Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
I have already written three posts about Governor Scott Walker, his budget repair bill, and the protesters in Wisconsin. People have been interested in
the Wisconsin story and have left nearly 1,800 comments at my three posts. I’ve even received requests to write up another post so that we could continue the discussion on the subject. I think there are others like me who believe the Wisconsin/Walker story is not over yet.
As I did last week, I’m posting links to some articles on the subject for you—as well as excerpts from some of the articles.
Democrats immediately file suit to halt challenges (Journal Sentinel)
By Jason Stein, Don Walker, and Patrick Marley
Excerpt: Wisconsin is now among the vanguard of Midwestern states embarking on a new era with their rules for public unions. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, signed an executive order in 2005 to eliminate collective bargaining for state employees. Ohio is working on a measure to rewrite its collective bargaining law with public-sector unions.
But the fight in Wisconsin isn’t over – Democrats and unions are already filing lawsuits against the proposal and recall actions against GOP senators who approved it.
“It’s just the beginning,” said Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar). “This is the civil rights issue of this century.”
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Wisconsin’s Legacy of Labor Battles (New York Times)
By Kate Zernike
Excerpt: In her book, “Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950,” Professor Feurer recounts how companies in the electrical industry in St. Louis started a network known as the Metal Trades Association in the first part of the 20th century to fight union organizing. The association had been alarmed by union protests that erupted violently with the Haymarket Square riot in 1886 and the demands for an eight-hour day, which started with the 1894 Pullman strike in Illinois — an early effort by Eugene V. Debs, the former Indiana legislator and future Socialist Party candidate for president.
“That left a legacy of the 1930s and ’40s for employers to form deep right-wing networks,” Professor Feurer said.
That network, she argues, was the precursor to the Midwestern groups that have now been assisting the fight against the unions in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana: the Bradley Foundation, based in Milwaukee, and Koch Industries, based in Wichita, Kan. David H. and Charles G. Koch, the billionaire brothers behind the energy and manufacturing conglomerate that bears their name, have been large donors to Mr. Walker in Wisconsin, as has their advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, which first opened an office in Wisconsin in 2005.
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By Ryan Haggerty and Michael Muskal
Excerpt: Even as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday signed into law a bill that sharply curbs collective bargaining for most public employees, his opponents were preparing for more demonstrations, court battles and political infighting over what has become a national test of labor’s power.
Organizers were hoping to attract tens of thousands protesters to the Capitol on Saturday for a rally featuring the return of Democratic lawmakers who fled the state on Feb. 17 in an effort to block the measure from passing. Along with the rally, Democrats are planning to ask the courts to overturn the new law and they have begun circulating petitions to recall some lawmakers. GOP supporters are circulating their own recall petitions, directed at the Democrats.
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Op-Ed: The GOP’s costly Wisconsin Koch binge is a wake-up call (Digital Journal)
The Big Shakedown: Wisconsin and the GOP’s Vision for America’s Future (Common Dreams)
Dane County sues state to block budget bill (The Cap Times)
Union Bill Is Law, but Debate Is Far from Over (New York Times)
My Previous Posts
Scott Walker: A Fiscally Responsible Governor or a Politician Who Is Playing Favorites?
Is the Scott Walker Story Just the Tip of the Koch Brothers’ Political Iceberg?
Wisconsin, Scott Walker, and Protesting Workers: The Story Continues
Hey, you are a lawyer and blogger guy. You know how to file. Go for it. Then post the results here on the good Perfesser’s blawg. Might be fun.
What Raff said. I just hope he is unsuccessful in his plans to destroy the infrastructure of a great state in that one year. I suspect his whole term is going to be spent trying to avoid large crowds bearing torches and pitchforks.
OS,
That is one clerk who may just find herself behind bars. Maybe someone should make a FOIA request for all of Nickolaus’ emails that mention the election or Walker. I wonder what we would find?!
Mr. Walker better enjoy his one tear term. Great update Elaine.
Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus rejected calls for her resignation. She said, “I will serve the remainder of my term,” Nickolaus said. “I understand why people are upset and I am taking this matter seriously. Again, I am sorry for my mistake.”
She went on to say she is, “…reviewing her procedures.” Heh. I’ll bet she is.
More on DKos today.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/12/966288/-Waukesha-County-Clerk-Nickolaus-Issues-Statement:-Sorry,-Will-Not-Resign
Scandal in Fitzwalkerstan: Top Donor Pleads Guilty in Money-Laundering Scheme to Aid Governor Walker
John Nichols
The Nation–April 12, 2011
http://www.thenation.com/blog/159886/scandal-fitzwalkerstan-top-donor-pleads-guilty-money-laundering-scheme-aid-governor-walk
Excerpt:
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker claims the state is broke. That, he says, is why it is necessary to enact draconian anti-labor laws and to restructure state government to dramatically increase the governor’s power.
Yet, despite the supposed financial crisis, Walker gave back $810 million in federal high-speed railroad transportation funding.
The governor must really hate trains, right?
Wrong.
