Class Warfare

The charge of class warfare has been thrown a few times during the protests, that the middle class is under attack.  It started with the Budget Repair Bill that seeks to restrict the bargaining rights of public unions and increase pensions and health care payments, is an assault on the middle class, as it would reduce their income and ability to bargain in the workplace.  Upon the release of Scott Walker's Budget Repair bill the accusations of class warfare increased.  Education at all levels will see significant reductions, public transportation will be sharply cut, drastically decrease Local Government Aid (LGA) and curtail their ability to raise revenue, would cut Medicaid funding that could force 50,000 off of prescription plans, would relocate the authority for the state Medicaid funding to the state Department of Health which is headed by a man hostile to those programs, and would reduce state tax credits and rebates to the poor.  At the same time he is cutting taxes to corporations and has pledged not to approve any tax increases.

Supporters of Walker use rhetoric like "sharing the burden" to justify this action, that everyone needs to share in the pain of a budget deficit.  I do agree with that idea, but tax cuts to the wealthy and businesses and budget cuts often mean that the middle class and poor bear the burden, while the wealthy's burden is eased.  I don't call that sharing the burden.  In addition to spending cuts, 20,000 some public sector jobs will be lost, plus 1,500 to 6,000 more if Walker carries out his threat if the Senate Democrats don't return soon.  With additional cuts to Medicaid and tax credits and rebates to the poor it will have an adverse effect on the poor and middle class by increasing their expenses and limiting their opportunities through education.

At the same time we are cutting spending, tax cuts are being given to businesses and he has taken tax increases off the table, with the idea that job creation will occur when the tax burden is eased.  Why anyone uses this tactic after it has been proven time and time again to be ineffective is beyond me.  It doesn't work and it reduces revenue which makes the state cut more spending.  It seems to me that when faced with a budget crisis, that no option should be taken off the table and executives should be willing to use a balanced approach of potential tax increases on those who can afford and budget cuts, while protecting essential services.  However, that approach is not being taken, nor considered.  The Governor and state legislatures will most likely continue to seek to cut taxes and slash spending regardless of the impact that it has upon the poor and middle class.

Bus Tour

In Madison Scott Walker Capped off a 3 day bus tour of the state, hitting towns all around the state to promote the Budget Repair bill that ends bargaining rights.  He feels that a silent majority of Wisconsinites support him and are unable or unwilling to Madison to make their voices heard, so he went on the road to see them.  Hitting towns across the state with Joe the Plumber, they drew several hundred at each stop.  Inside were his supporters numbering in the hundreds, rarely exceeding 200, and outside there were an equal and often greater number of counter protesters.  One stop the number of counter protesters was several times the number of supporters.  More people were willing to come out and stand in the cold for hours, than were willing to sit and support him in a heated room.

In Contempt

Yesterday the Senate Republicans voted unanimously to find the Democrats in contempt of the senate if they did return by 4pm that day.  4pm came and passed with no Democrats returning to the senate.  It was at that point that arrests warrants were issued for the fourteen Democratic senators.  Scott Fitzgerald, the senate majority leader, requested that citizens notify the police if they see any of the missing senators.

Is this move constitutional?  Probably not.  Fitzgerald claims that they have the constitutional authority to enforce senate rules and that the Democratic senators are violating the rule requiring attendance.  However the constitution also forbids the arrest of senators during legislative sessions, with the exceptions of treason, felonies, and breach of the peace; none of which the Democrats are accused.

If a Democrat is arrested, it could potentially backfire on the Republicans.  Such a move would get a great deal of media attention, spur a constitutional debate to determine if the Republicans violated the law, and most likely further enhance the support for the Democrats.  Such an act would satisfy the Republican's hard-core supporters and infuriate the Democratic supporters.  The people on the fence would most likely be unhappy with a blatant violation of the law.  It could potentially be PR nightmare for the Republicans.  The Democrats are already hammering home the message that the Republicans only care about winning, are using dirty tactics to do so, and that they don't care about working with the other side.  An arrest in this case would underscore the Democrats message.

Open to the Public, finally

The Capitol is open to the public according to the Wisconsin Constitution.  Only took a judge to order it opened.

Palm Trees in Madison

On the O'Rielly Factor Bill O'Rielly was discussing the Wisconsin protests and how they are violent.  In the background a video showing union members shoving some guy was playing, giving the viewer the impression that this was Madison.  As you watch the video you can clearly see palm trees.  Their are legitimate arguments that it was an honest mistake and not a big, I haven't seen the video in the full context of the episode, so I don't know if it appears to be a mistake or intentional.  Since that video was released protesters have brought inflatable palm trees to the rallies.

The protesters at Madison share a common contempt for Fox News.  It is common to see people bearing signs reading "Fox News Lies" or "Fox News will Lie about This."  Many view Fox News as a propaganda organ for the Republican party.  It was assumed that Fox would distort the protest to fit their agenda and narrative and in general do what they could to dismiss us and make us look bad.

