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Rejecting public union claims of unconstitutionality, the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted 4-3 on Tuesday to uphold a law enacted by the Wisconsin Legislature limiting collective bargaining rights under some circumstances. The Supreme Court action brings to a close a tumultuous four month period when public unions attacked Governor Scott Walker and Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature who were merely making good on campaign promises to reduce the State budget. Original attempts to block the passage of the legislation came in the form of the Democrats fleeing the state to prevent the vote from taking place. This cowardly action was followed by huge rallies in which the unions brought in protesters from all over the Mid West to protest what they claimed to be their “rights.”
Following passage of the bill, the union folks immediately brought suit challenging the constitutionality of the adopted law. Union forces won a temporary victory when a lower court enjoined enforcement of the law, not because it infringed on employee rights as claimed by the unions, but on technical grounds that the measure was adopted without adequate notice. Yesterday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court action put to rest any claims regarding the validity of the law.
Will this end the matter for Wisconsin (and for the rest of the country?) Of course not. Selfishly never wanting to give up a single scrap of public money, the public unions now say that the battle will move to the ballot box – this is something that I actually agree with. What I find distasteful is that the public unions will launch this election attack using taxpayer dollars collected from mandatory member fees to attack elected incumbents. This is a battle that is being played out not only in Wisconsin, but right here in Orange County as well.
“limiting collective bargaining rights under some circumstances”
That’s sure an understated way to describe what the law does.
I don’t want to get deep into arguing about Wisconsin on this blog – it can get wearisome with each side cheering each up and down – although I watch the news from there with extreme interest because – you’re right – it does affect us all.
Of course I think the Prosser Court decided wrongly, and that they’re politically in the bag for Governor Walker. But this is far from the end of the story, and I’m rooting for the people of Wisconsin.
Any of you out there today?
Vern,
I know you’re still mad that your liberal activist superior court judge was smacked down, and that the unions couldn’t buy Kloppenburg’s election, but a good post all in all.
But don’t worry, you can still support this Democrat running against the Republican in one of the Wisconsin recall elections who wants to, in his own words, “smack around” a constituent who had the temerity to hang up on him:
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/06/14/wi-politician-wants-to-smack-around-woman-who-hung-up-on-him/
Classy all the way.
Is that one of the actual Dems or one of your fake Dems that’s costing the state an extra 400 grand?
You sure love the “hot air.”
Well, he is currently a Democrat representative from Wisconsin’s 42d District, so if he isn’t a Democrat, he’s done a great job of snowing the voters. Way tp try to get the attention off the fact that a Democrat showed his true colors when he thought no one was around to hear.
And but for “Hot Air” this story would never have aired since the MSM has no interest in stories that make Democrats look bad, as the Anthony Weiner saga proved.
So a guy admits he felt like “smacking around” someone when he thought no-one was listening. Didn’t do it, didn’t threaten it, didn’t say it in public. What the hell is to dislike about that?
the MSM has no interest in stories that make Democrats look bad, as the Anthony Weiner saga proved.
Did you just actually say that?
I cannot understand you people’s minds.
There’s practically nothing in the news this month except Weiner, Weiner, Weiner. And still it’s not enough for you. Still you think the “lamestream media” is somehow covering up Weinergate. So you need your Hot Air and your FOX to get the REAL news.
You guys are freaky.
Visited my brother last night, who sometimes watches FOX just to see what the hell they’re saying. First thing he told me was “Every single FOX host today has made a point of saying, as though under orders to, that the rest of the media is ignoring the Anthony Weiner story.”
We roll our eyes in incredulity. Anyone who lives in the real world (outside of FOX) would laugh in baffled astonishment. All this month, on MSNBC – Weiner, Weiner, Weiner. On CNN, Weiner, Weiner, Weiner. On whatever else you could conceivably call the “MSM” Weiner Weiner Weiner.
And I had to tell my brother, “Yeah, I’ve got a right wing friend on my blog who just said the same thing.” It’s bizarre. You’ve got to get out of that propaganda bubble of yours now and then, Newbie. I don’t know WHY FOX wants you to think nobody else is talking about Weiner, but just because that’s their new line doesn’t make it anything like the truth.
“the unions couldn’t buy Kloppenburg’s election” is a funny way to put it, when last we checked, the unions were outspent by Koch forces 2.5 to 1.
