Wisconsin State Senate Republicans Maintain Majority After Union-Backed Recall Challenge

In a series of elections that many viewed as a referendum on Gov. Scott Walker and his policies towards public employee unions, four out of six incumbent Republican state senators successfully held off Democrat challengers in Wisconsin on Tuesday night.

The wave of recall elections is unparalleled in the nation's history. Before this year, there had been just four recall elections of Wisconsin lawmakers. Two incumbents were recalled, while two survived the efforts. One of those who won his recall election was Holperin, who was in the Assembly in 1990 when a recall effort was launched because of his stance on Indian fishing rights.

After pouring millions of dollars into Tuesday night's recall elections- mostly from public employee unions like the SEIU or AFSCME- union backed Democrat candidates needed to unseat at least three of the incumbent republicans in order to gain control of the State Senate.



Incumbents Dan Kapanke (32nd District) and Randy Hopper (18th District) lost their respective bids to stay in office Tuesday night, with the 32nd going to Jennifer Shilling and the 18th going to Jessica King. However, the last race of the night to be called was between GOP incumbent Alberta Darling and Democrat challenger Sandra Pasch. Although Pasch got out to an early lead, Darling surged past her as the night went on and currently enjoys a 54%/46% advantage with 99% of the precincts reporting.



So after all the protests and union money spent on circulating petitions and political ads, the best the unions could do is come up one seat short of taking away the GOP majority in the Wisconsin state senate. And there's a chance that the Democrat and Union's modest gains could be undone in a week's time, as there are two additional recall elections scheduled for next week. Democrat state senators Robert Wirch (22nd District) and Jim Holperin (12th district) face Republican challengers after fleeing the state with the rest of the senate Democrats earlier this year, a tactic used to prevent the body from reaching a quorum when Gov. Walker's union bill was supposed to go before state senators. Even if both Wirch and Holperin manage to survive their recall challenges, the GOP would still maintain a narrow majority in the state senate.



While many observers believe that the recalls could serve as a barometer for the national electoral mood heading into 2012. However, the Democrats coming up short in trying to wrest power away from the GOP majority in the state senate has no doubt undercut much of the momentum behind a campaign to recall Gov. Walker. Walker cannot be recalled until he has been in office for a year, so those supporting a recall campaign will have to wait until at least January 2012.



In a little over 6 months under the Walker administration, the state of Wisconsin has created 13,000 private sector jobs while cities like Milwaukee are expected to save as much as $25 million annually under the governor's controversial budget repair bill.

Massachussetts House Votes To Limit Public Sector Union's Collective Bargaining

Unions to Commonwealth: "It's on like Jonathan Papelbon!"

Massachusetts state lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to strip municipal employees of their right to collectively bargain over healthcare benefits last week.

The 111-to-42 vote followed tougher measures to broadly eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio, Wisconsin, and other states. But unlike those efforts, the push in Massachusetts was led by Democrats who have traditionally stood with labor to oppose any reduction in workers’ rights.

Unions fought hard to stop the bill, launching a radio ad that assailed the plan and warning legislators that if they voted for the measure, they could lose their union backing in the next election. After the vote, labor leaders accused House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and other Democrats of turning their backs on public employees.

House Speaker DeLeo (D-Winthrop) claims the measure could save municipalities across the Commonwealth $100 million for the upcoming fiscal year and prevent possible layoffs.

Not surprisingly, Bay State public employee unions have vowed to continue fighting the measure even though the bill is by no means guaranteed to pass the Massachusetts state senate, where it is headed next.

Rudy Renaud, an organizer with AFSCME told 22News, “I just can’t believe that after everything that's happened in a state like this Massachusetts, they would try to take collective bargaining rights from workers."

Governor Deval Patrick said this isn't the same thing that happened in Wisconsin, but union supporters disagree.

"This is an erosion of workers rights to not be able to bargain on health care to just have management tell you what it's going to be, yea I think it's closer to Wisconsin than we think,” said Renaud.

The melodrama surrounding the recent legislation in Wisconsin has garnered much of the headlines when the subject has come up, but Massachusetts and other blue states have begun quietly curtailing public sector union's influence recently as well.

[Hat tip: Labor Union Report; Lonely Conservative ]

Wisconsin Stops Collecting Union Dues For State Workers, Unions Threaten Boycott of Neutral Businesses

Ten days after a Dane County, WI circuit judge blocked the publishing of Wisconsin's new collective bargaining law the administration of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was no longer collecting dues on behalf of public employee unions and charging more for state employee's pensions and healthcare.