Fox News did not disappoint.  They characterized the protesters as thugs and violent; favored the counter-rally for Walker; blamed the budget short-fall on unions; and had soft-balled Governor Walker in interviews. They also failed to disclose critical information about interviewees; for example:  A concerned mother talking about how bad union are, was also an elected member of the GOP; and a person talking about how unions hurt small businesses, happened to be the CEO of multinational corporation.  I could probably go on hour hours on the way that Fox had mislead or lied about what is going on in Madison.  Here's a long list.

Pundits, such as Glenn Beck, have called us thugs and implied that we are the verge of violence.  Not sure how they maintain that world view when the protests also have children, elderly, and disabled present and in 18 days, there may have only been 1 arrest which wasn't associated with violence (the one arrest was recent and I haven't heard if it was connected to the protest or not).  Recently Fox News jumped over a video of Republican State Senator Glen Grothman being followed outside of the followed outside of the capitol as protesters shout "Shame" and "Fuck You."  This became an example of our violence, even though no violence occurred and the Senator said he could have safely move through the crowd and said he wasn't afraid.  As to why the protesters heckled him is a long  story, lets just say he enjoys insulting the protesters by calling us "slobs."  However, I knew once that occurred that the conservatives and Fox News would jump at "proof" at how violent we were, even if they had to stretch the truth to an extreme degree.

Whenever Fox News anchors get near the protesters, they will begin chanting "Fox News lies" or hold up signs stating the same idea.  Some instances they have attempted to drown out the anchors.  One anchor claimed that he was assaulted, but provided no evidence to support that accusation.  A marshal noted that he saw a few people yelling at the Fox truck as they walked by, not the Fox News personal standing nearby, but the truck.  

The reason why people have vented such much anger and frustration at Fox News is the fact that they have distorted what is occurring in Madison and made us appear to be something which were are not.  However, does it really matter what Fox News says.  Only a small percentage of the TV audience watches cable news, and most of the people who watch Fox probably wouldn't support us anyways.  Fox is just reinforcing their world view.  However, it is fun to make fun of Fox, so I can't blame the protesters for doing it.

Recall

Since the first week of protests, people have been mentioning recalls.  Wisconsin is a state that permits the mechanism of recall on Governors and State Senators.  However they must hold office for a least one year since their last election.  The initial focus was on Governor Scott Walker, however he is not eligible for recall.  Even so people have been collecting pledges to sign a petition once they are able to start collecting signatures, about 8 months from now.  While people are convinced that they can recall him in a year, it is doubtful.  A year is a very long time and great deal can change.  However, as I mentioned state senators can be recalled, and there are eight republicans eligible.

Yesterday the Democratic Party of Wisconsin endorsed recalling state senators and several unions followed their move.  While all eight cannot be recall, three of them appear to be vulnerable.  Petitions are already circulating in their districts and I'm sure that they are identifying candidates to run.  This could have a big impact on Wisconsin.  If at least three republicans are recalled, the balance of power in the senate flips to the Democrats.

The protesters are dedicated to the idea of a recall and will likely push for one against all eligible republicans.  Most of those attempts will likely fail, however if even a few succeed it could impact the balance of power.

Short Sightedness

What are the Republicans in Wisconsin doing?  Do they even know?  You have the assembly republicans whoa week ago conducted a vote, which may have been illegal, which occurred so fast that some democrats sitting at their desk were unable to vote in time.  The senate republicans have attempted to force the democrats home by ending direct deposit and forcing them to get their checks directly from the majority leader, temporarily reassigning democratic staff to republican lawmakers, and fining them everyday that they are gone.  Now they have ordered their arrest.  Even though the Wisconsin Constitution clearly states that they cannot arrest a senator while in session, except under clearly defined exceptions.  And for the past four days the Department of Administration (DOA) has violated the constitution by closing the Capitol and is still defying a court order to open it, by stating that they were already in compliance.  Obviously if a judge orders you to open the capitol, they don't consider what you're doing to be in compliance.  This morning they stated that it will cost millions to repair damage to the capitol caused by tape, which is questionable since they used tape which the building staff stated would not damage the marble; and they also found several rounds of live ammo left by three entrances.  While I will not claim that it is impossible that a protesters was responsible for it, this seems too convenient to them.  The protesters have been completely peaceful with no arrests in 18 days and the police consistently stated how unprecedentedly peaceful the protests have been.

What confuses me is that their actions seem focused on winning just the one particular battle.  However it is very short-sighted and they created long term problems.  Violating the constitution and ignoring court orders will only hurt them.  Shutting their doors to the public, while democrats move their offices outdoors doesn't reflect well.  If the democrats are arrested, it will look bad on the republicans.  In general their behavior has been to ignore the impact that it would have public opinion.  While the democrats on the other hand are responding well to public opinion.  This is crucially because this will not end with the vote on the Budget fix.  Movements are underway to recall Republican senators, and a few may be vulnerable.  I don't that these actions and behaviors will help them and likely it will discourage their base, motivate the democrats, and possible help pull moderates over to the democratic side.  They need to start thinking about the long term, sit down and negotiate, and start respecting the rule of law.  However, I predict they will continue to shoot themselves in the foot.  