So, yeah, I guess the unions couldn’t manage to buy it.
So he says “I feel like calling her back and smacking her around”, what, was he going to start throwing his phone against the wall and start yelling “TAKE THAT!” You dork! He was calling in earnest and the bitch hung up on him because she KNOWS her hubby is going to lose his seat and take away his livelyhood that was most likely bought for him in the first place, so she says “ain’t that a crime” cuzz she’s pissed off cuzz now he has to go out in the REAL WORLD and get a job hahaha, getting a dose of his own medicine, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, get a clue these parasite RAD REPUBLICANS are exposed and their demise is only a matter of time, again, DORK
I actually consider this a local story since it really parallels what is going on in Costa Mesa and probably a lot of other local places as well. We have very different view points on public perception on this issue – I really do not think that the public views public unions as their friend.
The public view? Always a shifty thing, and not always well-informed, which partly reflects badly on us.
I get the impression the Wisconsin public is a lot more pro-union than the Costa Mesa public.
there’s some banner ad up at top saying CM is remodeling city hall for 7 million dollars and has laid off half the workforce? is this true?? If they have laid off that many couldn’t they do a more extensive remodel at least? Here in HB we have a nice city hall, CM looks run down, at least second floor when I went for plan check. Maybe turn up the lights or something, it feels drab. A few more job cuts or pay reduction could go a long way, especially if in police or fire where they make huge pay/benefits.
Brilliant, my friend. Fire a few more cops, arm yourselves for the expected increase in crime, but have a less drab second floor of City Hall!
San Jose police have voted to accept a 10 percent pay cut, an agreement that is expected to save 156 officers from layoffs.
http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_18270350?source=rss&nclick_check=1
Dude, that kind of negotiation is happening everywhere. Costa Mesa late last year for example. There’s no real excuse for the draconian actions the CM Council is taking right now.
Amusing statement: “your liberal activist superior court judge” — a convenient term that simply applies to an ideology you don’t like. If it’s a right wing judge, well, then he/she’s a strict constitutionalist, right?
No, I was just countering Vern’s quip about a conservative court being in the pocket of the governor. The superior court judge who ruled against the Republican legislators has her own biases – her son worked for the AFL-CIO and SEIU and her husband donated to 3 of the Fleebaggers and Judge Kloppenburg (albeit a very tiny amount), but it’s the Supreme Court of Wisconsin that’s beholden to the governor. It’s always painful to admit the flaws of your own party (which have been on public display in the case of the Democrats lately).
If not kissing the flabby white butt of Grover Norquist is a flaw, then so be it.
Foreseen by free spirit observer even from the Exile.
The communism and UNIONS have no place in the modern society.
Shutting down this post overnight was a clear communistic act…… I know, I lived it for 22 years in real time.
I am sure that Brownie noticed…… more disappointment for Leftists on the way.
Enjoy.
vern, actually i had a question in the comment: is the ad true in what it states?
I didn’t see the ad. They change with each click. Did you save a link? Was it from OCEA, or their group called something like “Restore Costa Mesa?”
OK, just called a friend who would know, who’s pro-labor, but says the OCEA is putting out a lot of exaggerated bullshit.
There is $7 million that’s been set aside for a long time for just the standard repairs and maintenance that have to be done all the time at a City Hall. Doesn’t really come out of the budget. Has nothing to do with these layoffs. Sorry. Not a good argument, not a good ad.
“.. the OCEA is putting out a lot of exaggerated bullshit.”
Surprise … surprise .. surprise !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6_1Pw1xm9U
This is the bill that Governor Walker just passed thru and cursed the Wisconsin Taxpayer with.
