Serious Political Commentary for Serious Conservatives

	The Independent Voice for Conservative Values and the Conscience of the Conservative Movement Less Government is the Best Government

Poised to Win Again in Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker Prepares for Recall Election
By Scott Rohter, June 2012

Today is Monday June 4th. Tomorrow there is a recall election in Wisconsin. It is an election of significant national importance, and vast amounts of money from all over the country have been flowing into Wisconsin in order to try to influence the results of this election. Governor Scott Walker is running again for the office he won only two years ago against the Democratic Mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, the same man that he defeated two years ago in the General Election. Outside money has been freely flowing to both candidates in this race. Corporate money has been going into Walker’s campaign treasury, and Union money has been going into Barrett’s. But all of the money in the world cannot influence the course of events in Wisconsin if the underlying cause that it seeks to support is not just! All of the money cannot turn wrong into right, nor can it turn back the hands of time. The race is almost over. The statewide voting begins tomorrow. And we should know the results of the election by Tuesday evening.

Governor Walker was elected in 2010 on a program of statewide reforms. Since then he has been trying to implement these reforms. He has been trying to undue over thirty years of progressive damage that has been done to Wisconsin’s economy by Democrats.  In only two years he has done a good job of balancing the State Budget, creating a business friendly climate that is conducive to bringing more jobs to Wisconsin, and reversing the traditional strangle hold that the Public Employees Unions have had on State and local governments.

His greatest crime to some on the Left is not the cuts that he has negotiated in Union pay and benefits and packages, nor the fact that he has eliminated the automatic Union employee payroll deduction, nor is it the fact that he is opposed to card check, and favors secret union balloting instead. His greatest offence in the eyes of the Public Employees Unions, not the least of which is the powerful, national American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME) is that he signed legislation in Wisconsin making Union membership voluntary instead of mandatory.

For this reason the Public Employees Unions in Wisconsin, as well as nationwide have determined that Scott Walker has to go. They have forced a recall election to remove Governor Walker from office. That election will be held Tuesday, June 5th. The Public Employees Unions know that their guaranteed government instituted advantage in the workplace, and their government supported monopoly over the workforce are both being threatened by the new law signed by Governor Walker.

For many years the State of Wisconsin has required mandatory membership in Public Employees Unions for all public employees, and their Union dues were automatically deducted from their paychecks. They had nothing at all to say about it. There was no choice. Their membership dues were used to finance a whole host of liberal progressive agenda items both in Wisconsin and nationwide. Not all government employees are liberals. That apple cart has now been successfully over-turned by Governor Scott Walker, and the Public Employees Unions are out for revenge.  They want to return to the old ways, and most importantly, they want to make sure that this idea doesn’t spread to other States.

By giving every Wisconsin worker the right to decide for themselves if they want their union dues to be automatically deducted from their paycheck, and the choice whether or not they even want to belong to the Public Employees Unions, Governor Walker has threatened the hegemony of the Public Employees Unions in the workplace. In fact he has actually broken the stranglehold of the Public Employees Unions over the workplace, and cut off the supply of money to their political slush funds which have virtually guaranteed the re-election of Democrats in Wisconsin for decades.

The results of his reforms are very encouraging. When given the choice, most public employees in Wisconsin have decided NOT to join the Unions. The numbers since Governor Walker has instituted his reforms are staggeringly clear. Since the reforms were implemented, Public Employees Union membership has dropped dramatically, by over fifty percent from over 60,000 new members to just under 30,000 new members in the same period of time.

It looks like Governor Walker’s popularity is still very high in the polls and that he will survive the recall election. Barack Obama however, who is unwilling to risk his fading reputation, is not even going to appear in Wisconsin to campaign on behalf of the Democratic candidate, Tom Barrett. He obviously has far weightier matters to worry about, like his own re-election in November. It’s just like rats fleeing a sinking ship. He truly has his hands full keeping his own sinking ship afloat.

"The truth, the political truth, and nothing but the political truth. A journalist has no better friend than the truth." - Scott Rohter
Share