorial recall attempts since 1911, but the 2003 recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003 was the first to ever reach the ballot. In 1988, Arizona voters filed enough signatures to trigger a recall election for Governor Evan Mecham, but he was impeached by the state's House of Representatives before the date of the scheduled recall election.

Recall efforts against state legislators are slightly more common, but still unusual. In California, 54 recall efforts were initiated against state legislators between 1911 to 2003. Among the 54 are three notices filed against a single senator and eight against a single representative, all by the same individual. Only four of the 54 qualified for the ballot.

As you can see we have our work cut out for us to be successful. The Republican Senators and Governor of Wisconsin have no real fear of being recalled just based on the history of recall efforts taken across the country in the past. My guess is that they're sitting back and laughing about the rallies and boycott efforts. Neither of these efforts really scare them. The latest protest rally figures seem to show that between 100,000 to 150, 000 people were in Madison yesterday for the protest rally. It was an awesome display of solidarity.

The one knock the democratic party gets, whether fully justified or not, is their ability to organize well and truly get things done in comparison to Republicans. We need boots on the ground getting the required signatures. We need people getting out pertinent information on local efforts on recalls. In other words we need to get really focused on the recall effort itself. As stated before the protest rallies and boycotts are great for showing solidarity and displeasure. The bottom line is we need the required signatures to really make a difference.

Every poll I've seen in Wisconsin and across the nation for that matter show people are not in favor of taking away collective bargaining rights. Citizen sentiment is on our side. Citizen sentiment doesn't get the job done without the required signatures though. We have got to take this sentiment and desire and get it documented and signed.

Once we achieve that aspect of the recall effort then it's time to really ramp up the rallies to get out the actual vote to get these criminals out of office. Getting the required signatures will be a daunting task in itself. We then  need to get the actual voting public on board for the recall vote itself. We're going to need money for advertising as well. The other side isn't going to idly sit by and they'll be getting money and advertising of their own to counter our efforts. (In all honesty my bet is they are well ahead of us in this area.)

It's time for them to get truly scared of us. They've ignored the wishes and desire of the majority of public sentiment in Wisconsin. We've got to transform desire and sentiment into action. Failure in this effort will simply embolden them to ram through more legislation that favors Corporate interests over the middle class.

They've awoken a sleeping giant. Will the sleeping giant now actually get out of bed and get something done?

Any other blogger who wishes to use this post in whole, or in part, has my permission. We need to get the word out and get organized. It's time. It's way beyond time. Let's get this done. The clock is ticking.

A Twitter Exchange

Yesterday's tragedy in Japan and other areas hit by the tsunami was thrown into the face of people upset with the political fraud being perpetrated upon the people of Wisconsin via twitter. The right wing has twisted this tragedy in an effort to make the Wisconsin protesters look bad and ungrateful for what they have.

This is nothing more than a classic ploy from the right to divert attention from what is happening in Wisconsin and fuse two separate events. The tragic results of this tsunami have nothing to do with the protesters in Wisconsin. They had no hand in the terrible destruction and deaths caused by this tsunami. I've seen no evidence that even one protester making light of this tragedy. As a whole, just based on the actions and behavior of these protesters, I'd imagine they feel horrible for the plight of the people who suffered the loss of human life and property in Japan.

They've shown time and time again respect for authority, property, and passion for righting wrongs. More so than most from the right quite frankly. Below is a brief exchange I had with one of them yesterday.

Gogoette 
 

Perspective: Sick of whining #wiunion workers WAKE UP look at Japan BE THANKFUL #Twisters #DNC #WEAC #teaparty

JustPlainTiredO

@ 

@Gogoette Perspective for you: Japan an unavoidable tragedy, no one controls Mother Nature. What Walker did was avoidable.#wiunion #p2

Gogoette

@ 

@JustPlainTiredO Such an ungrateful attitude for what you have. People don't like that in contrast of tragedy

JustPlainTiredO  

@ 

@Gogoette There's no ungrateful attitude here. You're the one who brought negativity into it in an underhanded manner frankly. #wiunion

 

Gogoette

@ 

@JustPlainTiredO Your actions say otherwise

(End of tweets.)

What does "what I have" have to do with this tragedy? If I had less would that have made this terrible tragedy in Japan more tolerable, or more acceptable? There is absolutely no logic in tying these two events together. It was nothing but an attempt to cast protesters in a bad light with a negative tweet and it was underhanded.

And my actions say otherwise? What actions, pray tell. Pointing out the hypocrisy of comparing these two events to make a political faction look bad? That was your action, which quite frankly makes you look bad as far as I'm concerned.

Are We Awake Yet?

The assault on Unions is going nationwide. The decision in Wisconsin to strip teachers of bargaining rights, under the ruse of budget cuts, is just getting started on a national scale. Never mind that every poll I've run across shows this is against the wishes of the majority of citizens. The wishes and desires of citizens has taken a back seat to the wishes and desires of corporations.

The "Great Recession" wasn't caused by unions. It was caused by deregulation and corporate greed. The demise of the middle class began over 30 years ago with "trickle down" economic policies of Reagan. The tax breaks given to big business and corporations were supposed to benefit the economy by creating more jobs. In reality what happened, and is still happening, is jobs trickled overseas and we helped countless foreign economies at the expense of American taxpayers. Corporations and Wall Street were able to pad their profits by this move. Their idea of job creation, or preservation, wasn't intended to happen here, but in other countries apparently.

When the economy collapsed in September of 2008 the middle class took the brunt of the pain. We not only had to bailout the banks and corporations who caused the global collapse we sat by and have watched banks, corporations, and Wall Street come roaring back with record profits. Our tax dollars propped them back up and what have they done for the middle class? Essentially nothing, unless you consider laying people off a benefit and moving more of their operations overseas.

State budgets have taken a hit. Laid off people reduce tax revenues. Those who've managed to find a job have generally found jobs with less pay, which also reduces tax revenues. Many people who weren't laid off but had to accept less hours to keep their jobs also reduce tax revenue by making less money. The GOP's answer to this is to make villains of teachers, firefighters, police, and other state workers. Again, the middle class. In their words "Those big bad union people are the elite and we have to rein them in."

Naturally Wall Street and the big business interests who caused this mess get a pass. They're back to raking in record profits and paying bonuses to the very people who ruined our economy. They've been deemed as too big to allow to fail. They've escaped justice.

When are we going to wake up and realize that the middle class is too big to fail? Are we going to wait until there is no more middle class? It would appear so to me. The GOP isn't going to place the blame where it belongs. There's too much money involved in that. These same people who ruined our economy give millions of dollars to politicians to do their bidding. Their answer is to punish the working class and make villains of teachers.

It is way beyond time for the middle class to wake up.