“We Are Wisconsin”
Day 10 is concluding. Not the demonstrations.
Check this video that’s just come out via The Isthmus, the alternative newspaper here in Madison.
It was produced by Finn Ryan and David Nevala. The music is by Cougar.
And yes, there is a brotha and a sista telling their stories as union members and public employees. There are a few black people who live in Wisconsin, and they’re not all from Milwaukee.
And they all look just like everyone of us.
We are Wisconsin. Stand up for Wisconsin. Forward, Wisconsin.
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The USA Today/Gallup poll conducted on Monday night asked the following question:
As you may know, one way the legislature in Wisconsin is seeking to reduce its budget deficit is by passing a bill that would take away some of the collective bargaining rights of most public unions, including the state teachers' union. Would you favor or oppose such a bill in your state?
Gallup found 33 percent of adults nationwide in favor, 61 percent opposed and 6 percent with no opinion.
Like many, Washington Post Plum Line blogger Greg Sargent saw the result as evidence of a "bipartisan consensus" surrounding worker bargaining rights, but Politico's Ben Smith countered that such a consensus seems "unlikely" and expressed doubt that "most Americans have strong views, or even much knowledge" about the right of public employees to join unions, "which doesn't exist in federal law." He noted that "polling on this subject has been screwy and heavily subject to the phrasing of the question because most people don't know much or think often about these issues."
He could have added that pollsters have rarely asked this sort of question. The phrase "collective bargaining" turned up just five times before this week in the Roper Center's iPoll Databank, a collection of more than 500,000 survey questions asked on polls since 1935. Of the five referencing collective bargaining, only two were asked in the last 50 years, and both of those used the phrase as part of more general questions about potential professional sports strikes. None of the other three, all asked in the 1940s and 1950s, asked a simple "favor or oppose" question about unions' bargaining rights.
Pollsters have studied perceptions of unions in great depth, of course. Just this month, for example, the Pew Research Center asked a series of questions about unions and their impact (which were judged generally positive for their effect on worker salaries, benefits and working conditions, but negative on U.S. global competitiveness). Specific questions about bargaining rights, however, have been rare.
Even though the Wisconsin protests have received considerable news coverage, not all Americans are following the story. In fact, the Pew Research Center's weekly News Index surveyfinds only 26 percent of Americans who said that they heard "a lot" about the Wisconsin protests last week, 34 percent who heard "a little" and 40 percent who said they heard "nothing at all."
So we need to be wary of national survey questions that presume too much knowledge of the ongoing Wisconsin story. Those that analyze polling data should remember that respondents' answers to such questions often involve opinions formed on the spot in reaction to the verbiage presented.
As such, Republican pollster Adam Geller may have a point when he argues that some respondents may have heard the word "rights" in the Gallup question to mean something broader than just collective bargaining, but without a formal experiment we cannot know for certain. That said, let's not confuse what respondents hear with substance: Current Wisconsin law gives state employees "the right, if the employee desires, to associate with others in organizing and bargaining collectively through representatives of the employee's own choosing, without intimidation or coercion from any source" (emphasis added, Subchapter I, 111.01(3))
Geller also argues that the Gallup collective bargaining probe crosses a line between a "balanced 'up the middle'" question and the testing of "rhetorical argument." On a topic like collective bargaining, however, that line may be fuzzier than most pollsters want to admit. Many respondents will not know the term without further explanation, and whatever language the pollster uses may influence the respondents to some degree.
The good news is that over the next few weeks, we can count on five to ten media pollsters to ask questions about union bargaining rights in a variety of different ways, using different language and formats. These probes may not be formal, controlled experiments, but they will give us a good idea of how much wording matters and a generally more nuanced measure of opinion. As a wise friend reminded me a few years ago, we often wrongly assume,
that there is a "right" or "unbiased" way to ask a question about any given public issue. There is no such thing. Everyone who works within the polling field is well aware that small changes in wording can affect the ways in which respondents answer questions. This approach leads us into tortuous discussions of question wording on which reasonable people can differ...The answer is NOT to find a single poll with the "best" wording and point to its results as the final word on the subject. Instead, we should look at ALL of the polls conducted on the issue by various different polling organizations. Each scientifically fielded poll presents us with useful information. By comparing the different responses to multiple polls -- each with different wording -- we end up with a far more nuanced picture of where public opinion stands on a particular issue.
