Recall is all about union revenge, but citizens interested in other issues
Wisconsin’s pending recall election is not about Republicans vs. Democrats.
It’s about the public sector unions seeking revenge against Gov. Scott Walker for Act 10, which cancelled many of their collective bargaining privileges.
And it’s becoming more clear every day that the people of Wisconsin have limited interest in helping the unions grind their political ax.
The evidence? A recent Marquette University poll shows former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk trailing Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett 36-29 percent in a possible Democratic primary matchup.
Those are very telling numbers, considering Barrett hasn’t even announced whether he will run, while Falk is the handpicked candidate of the public employee unions, and the only candidate promising to veto any state budget that does not fully restore public sector collective bargaining.
The people of Wisconsin are beginning to understand that public employee unions, particularly teachers unions, consistently abused the collective bargaining system by refusing to make crucial concessions in recent years to help school districts and local governments save money during the recession.
For more information on that topic, check out EAG’s new report, “The Bad Old Days of Collective Bargaining: Why Act 10 Was Necessary for Wisconsion Public Schools.”
Citizens also recognize that the unions were willing to pass the buck to unemployed or underemployed Wisconsin residents by calling for higher taxes to balance school and municipal budgets. The unions weren’t willing to cough up a dime, but wanted everyone else to increase their contributions.
In the words of Diane Lazewski, president of the teachers union in the New Berlin school district, “Should the taxpayers never have their taxes raised?”
The people have also started to notice that schools and local governments are in better financial shape, now that they have the power under Act 10 to manage their own budgets and address runaway labor costs without union interference.
Education Action Group does not endorse political candidates, and has no position on the pending recall election. But we can read the writing on the wall, and it clearly says the Democrats will need more than union bitterness as a campaign platform if they hope to install a new governor this year.