Tax and Fee Hikes on the Middle Class and Poor:
• Increases taxes on seniors and the working poor by $69.8 million
• Will force property tax increases on middle class families of $484 million
• Increases tuition fees by over $100 million for UW students
Corporate Giveaways to Benefit Republican Campaign Funders
• Total corporate tax giveaways of $2.3 billion
• Reopens the Las Vegas Loophole, allowing rich multinational corporations to shift their tax burden to Wisconsin’s small businesses and costing taxpayers $93.8 million
• Massively increases spending on unnecessary road building while cutting $48 million from county and local governments of road repair funds
• Removes ban on payday auto title loan sharking
• Makes it easier for beer mega-producers to crowd out Wisconsin’s smaller craft breweries from the marketplace
• Allows Gov. Walker to issue no-bid contracts while selling off publicly owned assets
• Defunds public campaign financing that helps keep legislators and Supreme Court justices responsible to people rather than special interests, and robs clean elections funds, increasing corporate power over elections
• Makes it harder for the public to see legislators’ financial interests
• Creates a new tax break for junk mail (I’m not kidding about this)
Irresponsible Cuts to Essential Services
• Cuts funding for public schools by $1.6 billion statewide, while expanding unaccountable, taxpayer-funded voucher schools (many affiliated with religious or for-profit interests) and giving tax money to wealthy parents for private schools
• Cuts nearly $500 million from Medicaid services for children, seniors, and the working poor
• Caps enrollment in Family Care, making it much harder for seniors and people with disabilities to stay in their homes and live an independent life
• Eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood to provide cancer screening, STD treatment, prenatal care, and other health care for men and women
• Reduces funding to local governments by $76.8 million, while increasing overall state spending by over $1 billion
• Reduces state aid by $250 million over the biennium to UW System schools, while increasing tuition by 5.5% and providing no additional financial aid
• Raids millions from Wisconsin’s renowned Stewardship Fund, steals recycling grants from local governments, and rolls back decades of environmental progress
• Robs the Police and Fire fund, but keeps the fee to pay for corporate tax breaks
The Republican plan to undermine middle class families so they can give tax breaks to corporations – all while silencing public input. This is the plan that “Scotty Walker has just passed” this is the plan that will take out the boys, the 6 Republicans that are up for recall, the ones that are running “fake democrats” in those recalls so that it will take a month longer and cost the tax payers $428,000 more.
So when “Scotty” gets to HIS RECALL, which he will, don’t be surprised. HE will be recalled. He has taken Wisconsin, as far down as this state will tolerate, so to let you know, people are not being “bussed in” this is WE THE PEOPLE OF WISCONSIN. UNITED WE STAND, and DIVIDED WE FALL. The Capital belongs to us, it is OUR HOUSE, we put those IDIOTS IN AND WE ARE GOING TO TAKE THEM OUT.
The election was tipped to Prosser so that this could all happen if you didn’t follow that cheating scandal than YOU aren’t watching WISCONSIN. This is just the beginning; we aren’t doing anything but RETHINKING, REGROUPING AND RETAKING BACK OUR HOUSE.
FEINGOLD will be the Governor, YOU can take that to the bank, not M&I, that bank is also going down. With its secret tunnels and http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/03/10337/wisconsin-protests-wednesday-march-9-2011, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Support-Bill-Cronon/163419837045434. Just Google Alec and I’m sure you know about all the corruption in the Congress.
@ NEWBIE! If you don’t know about the corruption going on in Wisconsin, buy yourself a new brain! Four justices, who have allied themselves politically and ideologically with the governor and his conservative Republican allies, constructed a legal fantasy that said the legislature did not have to follow the open meetings law it had enacted. With that deed done, the jurists —i ncluding Justice David Prosser, a former Republican legislator and mentor to Walker (whom btw, worked hand in hand in Milwaukee County together years ago) who was narrowly re-elected after the “discovery” by a friendly county clerk of 14,000 votes favoring his candidacy—declared that the law was valid and in effect.
This clerk, by the name of Kathy Nickolaus, the Waukesha County clerk at the center of the disputed state Supreme Court election, is no stranger to controversy. Nor is her former boss, Supreme Court Justice David Prosser. In 2006, Nickolaus, who was elected Waukesha County clerk in 2002, was criticized for posting election returns that temporarily skewed results of a Republican primary for the 97th Assembly District. At the time, Nickolaus told reporters some returns from the city of Waukesha were entered in the wrong column. Yeah…OK!
And last summer, the Waukesha County Board ordered an internal audit of her office, citing concerns Nickolaus was secretive and refusing to cooperate with the county’s technical staff in a security review of the computerized election system. Hmmmm.
