Posted on 05/30/2012 8:36:47 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is facing a recall election on June 5 because of the law he signed last spring to limit the collective bargaining power of public employee unions--a reform his opponents said would be a "disaster" and destroy public education in the state. Walker's Democratic challenger, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, acknowledged this morning that the collective bargaining issue was the "flame that started this" recall election, but Barrett couldn't point to a single public school that has been harmed by Walker's reforms.
Here's a transcript from a press conference at Barrett's campaign headquarters in Milwaukee Wednesday morning:
TWS: On collective bargaining, mayor, the governor and his campaign have pointed to a number of... schools across the state that heave benefited from the reforms in Act 10. Which school districts have been hurt in particular, in your view, by Walker's policies and his reforms? Are there any that stand out in your mind?
BARRETT: Well, I support the restoration of collective bargaining rights. And that's what this is all about--whether you support workers' rights. And I support workers' rights.
TWS: But are there any school districts in particular, though, that have been hurt by Act 10?
BARRETT: I have talked to prison guards, I can tell you that, who are concerned about their own public safety because of the changes in the law, and I'm very concerned about that as well
TWS: But no school districts—
BARRETT: We can do an analysis and get back to you on that.
An email to Barrett's campaign asking when that analysis might be completed (the election is in 6 days) has not yet been returned.
School districts big and small have used Walker's reforms to balance their budgets without layoffs or painful program cuts—see the stories, for example, from Kaukana, Brown Deer, Wauwatosa, Appleton, Baldwin-Woodville, Hartland-Lakeside, Pittsville, just to name a few. "Welcome news for local schools" read a recent headline of the Madison-based Wisconsin State Journal.
It's true that the school districts of Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha have laid off hundreds of teachers—but those districts have been operating under contracts in which local unions retained collective bargaining because the contracts were agreed to before Walker's reforms were signed into law. A study by the conservative MacIver Institute has shown that although these districts comprise 13 percent of public education staff statewide, they accounted for 43 percent of layoffs at Wisconsin public schools. In other words, Walker's collective bargaining reforms have actually saved teachers' jobs.
Not only has Barrett been unable to point to a single school district hurt by Walker's reforms, he has been unwilling to say how he would have balanced the budget differently than Walker did. Barrett was also unable yesterday to name a single policy he would pursue to create jobs in the state of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin ping!
I think the Dems in Wisconsin all hung their head in disgust when they realized who their front runners were to challenge Walker. Barrett has karizma, but any digging into the city he’s been in charge of you find nothing to be proud of. I don’t know of too many Wisconsinites who brag about Milwaukee or yearn to spend a weekend there. That alone says alot.
It’s beginning to sound like Walker’s safe.
I hope the same is true of the (R) incumbents in the down-state Senate recall races.
Wisconsin: LOLOLOLOL! Barrett can’t name a single school hurt by Act 10! This is getting embarrassing, his campaign is so inept.
YET, I had pretty smart employee (3 technical degrees) who came to me this evening all upset about some Barrett ad where Barrett takes on Walker about the guy who embezzled from the Veterans’ fund.
I asked him if he knew who asked for the investigation? No, he hadn’t heard about that. I pointed out that Walker, himself, asked for the investigation and that the embezzler had already been fired and that this happened more than a year ago and was an on-going case. His jaw dropped, and his vote swung back to Walker. Geeesh!
We can’t take anything for granted.
I don't think the Dims are ever embarrassed about anything. It's not in their DNA.
“His jaw dropped, and his vote swung back to Walker. Geeesh!”
To paraphrase the immortal words of Wren and Stimpy
“The electorates wealth of ignorance astounds me!!!”
You’d think the Dems would be embarrassed to run a guy who’s so clearly unprepared,,,,”
Considering some of the things that BO, Carney, Plugs, Wasserman, Schumer, etc. have said and done, I don’t think anything embarrasses them.
“I have talked to prison guards”
When asked a question about Schools? That was his response? Friends of FR, that is fu@@ing scary!.
“You know,you know” You left off Caroline Kennedy!
Are prisoners allowed to talk to the guards?
True, I’m being too hard on the guy. He really can’t be expected to answer a question to which the only accurate answer is “There aren’t any.”
Since he’s a Dem, I suppose he should get credit for not simply making up names of nonexistent districts...
Does anyone think he has really talked to prison guards? Maybe he talked to their union.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.