Madison — Gov. Scott Walker's administration no longer is collecting dues on behalf of state unions and, as of Sunday, is charging employees more for their pensions and health care, even though nonpartisan legislative attorneys say the changes are not yet law. Backing up the administration, the state Department of Justice argued that the new law - which eliminates most collective bargaining for public workers - is in effect and asked a judge to vacate a restraining order against the law. Meanwhile, a Dane County prosecutor asked a judge to declare that the law is not now in place. Highlighting the different legal interpretations, some local governments are not implementing the new law for their employees. Officials with the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County said they are waiting for answers from courts before making any changes on benefits and union dues.

The Dane County judge who filed the restraining order against the recently-passed bill from Gov. Walker is named Maryann Sumi. It's probably worth mentioning that Judge Sumi refused to order striking Wisconsin teachers back to work and that her son is a career operative for the unions like AFL-CIO and SEIU. More ominously, Judge Sumi issued a statement on Wednesday warning attorneys about their criticisms of how the case was being handled.

Before wrapping up a brief hearing Wednesday, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi offered a word of caution to attorneys involved in high-profile lawsuits over collective bargaining in Wisconsin.

Sumi said emotions are running high over two cases she is hearing regarding Gov. Scott Walker's plan to eliminate most collective bargaining for public workers. That "spirited debate" is important in a democracy, but attorneys must keep in mind their professional ethics, Sumi said.

"They all have a responsibility to promote and not denigrate the judicial branch and, more importantly, the rule of law," she said.

She advised lawyers to review state Supreme Court rules that say: "A lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge...."

She referred to public comments made by attorneys after a Tuesday hearing, but did not elaborate.

Some observers consider Sumi's warning very one-sided and note that attorneys are within their rights to criticize the content of a ruling made by a jurist who had decided to insert themselves in the political process.

Meanwhile two Madison, WI labor unions and Dane County had abandoned efforts to consolidate their complaints over Walker's law after being told doing so would permit the state to bring the case for another judge.

Dane County and two city of Madison labor unions, AFL-CIO Local 236 and Firefighters Local 311, sought to consolidate their separate complaints over the act.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs asked the state to agree not to seek a substitution of judges before moving forward. But Judge Maryann Sumi said the defendants did not have to bind themselves to that commitment. The motion was then withdrawn.

Sumi also agreed with state attorneys that the motion to combine the cases was likely premature and cautioned attorneys in all cases related to the budget repair bill about their public comments when emotions are running high.

"They all have a responsibility to promote and not denigrate the judicial branch, and more importantly, the rule of law," Sumi said.

Meanwhile, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) circulated a letter threatening a boycott of local businesses that decline to display signs the union is passing out that prominently feature the AFSCME logo on the bottom half.

The letters ask businesses to express that support by displaying union signs in their windows.

"Failure to do so will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business," the letter says. "And sorry, neutral means 'no' to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members."

Jim Parrett, a field representative of Council 24 for Southeast Wisconsin, confirmed the contents of the letter, which carries his signature. But he added that the union was also circulating letters to businesses thanking them for supporting workers' rights.

The union-led effort is an outgrowth of a boycott campaign by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and other unions in which M&I Bank and Kwik Trip were targeted because either the companies themselves or their executives supported Gov. Scott Walker's budget initiatives.

Jim Haney, the outgoing head of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a pro-business lobby, said the union effort was appalling. And he said the campaign would backfire.

"It's kind of like the old protection racket," he said. " 'If you have the right sticker, we won't break your knees.' This is beyond the pale to force a small-business person to choose when they want to stay neutral. But that isn't good enough."

In the letter, Parrett writes: "It is unfortunate that you have chosen 'not' to support public workers rights in Wisconsin. In recent past weeks you have been offered a sign by a public employee who works in one of the state facilities in the Union Grove area. These signs simply said, 'This Business Supports Workers Rights,' a simple, subtle and we feel noncontroversial statement given the facts at this time."

Parrett said that since the letters were sent, he has received threatening phone calls as well as calls from people supporting the state workers.

"I've gotten a lot of threatening phone calls," Parrett said.

Parrett said similar letter campaigns had been launched in other parts of the state. His region includes Racine and Kenosha counties as well as parts of Waukesha and Walworth counties.

Parrett referred questions to Marty Beil, the head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union. Neither Beil nor Phil Neuenfeldt, head of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, was available for comment.

The AFSCME effort comes more than two weeks after the executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association circulated a letter to Gov. Walker's 2010 campaign donors also threatening a boycott. Interestingly, WPPA executive director Jim Palmer was arrested in December 2009 for drunken driving and never served in law enforcement himself.

Exit question: If union honchos like Palmer or Parrett had their way, do you think we would be seeing things like partisan response times from police and firefighters?

[Hat tip- Lonely Conservative, Red State/Labor Union Report, Le.gal In.sur.rec.tion, Weasel Zippers, WisPolitics, Jammie Wearing Fool]