The governor, who today celebrates his 100th day in office, likes some trains. He likes some trains a lot. For instance, despite all of Walker’s claims about a fiscal crisis, the new governor’s administration has already found $14 million for the Wisconsin & Southern railroad corporation. The money, most of what was distributed from the state’s Freight Railroad Preservation Program (FRPP) grants, will be used to preserve and upgrade freight rail infrastructure.
“Despite the fact one of Walker’s first moves as governor-elect was to reject $810 million in federal funds to build a high-speed passenger rail system in the state as part of a proposed Midwestern rail initiative, the state’s relationship with Gardner has flourished,” notes a Madison newspaper account of ties between the state and Wisconsin & Southern. “According to published news accounts, the company stands to gain substantially from a possible deal with the state to buy 50 miles of track between Madison and Reedsburg, and another 20 miles of track in Madison. Under the deal, the state would take ownership of the tracks, and Wisconsin & Southern would operate them, making the company eligible for more FRPP grant money, including potentially between $35 million and $60 million to rebuild the Merrimac Rail Bridge.”
How come Wisconsin & Southern rates?
It may not hurt that company president Bill Gardner has long been one of the state’s busiest campaign contributors—to Democrats and Republicans—or that, last year, Gardner went to the mat to back his old pal Scott Walker’s gubernatorial campaign.
Gardner was so enthusiastic in his support of Walker that he promised in an email to the then-candidate: “I will do everything I can do to get you in the Governor’s Mansion.”
Gardner proved to be a man of his word. He raised tens of thousands for Walker. In addition to his own substantial contributions, his employees and family members coughed up a stack of checks for $5,000 each.
It now turns out that the money was given illegally.
Following an investigation that began last year—when a former female “friend” of Gardner contacted law-enforcement officials—the rail company president has agreed to plead guilty to two felony counts stemming from a money-laundering scheme Gardner initiated on Walker’s behalf, and Wisconsin & Southern has paid a civil forfeiture of $166,900. Under the plea deal, Gardner is expected to avoid jail time but serve two years probation. Additionally, seven Wisconsin & Southern employees will pay $250 fines.
That’s the “single largest forfeiture ever paid to the Government Accountability Board (GAB) or to either of its predecessor agencies, the State Elections Board or the State Ethics Board,” says GAB director Kevin Kennedy.
How did the money-laundering scheme work?
According to the criminal complaint, Gardner’s own donations exceeded the state’s $10,000 limit for contributions to a gubernatorial candidate. And Gardner also asked employees to make $5,000 contributions to Walker’s campaign, he then reimbursed them himself and the employees with company money.
It is against the law in Wisconsin for a donor to make political contributions in another person’s name. It is, as well, against the law for corporations to make political contributions.
In the early stages of the investigation, the Walker campaign returned $44,800 to Gardner. That wasn’t the first time a Walker campaign has had to move money back to Gardner; when Walker was considering a 2006 gubernatorial run, his campaign had to return a $5,000 check that had been illegally given.
But this scandal is much more serious.
“The forfeiture reflects the size and scope of the money laundering scheme engineered by Mr. Gardner,” says the GAB’s Kennedy. “The railroad’s employees, while violating the law, had little choice after Mr. Gardner personally asked them to make the contributions with a promise of reimbursement.”
Yet, despite the scandal—indeed, despite the fact that the investigation goes back almost a year and that Walker’s campaign was forced to return almost $50,000 in illegal contributions to Gardner months ago—the governor and his aides keep making decisions that benefit his longtime, and very enthusiastic, donor.
Major CEO Donor To Walker Charged With Two Felony Counts Of Illegal Campaign Contributions
by Lee Fang
Think Progress, 4/11/2011
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/11/scott-walker-illegal-contributions/
A top donor to Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) gubernatorial campaign has been charged with multiple violations of campaign finance law, reports the Associated Press. Prosecutors today have charged William Gardner, the CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Company, with one count of excessive political donations and another related to unlawful political contributions. Gardner used his employees and family members to funnel $44,000 to Walker during the GOP primary. He then illegally reimbursed the donors with company money. Walker has returned the contributions. Notably, the donations were only illegal because the law prohibits direct donations from corporations to candidate committees. However, the Citizens United decision allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts in support of a candidate for office. If Gardner had funneled the company donations through a group like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or another front group, or if his company had taken out ads in support of Walker, he would not have violated the law.
Scott Walker’s ‘Waterloo’: 19 Counties Flip To Democrats In Wisconsin Supreme Court Race
By Amanda Terkel
(Huffington Post, 4/6/2011)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/06/scott-walker-loss-democrats-wisconsin-supreme-court_n_845612.html
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — A divisive budget battle between labor unions and Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) turned a state Supreme Court race into a nationally watched bellwether on the electorate’s mood heading into a recall campaign and the 2012 elections.
Nearly 1.5 million people turned out to vote, representing 33.5 percent of voting-age adults — 68 percent higher than the 20 percent turnout officials had expected. Democrat JoAnne Kloppenburg has already declared victory, with the vote tallies showing her beating incumbent David Prosser by just a couple hundred votes. The race is expected to head to a recount.