Polls in Wisconsin will present a different sort of natural experiment, as voters there have no doubt been exposed to far more coverage and discussion of the ongoing controversy. How they react and how they rate their governor, state legislators, the public unions and protesters will help answer how strong opinions really are on labor bargaining rights.
State assembly Democrats won't give any clues as to how long the stalemate will go on. Gov. Walker's budget bill is crawling toward inevitable passage in the legislature's lower chamber sometime within the next several days, but Senate Democrats remain MIA.
"I have no idea when they're coming back," said Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan.
Protesters are making an insanely loud racket with drums, trumpets, and vuvuzelas outside the governor's press conference, currently in-progress.
Delaney is currently trapped on the other side, for the record.
HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reports:
Though thousands of Americans have turned out this week to show solidarity with Wisconsin's public employees and oppose a threat to their collective bargaining rights, union officials say they have not been able to place a labor voice on this Sunday's editions of the weekly public-affairs TV shows. The shows' producers, they complain, are shutting out the workers' perspective.
A union official told The Huffington Post that when none of the Sunday shows' producers reached out to them to book a labor representative this week, several unions started to pitch the shows with affected workers and local and national leaders who they felt could discuss the protests. The official said the response from the shows was essentially "thanks, but no thanks."
Full story here.
AP reports:
With Democrats still in Illinois and neither party showing signs of compromise Thursday, the Republican leader of the Indiana House shut down the chamber and said it would remain closed until at least Monday.
The House Democrats' leader said he wasn't sure whether they would return then. The two parties remain in a stand-off over the Republican agenda, which Democrats say is an attack on the middle class. Republicans have refused to drop any of their bills, and Democrats say they won't come back until the GOP agrees to sit down and talk about agenda items.
"Nothing's really changed," said House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend. He was at a hotel in Urbana, Ill., where most House Democrats have been holed up since they left Tuesday.
Read the whole thing here.
Wisconsin teachers missing work to protest in defense of their collective bargaining rights have been met with consequences, the HuffPost reports:
Now that Wisconsin schools have reopened after teachers missed work to protest a bill that would limit their bargaining rights, schools are taking disciplinary action.
Still, standing before a school board deciding their fate, teachers in St. Croix Falls, Wisc. make it clear they don't regret protesting, local CBS station WCCO reported Tuesday.
Read the whole story here.
HuffPost's Sam Stein reports:
The AFL-CIO has released a new television ad contrasting the flattering treatment Gov. Walker gave (a website editor pretending to be) conservative billionaire David Koch, and his refusal to negotiate with labor on his anti-public union legislation. Watch:
An official with the federation said the group was merging the new spot in with its last buy, which was state-wide on both broadcast and cable television.
The Capital Times reports on Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's response to Governor Scott Walker's comments yesterday, made to whom Walker thought was oil billionaire David Koch and actually turned out to be journalist Ian Murphy:
"The governor of Wisconsin actually thought about planting people in the crowds who might turn these peaceful protests into something ugly?" declared the usually easy-going mayor."For the governor of our state to suggest that he even considered disrupting these peaceful protests is a serious thing," continued Cieslewicz, who says that the governor needs to explain his talk of deliberately inciting trouble at the Capitol.
Read the whole thing here.
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and HuffPo blogger David Cay Johnson penned a piece exploring why so much of the reporting coming out of the Wisconsin union struggle is, simply put, really really bad:
Economic nonsense is being reported as fact in most of the news reports on the Wisconsin dispute, the product of a breakdown of skepticism among journalists multiplied by their lack of understanding of basic economic principles.
Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to "contribute more" to their pension and health insurance plans.
Accepting Gov. Walker' s assertions as fact, and failing to check, created the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not.
Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin' s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.
Read the whole thing here.
AP reports: Wisconsin state troopers were dispatched Thursday to the doorsteps of some of the AWOL Democratic senators in hopes of finding at least one who would come back to allow a vote on a measure to curb the power of public-employee unions.
