Do bears sh*t in the woods, as well?
Great, great article.
TFP
The stupid party never learns.
“The unions quickly conceded the first of these two points—at least rhetorically. Union leaders and their allies in the state legislature claimed that public employees would gladly contribute more to their pensions and health care premiums—the 5.8 percent of their salaries on the former and 12.6 percent of the premiums on the latter requested by the governor—if they were allowed to keep all of their collective bargaining rights.”
This whole event of 14 democrats leaving WI was a stall tactic to allow local unions to extend or renegoiate contracts before the bill went into effect. So the union PR effort of accepting the 5.8 and 12.6 was false when their actions indicated otherwise.
We should learn not to trust the liars like the Democrats who do not negotiate in good faith or their union bosses who fund them.
Great summation - thanks for the post.
bump
What a great story! Saving taxpayers money!
Great article, best reporting on the matter to date! Thanks for posting.
OUTSTANDING article by Stephen F. Hayes and John McCormack. Thanks for posting. Names names. Tactics of crybaby collectivists BUMP!
Bump for later distribution...
ping
I think part of the reason it took so long to resolve was that they weren't getting certain answers out of the fiscal bureau and other like groups, until they finally just asked straight out:
"Since the earliest days of the standoff, Republicans had been engaged in an informal back-and-forth with lawyers from the state’s legislative fiscal bureau, a nonpartisan agency, about their options. On Monday, they formalized their request: How much of the budget repair bill could be passed without a quorum?
They were thrilled with the response—almost all of it. Despite speculation that employee contributions to benefits (what Walker and his staff called the “5-and-12” provisions) would have to be stripped out, the bureau informed Republicans these could remain—meaning both of the main components of the bill could be passed without Democrats. Two other nonpartisan state agencies agreed, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Reference Bureau. The attorneys insisted that the legislation drop a refinancing provision as well as the sale of state-owned power plants. But most of the bill could be moved. Although the 5-and-12 and collective bargaining provisions would have a fiscal impact, they did not require the state to appropriate any money and thus could be included. “Democrats thought we wouldn’t be able to do the 5-and-12 with collective bargaining,” says Walker."
Excellent article. Stripping out the sale of the power plants was a good idea in any case. That is an issue that should be resolved on its own merits.
Thanks for posting.
Mr. Barrett, the Democrat, was too clever by half! I'm glad to see all of this information coming to light. Now, maybe many of those folks in WI, who were believing the lies of the Dems and the Unions, will give the matter some additional thought, and understand that Walker and the Repubs. were right, all along.