Free Republic

By JOHN TORINUSSpecial to the Journal Sentinel Posted: March 14, 2004 Jerry Skoff and his fellow "patriots" at Save American Manufacturing (SAM) are having a grand old time. A couple dozen of them picketed a conference at the Italian Community Center Thursday by the World Trade Center Wisconsin on global outsourcing, winning coverage for SAM's position against trade agreements from three Milwaukee TV stations. Later that night, Skoff, president of Badger Metal Technologies, made his case to sympathetic ears at the Milwaukee Chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers. "We are not economic isolationists," he said. "We believe we are...

Small manufacturers fight U.S. trade policy, endorse Feingold By CRAIG GILBERT cgilbert@journalsentinel.com Last Updated: Oct. 11, 2003 Washington - With its first campaign endorsement last week, a fledgling group of Wisconsin manufacturers made a statement about the politics of job loss in the industrial Midwest. Known as Save American Manufacturing Now, the small-business coalition endorsed Senate Democrat Russ Feingold, whose voting score last year from the nation's best-known business lobby - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - was a paltry 20%. Why Feingold? Simple. The two-term Middleton senator has repeatedly opposed the big trade pacts of the last decade, from...