Upd - Collective Bargaining and Recalls and Budgets

Unfortunately the Republican game plan seems to be on track!  If the courts (whichever) give them a favorable ruling they are even further along.  Favorable means the "Open Meetings" laws were not violated. Governor Walker will have successfully destroyed public unions and further lowered the wage, benefits and protections that any individual in any job may be able to obtain in Wisconsin.

When GAB was accorded its plan not to hold any recall elections until July the State Senate became the only place that the new Budget could be stopped or altered.  If recalls had been executed sooner putting the "Collective Bargaining" argument back in the new budget might have been problematic. If the Democrats had regained control of the Senate, changed the make up of the JFC and consequently had leverage on the Budget we might actually have seen a stalemate (euphemism for bipartisanship).  Now with the JFC barreling along like a "high speed train" to complete its work and get the budget done ASAP before June 30th (and recalls) the FAB14 may only have one recourse.

The Fitzgeralds have the cards to help Governor Walker have his way.  Are the threats of "recalls" sufficient to cause some State Senators to either want to slow things down or put them more in a frame of mind of "going down with the ship" - after all Walker will always give me a job!  Some State Senators should keep their bags packed - this should be pretty clear to anyone watching the scene.

A recent AP story in WSJ may help anyone wanting to relive the past several months!

GOP leaders: If there's no ruling by June, union vote could come in committee 

Update: It never happens by accident.  Who was leaking to whom or who was pressuring whom or what was being traded??   The Fitzgeralds were talking to AP knowing that this was coming down - that's what I think?

Upd Final ?: Doyle or Lautz ... 92% precincts plus are in! Enough?

 LaCrosse WXOX  from ...

WI 94th Assembly 92% OF PRECINCTS REPORTING Steve Doyle (D) 8,325 X54% John Lautz (R) 7,206 X46%

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Wispolitics.com reports .... click above ... see snippet below ... changed link to all special elections

8:51pm

The 94th is proving to be competitive early on.

With 35 percent in, Republican John Lautz has 51 percent of the vote to 49 percent for Dem Steve Doyle.

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Volunteers at a pair of voting locations in the 94th AD say turnout is higher than expected as the special election to replace former Rep. Mike Huebsch winds down.

from Twitter -

@news8news WKBT News 8 News

Monroe Co. wards are in: John Lautz holds and early 186-158 lead over Steve Doyle in the 94th Assembly special election.

Voter ID - AB7 Amendments - Unfinished advances

When this blog entry was posted yesterday it generated a lot of interest Voter ID Amendments Put Students At Risk (AB 7) so today I went to the Executive Session of the Assembly Committee On Election and Campaign Reform - it started ~10am and concluded sometime between 1 - 2pm.  By 1:49pm JSOnline had an article up: GOP advances photo ID bill, as Dems blast provisions for students - By Patrick Marley - Journal Sentinel .  Today as yesterday the JSOnline provides great coverage and clearly contains material that had been researched / backgrounded in anticipation of the Executive Session.  So did I say that I went fully expecting the outcome - well I did now!  So what else is there to say!  I think they call it "color".

The surprises -

1. The meeting was being "fastracked" and the Democrats objected.
2. The Republicans must have known that this bill would have fiscal implications but part of the "fastracking" was justified by "it still had to go to Joint Finance"!
3. It (AB 7) and here LRBs0093/2 had been substantially modified - 18 pages of LRB notes to explain what was being modified from current law and the original AB 7.
4. It seemed that the Republicans did at times not know what they had drafted - Democrats were able to identify some difficulties (see JSOnline) - Clerk's office process and student (college and high school ID problems - security / safety / access).

Non-surprises -

1. Democrats - This bill is going to make it much more difficult for many groups of people to vote (it discriminates, it is in effect a poll tax, it is administratively complex).
2. Republicans - No it will not - we can solve every problem with mobile DOT office bus!

The Committee Members contact information -

Representative Tauchen (Chair)

Representative Bernier (Vice-Chair)

Representative Stone

Representative Pridemore

Representative Weininger

Representative Roys

Representative Kessler

Representative Zamarripa

Reps. Stone, Pridemore and Weininger

First page of LRB notes

Outcome - Party line vote (with the bill being improved by Democrat's criticism - we can hope)  - passed!

#GOP #Immoral WI 1848 Forward: #VoterID - AB7 Amendments - Unfinished advances

Go Vote in Speicial Elections 5/3

Click title!

Benton Harbor - we are free?

From the source - click title

Benton Harbor 5-2-2011

by Recall Governor Rick Snyder on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 10:20pm

This is what happened today in Benton Harbor.

By a vote of 6 to 2 the Benton Harbor City Commission and Mayor declared the Emergency Manager unconstitutional.

The language of the resolution is as follows:

Whereas, The City of Benton Harbor declares the appointment of an Emergency Manager a violation of Article I §1, which states that all political power is inherent in the people and that government is instituted for their equal benefit, security and protection.

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And while he was doing that he was also poisoning kids in "Flint, MI."

WI 1848 Forward: #BentonHarbor - we are free? #Flint , #MI - poison the water #Synder

WI 1848 Forward: #BentonHarbor - we are free? #Flint , #MI - poison the water #Synder - and the #GOP wanted what?

Voter ID Amendments Put Students At Risk

Before you start proposing "window dressing" changes you should find out how things work.  The JSOnline article Photo ID bill could create security problem on campuses - Patrick Marley - Journal Sentinel May 2, 2011 makes you wonder if Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) did his homework!

My knowledge may not be perfect either but why would someone spend minimally $8,000 to attend college (minimal tuition costs in Madison) just so he or she could vote fraudulently - because they are not a real "resident" of the state.  It has been a while but even residency used to be checked when you registered (or your parents) because the UW wanted that out-of-state money ... so at least some students minimally pay $23000 a year (and continue to pay it for 4 years) as they came from another state - the least we could do is let them easily establish residency for voting !  That's a lot of mooooo - lah ... something people in Wisconsin know about - you betcha!

From the source -

Assembly Republicans have tweaked a bill requiring voters to show identification at the polls to allow some college IDs, but Democrats are ripping the change as window dressing. 

University of Wisconsin-Madison IDs in their current form would not be adequate to vote under the provisions of the bill. That’s because the bill requires college IDs to have current addresses and dates of birth on them.

Putting addresses on ID cards would create a major security concern because the IDs include magnetic strips that serve as keys to student housing, said Don Nelson, director of state relations for UW-Madison. Anyone who found a lost card would know where the student lives and have access to their residence.

Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), author of the bill, said he did not know how the cards were used.

#VoterID Amendments Put UW Students At Risk

Thunda Around The Rotunda- April 30th Madison WI Capitol- Video from Stills

WI 1848 Forward: #Thunda Around The #Rotunda- April 30th, 2011 #Madison WI #Capitol -Protest #Walker 's 1% #Koch