Outside Office

For a third day in the row, the capitol doors were shut to the public despite a court order.  Tectonically, they were letting people in.  But it was an extremely small number of people and it took hours to get in; and was not in complacence with the court order.  Hearings were ongoing regarding that issue.  People were frustrated and angry.

Walking around the capitol I found four democratic assembleymen outside with their desks.  They made the decision that if their constituents could not go inside to see them, they would go outside.  They created and spoke with constituents in freezing cold weather.  While this is a theatric event, it does show a stark difference.  No republican has been publicly against the closing of the doors, and few have supported.  The Democrats are showing their support for the people by being outside.  By publicly opposing the closed capitol.  The Republicans are making the Democrats appear to be more sympathetic to the people.

We are Winning...maybe

We are winning.  At least this is the sentiment that many people hold.  The Budget Fix bill has been delayed indefinitely, record setting protests were held, we have gain national attention, the public opinion is on our side, and other republican governors are moderating their stance on similar bills in their states.  In addition, the governor has shut down the capitol in an apparent attempt to silence our voice.  We are winning.

Or are we?  The Governor is turning a deaf ear to us and has ignored our pleas.  We are seeing conservative organizations filling the airwaves with pro-Walker and anti-union ads.  With one exception, the republicans appear to be unified in support of the bill.  The assembly republicans have shown that they are willing to use dirty tactics to pass bills.  And the senate is increasing the penalty on senate democrats to return, by now fining them $100 a day, making them pick up their paycheck, and harassing their staff.

This budget repair bill may very well pass.  However, that doesn't mean we aren't winning, it just means we may lose this battle.  We have seen the democratic party and progressives in general, unite behind this issue.  It isn't just union members, but the entire democratic party and some republicans who are in the fray fighting the bill.  We are gaining momentum which has the potential of taking back the state, and possible spreading beyond.  There will likely be recalls of republican senators, and efforts to sway republicans to defect on key votes.  Grassroots campaigns are already being formed in many districts.  The republicans may be able to dominate the airwaves, but democrats and unions dominate grassroots efforts.  Our strength is in the ground game, going door to door, talking to voters and neighbors.

We will suffer defeats, the state will regress.  Education, welfare, local governments will all suffer.  People will likely lose Medicaid support, it will be more difficult for middle class and poor students to attend college, and many needy people will not have access to necessary resources.  This will be a difficult and unbearable time for many.  However, we will engage the republicans and attempt to stop the most damaging legislation and show enough support in individual districts to force legislatures to consider the constituents before they cast their vote.

We have a potential to come back, in strength.  We are learning a lesson from 2010, to not stay home, that who we vote for matters.  Elections have consequences, which we are witnessing now.

Krampus

I guess Scott Walker has been naughty if these guys want to see him.

Access Denied

Teeming outside of the Capitol building of Wisconsin were thousands of angry citizens.  Early in the morning a judge ruled that it was illegal to keep the capitol closed and they must immediately open the doors.  The Department of Administration (DOA) stated that they would open the doors.  This order was issued in the morning, when I arrived at the capitol around 2pm only handful were getting in, and nearly all of them were entering due to democratic assemblymen who had to come to the door to allow them entry.  This is not the public access that is required.  The DOA blatantly disobeyed the court order and was attempting to delay a court hearing on the injuncture.

People were furious, this was their capitol and they were being denied access.  Most people were frustrated, a few vented their frustration at the police who were enforcing the order.  However, many protesters quickly rose to their defense, reminding them that they were doing their job and that they relationships with them had been great.  However, one group of law enforcement was pulled from the capitol because the Sheriff of Dane County stated his deputies were not "palace guards."

The reason for this denial of entry was obvious, it was the night of the Governor's Budget Address.  By doing so he limited the number of protesters in the capitol.  The rumor mill held that supporters were being brought in through the steam tunnels under the capitol, and those accusations are being investigated.  This further angered people.

As they crowded the door they shouted "Let us in" and  "Whose House?  Our House."  They maintained a presence until it was time for the budget address, at which time the crowd moved to the side of building where the address was being given.  Arriving there they found out that the area closest to the room had been blocked off, an attempt to keep us from being heard during the address.  They under-estimated how loud we could be.  Assembly democrats confirmed that they could hear us in the room.  At one point a democratic staff member opened the window and gestured to the crowd to get louder, which we happily obliged.

Toward the end of the speech the crowd suddenly surged forward into the blocked off areas, the cops moving out of the way to allow it to occur.  I'm unsure if the cops invited the people in or if they just did it; but suddenly the crowd was at the doors chanting and demanding to be let in.  However it was not to be, none of us were allowed in our capitol.

However, we made it known that we cannot and will not be silenced.  If he wants to shut us up, then he needs to come to the table and compromise, as we're willing to do.