Significantly, 19 counties that went for Walker in the 2010 elections this time flipped and went for Kloppenburg, including LaCrosse (59 percent), Sauk (56 percent) and Dunn (56 percent).
On a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate was jubilant over the results, saying they represent a “watershed moment for Wisconsin and a Waterloo for Scott Walker.”
“It should give Republicans, who are — for the moment — in the majority, pause about how they proceed in enacting Walker’s terrible budget,” he added.
Walker is so dirty it is amazing!
Gov. Scott Walker Chose Top Donor’s 26-Year-Old Dropout Son Over PhD And Engineer
(Think Progress, 4/6/2011)
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/06/scott-walker-dropout-hire-update/
On Monday, ThinkProgress noted that Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) was using state funds to pay more than $81,500 a year to Brian Deschane, a 26-year-old son of a major campaign donor with no college degree and two drunken-driving convictions. The job involved overseeing state environmental and regulatory issues and managing dozens of Commerce Department employees.
Yesterday, after the media reported on the hiring, Walker abruptly reversed course and removed Deschane from his position. Despite calling Deschane a “natural fit” just last week, Walker spokesman Cullen Werwise said Tuesday that the Governor decided “to move in another direction” after learning of the details of the appointment.
Yet, Deschane will still serve in the Administration, returning to his previous job where he made $64,000 a year. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D) says he continues to be “concerned about whether [Deschane] was hired properly under the civil service system.”
Those concerns appear to be well-founded. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reveals that Walker Commerce Secretary Paul Jadin choose Deschane as head of environmental and regulatory affairs at the Commerce Department over two highly qualified former state officials with extensive experience in state government:
The first [potential candidate] Oscar Herrera, is a former state cabinet secretary under Republican Gov. Scott McCallum with a doctoral degree and eight years’ experience overseeing the cleanup of petroleum-contaminated sites.
The second, Bernice Mattsson, is a professional engineer who served since 2003 in the post to which Deschane was appointed.
Herrera and Mattsson didn’t get far in the process.
“Neither candidate was interviewed,” said agency spokesman Tony Hozeny. […]
Still, Hozeny said, Herrera and Mattsson expressed an interest in the job of administrator of the Division of Environmental and Regulatory Services.
The scandal comes amidst a larger effort by Walker to strip the Department of Commerce of its regulatory and environmental functions and transform the Department “into a public-private hybrid in charge of attracting and retaining businesses.”
– Kevin Donohoe
Blouise,
“Only one precinct left and I don’t believe there are enough votes in that precinct to overtake her.”
Then comes the recount … but I am sending positive vibes on yonder for an excellent outcome …
Only one precinct left and I don’t believe there are enough votes in that precinct to overtake her.
Elaine,There are 4 precincts out. I would have never thought that I would be staying up to watch the votes come in on a Wisconsin judge election.
Go Team Kloppenburg!
As of 11:32 AM today…
Prosser: 739,269
Kloppenburg: 739,532
Still 12 to count in Millualke…and 34 total…hopefully these are the numbers that she can get the vote….then I am sure its off to recount…either side..
Do the math. It does not get any closer than this.
David Prosser (inc) 733,074
50%
Joanne Kloppenburg 732,489
50%
That is a 585 difference out of 1,465,563 counted so far and the absentees are still out. Because a recount is guaranteed, the ballots are being guarded by police. You know, those overpaid layabout union guys.
I’ll get the popcorn.
“What could possibly go wrong with a recount,” said Al Gore.
I know I’m the only one up but hey … here’s some more good news:
First, Prosser was expected to win by 60% just a couple months ago
Republican Rep. Jeff Stone was seeking the Milwaukee County Executive seat vacated by Scott Walker when he was elected Governor. Stone was originally expected to easily defeat his opponent Chris Abele. Stone started his campaign using the message that he would be the next Walker. Stone lost tonight with Abele receiving 62 percent of the vote.
Also in Milwaukee, police are now guarding ballots overnight because a recount is expected.
The City of Madison had a 70 percent turn out for this spring election. The typical Madison turn out for a spring election is between 20 and 25 percent.
What is so fascinating about all this is watching the late precincts report.
Eau Claire was at 60% for Kloppenburg with 21 precincts left to report … when those reported, Kloppenburg went from being 1800 votes behind Prosser to only 500 votes behind. All the precincts left to report are in areas that swung to her from 55% to 73% so this election will indeed be down to the wire and she still has a chance of winning. There are 29 precincts left to report and all are in areas that leaned strongly for her.
Each vote does count … especially absentee votes.
Whatever the outcome it is amazing that this unknown gave Prosser, who ran unopposed last time, such a challenge.
I can guarantee you that the Republican Party had no idea such a huge challenge would be facing them within mere months after winning so many state offices in 2010. All the work has been worth it. (Here’s my projection: Kloppenburg over Prosser by around 1,000 votes … )