So, after the 14 AWOL Democrat state senators returned from Illinois, the demonstrators left the capitol building and Governor Scott Walker’s “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill” was signed into law, things have returned to normal in the Badger State, right?Hardly.
As you may recall, in early 2011 Governor Walker proposed a bill requiring most state employees to contribute 12.6% toward their health care premiums and 5.8% of their salaries toward their pensions in an effort to reign in the state’s $3.6 billion budget shortfall. The proposal also called for employees to relinquish collective bargaining rights for non-salary issues (though wages would still be subject to collectively bargaining), and forbade the automatic withdrawal of union dues from employee paychecks.
Since the legislation was signed into law on March 11, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued both a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction barring it from going into effect. Her judicial overreach was overturned by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on June 14, reinstating the law which some experts estimate will save the state $300 million in its first year.
Undeterred by this series of setbacks, Wisconsin Democrats have instituted a new strategy: recall elections.
Petitions are being circulated for the recall of six Republican state senators (who hold a 19/14 Senate majority), and a massive effort to recall Government Walker will start in November. Despite the state’s perilous financial situation, the Democrats are determined to regain power through any means necessary, and reinstitute many of the irresponsible policies that lead to this fiscal crisis.
Interestingly, none other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt recognized the inherent conflict-of-interest public sector unions represent. He understood that, since government workers don’t generate profits, they don’t negotiate for a higher percentage of what they help create. They simply seek a greater share of taxpayer money, which FDR considered “unthinkable and intolerable”.
It’s especially unthinkable and intolerable in a state with a $3.6 billion budget deficit.
So, what should the citizens of Wisconsin do to thwart the Democrat’s and union’s efforts to fully restore these unaffordable public sector benefit packages?
Voting for every Republican incumbent in the upcoming recall elections is a good place to start.