The stepped-up tactic ordered by the Republican head of the Senate came amid reports that at least a few of the missing senators were returning home at night before rejoining their colleagues in Illinois.
Meanwhile, the state Assembly appeared close to voting on the union-rights bill after more than two straight days of filibustering.
HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reports from the ground in Madison:
For the past ten days, tens of thousands of union protesters have swarmed the state capitol building in Madison, Wis. to protest Republican Governor Scott Walker's proposal to yank collective bargaining rights from some public-sector unions.
But it isn't just students from the University of Wisconsin protesting alongside the nurses, teachers, and trash collectors Walker has directly targeted. Police officers and firefighters have joined the demonstrations even though Walker exempted them from his bill, and private sector workers from near and far have entered the fray as well. They see Walker's proposal not as an attempt to save the state money but as an attack on unions.
"Union workers support union workers," said Tom O'Grady, a 60-year-old sheet metal worker from Local 565 in Sun Prairie, a Madison suburb. O'Grady told HuffPost the same thing that many other union workers did: If they don't stick up for public union workers today, they'll lose their own bargaining rights as private union workers tomorrow. "Walker screwed up," O'Grady said. "He put magnets in our shoulders."
Read the whole story here.
Despite earlier reports that protesters in Madison are yearning for the president to visit and show his support, Obama has no plans to visit Wisconsin.
HuffPost's Sam Stein reports:
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Thursday that he was not aware of any plans for a trip to Wisconsin, as the state government there remains paralyzed over an anti-public union measure introduced by Gov. Scott Walker.
Labor protesters have been clamoring for Obama to visit the Badger State.
Carney was reminded that, as a candidate, Obama had promised to not only empathize with, but literally participate in, protests against such anti-union measures.
Read the whole story here.
Fox News anchor Shep Smith injected some surprising comments into the debate over Scott Walker's controversial anti-union bill on last night's episode of "Studio B," saying the fight was all about politics and getting rid of unions and not about the state's budget.
HuffPost's Jack Mirkinson reports:
It was a take that placed Smith squarely in agreement with people such as Rachel Maddow, who has repeatedly argued essentially the same thing on her show.
Speaking to a mostly-in-agreement Juan Williams, Smith said the fight was "100 percent politics."
"There is no budget crisis in Wisconsin," he said, adding that the unions "[have] given concessions." The real point of the fight, Smith said, could be found in the list of the top ten donors to political campaigns. Seven out of the ten donated to Republicans; the other three were unions donating to Democrats.
Click here to read the rest and watch the segment.
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who has voiced support for Scott Walker since protests over the anti-union bill began, released a video in support of the embattled Wisconsin governor. Take a look:
CBS News reports on some significant supporters of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker:
Former Minnesota governor and possible presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty released a video today that uses dramatic music and quick cuts of protest footage to show support for Walker. At the end of the minute-long video, Pawlenty is shown on a news program saying, "It's really important that America stand with Walker, stand with Wisconsin."Pawlenty also launched a petition on his political action committee website to gather public support for Walker.
Other supporters eyeing 2012 presidential bids include Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney. Full story here.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the wife of Wisconsin senate majority leader would be among those receiving preliminary layoff notices:
Lisa Fitzgerald is a counselor in the Hustisford school district and is married to Republican Senator Scott Fitzgerald.Superintendent Jeremy Biehl says the school board decided Wednesday night to send preliminary layoff slips to all 34 members of the teaching staff, including librarians and counselors. Biehl says the action was taken because of the uncertainty of the state budget bill.
Full story here.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said he found Scott Walker's comments about protesters, made during a prank phone call yesterday in which he believed to be speaking with oil billionaire David Koch, to be "very unsettling and troubling."
According to the Journal Sentinel:
Wray said he was disturbed that Walker thought about planting troublemakers among peaceful protesters.“I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members. I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers,” the chief said.
Full story here.
HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reports from the ground in Madison:
Several Wisconsin assembly Republicans are wearing blue jeans today (HuffPost counted at least five on the assembly floor just now). A staffer with the Democratic leadership suggested they might be trying to blend with the carnival atmosphere in the capitol, as blue jeans are highly uncommon during legislative business. "In session, that's unusual," the staffer said. (Most assembly Democrats are wearing bright orange protest t-shirts.)
HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reports:
Normally, constituents are able to visit their state legislators in Wisconsin's Capitol very freely. The Huffington Post was in an office of a Democratic state senator on Friday, and protesters came and went at their leisure, walking around the office, talking with staff and just generally looking around at where their elected officials work. Staff encouraged them to come back anytime and seemed more than happy to welcome them in.
But that access is now restricted. According to state Sen. Tim Carpenter (D), new rules went into effect on Tuesday that block open access to Capitol Senate offices to everyone except senators and their staff. "People wishing to visit the office of their elected representative had to request a meeting, wait for the request to be delivered by messenger to the office, and then -- if approved -- wait for a personal escort to the Senator’s office," read Carpenter's press release. "All requests to visit Senator Carpenter’s office have cheerfully granted." Carpenter attributed the new rules to Republican Senate leaders, pointing out that even after 9/11, access was not as restricted.
“Legislator’s doors should be accessible to every constituent’s opinion, not just those they find common ground with," said Carpenter. "I find it sad that this year, many of my Republican colleagues initially made a big show of leaving the doors of their offices open with signs stating they were 'open for business.’ Now those same doors are closed, the signs are gone, and the public kept out."
The Huffington Post was not able to reach Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's office for comment.
HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reports from the ground in Madison:
Wisconsin state assembly Democrats issued a statement Thursday insisting they haven't cut any sort of deal with majority Republicans on Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting bill.
Here's the statement from minority leader Peter Barca:
"Democrats did not make a deal this morning. It’s not a deal when the majority shuts down the voice of the people.“The Republican majority issued an ultimatum and demanded a limit on the number of amendments in the Wisconsin Assembly this morning. Republican leadership said that only one additional amendment per Democratic Assembly member would be allowed. The only other option they presented was to cut off debate entirely. Assembly Democrats will continue to debate and have been working to prioritize remaining amendments so that we can make the best case on behalf of Wisconsin’s working families. “Make no mistake, Assembly Democrats have been pressing both legislative leadership and Governor Walker to come to the table to resolve this impasse. Every attempt at compromise has been refused by Gov. Walker and Assembly Republicans. During the 45 hours of session Republicans rejected every amendment Democrats offered: 57 amendments and counting. “A deal would be if they agreed to remove the many egregious, harmful elements of this bill – and certainly give people their rights back. They have done neither of these things."
HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reports from the ground in Madison:
A University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student has launched a local political action committee to capture the passion of protests against Republican Gov. Walker’s effort to take away collecting bargaining rights from public sector unions. Tens of thousands of pro-union protesters have swarmed the state capitol for the past 10 days.
“By channeling this movement through a PAC, we can make the Republicans truly scared,” said Nick Judge, founder of the Badger Protest PAC. Judge, who is pursuing a PhD in political science and is a member of the Teaching Assistants’ Association, said the PAC would use donations to target Senate Republicans who might be willing to compromise on the Walker bill.
There’s certainly a money spigot to be tapped: a pizza joint one block from the capitol has received donations from all over the world so far resulting in 30,000 free slices of pizza for union protesters.
HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reports from Wisconsin:
Wisconsin state assemblyman Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) told HuffPost Thursday morning that assembly Democrats reached a deal with Republicans to end debate on amendments to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s budget bill.
“What we agreed to is they would shut down debate after 35 amendments,” with up to 10 minutes per amendment, Hulsey said, describing a deal reached early this morning. Republicans control the assembly with 57 members to 38 Democrats. “The assembly majority can shut down the debate at any time. They have the votes to do that.”
The bill’s eventual passage through the assembly, the lower of two chambers in the Wisconsin legislature, has been something of a foregone conclusion. But 14 Senate Democrats fled the state to prevent it from getting through the Senate. Democrats oppose the bill because it would gut unions’ collective bargaining rights.
Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said he expected three Republican senators to cave on the collective bargaining piece of the bill. “That’s the way we can see this ending right now,” Larson said, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reports:
The AFL-CIO and other labor unions already have a TV ad hitting Gov. Scott Walker (R) for his collective bargaining proposal running statewide in Wisconsin. Now, the AFL-CIO is running ads in newspapers across the state (view here -- PDF link) going after Walker, in addition to "thank you" newspaper ads (view an example here -- PDF) running in the districts of the Democratic state senators who are currently out of state to prevent the budget bill from moving forward.The first ad encourages viewers to contact Walker and "ask him to stand with working families." The customized ones for the Democratic senators asks readers to contact the lawmaker and "thank him for standing with working families."
The Huffington Post's Arthur Delaney took this photo of protestors sweeping up in the Wisconsin capitol rotunda after a day of much noise and free pizza:
Patricia Simms of the Wisconsin State Journal sent out this tweet:
 |
@ PatSimmsWSJ : #wiunion WI Dem Sen. Chris Larson says WED he expects three Republican senators to soon request that the budget repair bill be withdrawn. |
HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reports:
WASHINGTON -- So far, most of the attention on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) budget repair bill has focused on the section that would strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. Less noticed is a provision in the 144-page piece of legislation that could dramatically change the state's Medicaid program.
The bill would grant the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) sweeping authority to making changes to the state's Medicaid program -- which covers one in five residents -- with virtually no public scrutiny. According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Walker's plan would use "emergency" powers to allow DHS to restrict eligibility, raise premiums and change reimbursements -- all moves traditionally controlled by the legislature.
Read the rest here.
HuffPost's Arthur Delaney, on the ground in Madison, takes a deeper look at the pizza restaurant we mentioned earlier for fielding a donation from Egypt:
Ian’s Pizza, a late-night slice shop one block from the state capitol building in Madison, is receiving donations from all over the world to feed hungry protesters.
“People have bought over 30,000 slices,” manager Staci Fritz told HuffPost. “That’s a lot of pizza.”
Fritz said Ian’s is sending 20 pies to the capitol every 40 minutes or so. The stuff is everywhere. HuffPost observed middle-aged protesters stooping to a pizza box on the damp concrete outside the capitol and withdrawing tepid slices with mac-and-cheese toppings.
Fritz said Ian’s has had to limit donations, most of which come via credit card over the phone, to $20 per customer. “It’s like a telethon at 9 a.m.,” she said. Asked if Ian’s supported the protesters in their political battle against Gov. Scott Walker, Fritz said, “We are pro-democracy and pro-pizza.”
HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reports:
While the collective bargaining portion of Scott Walker's budget repair bill has received a significant amount of attention, in the past week, people have also started noticing a provision that would allow the state to sell off its energy assets -- including power plants -- in no-bid deals to private interests. Walker said the deal was not meant to benefit Koch Industries -- a major campaign contributor of Walker's that has several companies in the state, including a coal subsidiary, timber plants and a large network of pipelines:
Absolutely nothing to that. 100 percent wrong. ... As I understand...those same folks have put out a statement saying they have no interest in these power plants. This idea goes all the way back to when I served in the state Assembly. ... For us, we're going to have an open and accountable process so that everyone knows who's interested in that, and what the process is, and we're only going to move forward on this if it's good for the taxpayers and good ultimately for the rate-payers in this state. But it gives us one more tool to balance our budget without having to cut core services.
WATCH:
During a 20 minute press conference in the governor’s office, Scott Walker addressed the prank call he received Tuesday from a man impersonating billionaire oil tycoon David Koch.
“I take phone calls all the time,” Walker said in response to a reporter’s question about whether Democrats could trust him to negotiate with them in good faith. “The bottom line is, the things I said are things I said publicly all along.”
Read the full story here.
The Indiana Deputy Attorney General who tweeted in favor of using "live ammunition" on the Wisconsin protesters has since lost his job, TPM reports:
"We respect individuals' First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility," the Attorney General's office said in a statement.
More here.
HuffPost's Jason Linkins and Sam Stein have all the details surrounding journalist Ian Murphy's complete and utter punkage of Scott Walker.
Linkins reports on the incident itself, complete with taped audio from the conversation Walker thought he was having with Billionaire David Koch.
Stein chronicles the reaction of Wisconsin State Senator Chris Larson, who called Walker "gullible" and "cocky," and reveals Murphy's side of the story in an interview with the Buffalo Beast's editor
.