Gwen Moore: Walker continues assault on working-class Wisconsin
"...In the ongoing assault on Wisconsin’s working class, Gov. Scott Walker signed another crippling anti-worker bill into law.
This so-called "right to work" legislation is nothing but a bald-faced attempt by our Republican governor and Legislature to protect special interests at the expense of working class families. I am reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King, who once said, "In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.".....
Scott Walker budget bill is rife with non-fiscal policy items
".....Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, says that because the biennial budget is the only bill the Legislature is required to pass, it tends to get “decorated up as a Christmas tree with everybody hanging ornaments on there.” She labels some of these a “sneak attack” to advance measures that should be vetted more openly....
Walker also wants to create a new oversight board for charter schools, affirm that no school district must adopt Common Core educational standards, and bar the use of a national assessment test associated with these standards.
His budget would merge state agencies and create new divisions within existing ones. It would pry control of the worker’s compensation program from one agency and give it to two others.
To “decrease the regulatory and fiscal burden” on private, for-profit colleges, which have come under attack for hyped promises and poor graduation rates, Walker calls for eliminating the state board charged with overseeing them.
And Walker would shut down public access to records of university research, unless it is published or patented. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, who famously wise-cracked that he didn’t favor university research into “ancient mating habits of whatever,” could then be told that evidence of such research is none of his business.
Finally, the budget includes Walker’s call to drug test people receiving unemployment insurance and other assistance benefits. Critics say requiring people who are down on their luck to pee into cups will cost millions of dollars..."