Years ago, Nickolaus worked for Prosser at the Assembly Republican Caucus, one of the four legislative agencies that conducted secret, illegal campaign work for legislative leaders. The four offices were closed at the end of 2001 after the Wisconsin State Journal exposed the widespread covert campaigning carried out by the ARC and the other three partisan caucuses. The stories prompted criminal charges against top Republican Assembly leaders, including then-Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Brookfield.
Prosser was Jensen’s predecessor, serving as the Assembly’s top Republican leader in 1996 and 1997. When Jensen went to trial in 2006, Prosser — by then a Supreme Court justice — served as a character witness for Jensen, who paid a $5,000 fine in December in exchange for dismissal of the charges. Prosser was never questioned under oath about illegal campaign work, but in a statement prepared by Jensen’s lawyers, Prosser said he also used state staff and resources to run Republican campaigns during his seven years in leadership.
Getting back to the Walkfitzstinkenstein Clan….
Legally dubious and politically tainted, the high court’s complex ruling drew dissents from three justices who are not aligned with the governor. Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson (appointed to the SUPREME IN 1976) charged that the members of the majority had opened themselves up to the charge that they “reached a pre-determined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority’s ultimate decision.” The senior jurist on the state’s highest court complained that, with their sweeping decision, the court majority “make their own findings of fact, mischaracterize the parties’ arguments, misinterpret statutes, minimize (if not eliminate) Wisconsin constitutional guarantees, and misstate case law, appearing to silently overrule case law dating back to at least 1891,”
Abrahamson DOCUMENTED. Abrahamson also explained that she did not join the majority with regard to critical aspects of the ruling because of her belief that the case should have followed the normal appeal process. Instead, she warned, the court had taken original jurisdiction and issued a decision that gave the case “short shrift” and that in rendering a decision, a court is to provide not merely an answer but also a reasoned, accurate explanation,” argued Abrahamson as she outlined her concerns. “A reasoned, accurate explanation is not an inconsequential nicety that this court may disregard for the sake of convenience or haste. It is the cornerstone of the legitimacy of judicial decision-making.”
With that cornerstone kicked out from beneath the judicial branch of state government, Fitzwalkerstan is now formally and fully without a system of checks and balances.
Finally, back to bought-off Prosser….the funniest thing he stated after the ruling was…The Senate had to pass the budget in a hurry, wouldn’t you with the 100,000 violent mob outside the Capital building, they were “begining to fear for their safety”….LMFAO….The county police from around the State of Wisconsin at the Capitol said that for a crowd of that size, it was the most well behaved, polite, and enjoyable “MOB” they’ve ever witnessed! Guess the RADS didn’t get to plant any trouble makers or they were carried off by the peaceful protesters!!!!
Thanks to the OJ’s Wisconsin correspondents Barb and Kevin for chiming in! Anyone wanna take on these folks who are on the ground there? Didn’t think so…
Yes Vern, Kevin’s “non partisan” analysis must be true since he is “on the ground.” I am sure that we will be seeing impeachment proceedings against the “bought off Prosser,” and this “legally dubious” decision overturned . . . oh wait, those things won’t happen. First, the “legally dubious ” decision was rendered by the Wisconsin Supreme Court – unless you want to challenge our entire judicial process and other “legally dubious” decisions (Roe v. Wade, Miranda, etc) then you have to take the one’s you agree with and the one’s you disagree with.
Did I write “non partisan?” No? Then it shouldn’t be in “quotes.” Although the “partisan” that Kevin and Barb are isn’t so much “Democrat” as “pro-worker,” (As lots of GOP voters – not the politicians – are in WI.)
How come you don’t have any of your own “partisans” chiming in from the Badger State, at least giving us a good feel for what’s really going on there?
Vern, I’ll tell you why. Because the State of Wis. Repumkins and wanna be Gov.Talker presented his fiscal plan under “extraordinarily tense circumstances”….limiting Dem’s time to debate and throw amendments at him in which went right through one ear and out the other because there isn’t anything in his head to slow it down..gets windy in there sometimes if he doesn’t wear his ear muffs (he only wears them when the “PEOPLE” talk)
To ensure that the Governor and his subordinates could do their cutting without unwanted interference from Wisconsin voters and the pesky media, the legislature simply removed the obligation of the executive branch to hold hearings on any such cuts- leaving Walker free to do as he pleases without the requirement of public input.
Walkenstein has decided to skip the Maalox and go for the muzzle!