#blue cheddar

blue cheddar: The gaming of the WI Democratic Party by Jason Rae and Nation Consulting

A lot has been said and written about the race to succeed Mike Tate as Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, notably how dirty the race has gotten, but I felt this post shared by blue cheddar is worth folks reading in its entirety.

Here’s just a snippet of the larger post.

But in some ways, depending on who wins the election to replace Mike Tate, it could end up as essentially we have a new…

While the Tea Partiers kowtow to their corporate backers and cozy up to ideological lunacy, the economy continues to teeter on a precipice. It’s immoral and unconscionable for these jackals to play politics and unrelentingly adhere to their crackpot ideology while unemployment levels are so high.... 

a nice way to start the morning off.

watch walker get mic checked by Stand Up! Chicago and the Chicago Teachers Union

Wordpress.com is still down. So I'll take a tumble instead. 

These words are mostly excerpts from articles.

Already unpopular Senator Darling will lose all luster when she pushes idea to shove public $ for K-12 into private charter schools

Under a Republican-sponsored bill, nine political appointees would get to authorize public charter schools while local school districts foot the bill. The legislation is authored by Sen. Alberta Darling [who's facing a special recall election] of River Hills. 10AM Wed 3/23 Public hearing madison.com

More on the education legislation at Public Schools for the Public Good 

Up to 16 State Senator Recall elections in Wisconsin beginning as early as June. More likely July, in my opinion.

Republicans are being targeted for their votes in favor of the law that ends most collective bargaining powers for public employee unions. 8 Democrats are being targeted for fleeing to Illinois in a failed attempt to stop the GOP from voting on the measure.

State Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski says 45 percent of the total signatures needed in all 8 Republican districts were gathered by Monday, with only a quarter of the time period gone. WTAQ

Sconz says UW-Madison Oversight No Better, No Worse 

In the long-term, the new system will be less politicized than the current one. The Board of Regents, which is the entity that governs the entire UW System, is made up entirely of gubernatorial appointees. In fact, assuming Walker serves at least an entire 4-year term, his influence would be much greater under the current system than under the new one.-IsthmusTDP

Walker's first union downed?: The Fast Rise and Fall of MATC-Madison's Part-Time Teachers' Union

Reading this article spells out a worst-case scenario for a union that only 1 year ago looked like it would thrive. "...the part-time teachers' union will likely survive until June 30, 2012. After that, Kent says the union will need to find a "new way of doing business," although he's not sure what that might entail. madison.com

Collective bargaining broken as is our faith in open gov't. "Wisconsin's Radical Break"

 Among the state’s proudest traditions is a passion for transparent government that often strikes outsiders as extreme. Its open meetings law, open records law and public comment procedures are among the strongest in the nation. Indeed, the basis for the restraining order blocking the collective bargaining law is that 

Republicans may have violated open meetings rules in passing it. The legislation they have enacted turns out to be radical not just in its content, but in its blunt ends-justify-the-means disregard for openness and transparency. NYTimes

British Columbia Federation of Labor is in Solidarity, Boycotting BPO/M&I Banks

The other night they got a briefing from Sister Betsy Kippers of WEAC on the conditions here in Wisconsin. This morning I saw a flyer from BCFL that called on Canadian labor to boycott BPO, the Canadian parent company of M&I Bank. 

You can best keep up on the boycott on its facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BoycottMIBank

Returned Dem 14ers, Senators Hansen & Holperin, may need our help 

National money is coming into Green Bay to work against Democratic Senator Dave Hansen. "The first television commercial against Hansen focuses on education and calls for an “end [to] unfair government union contracts.”The spot shows a woman in a classroom and tells viewers: “She’s the best teacher in her school — and if Dave Hansen has his way, she has every reason to leave Wisconsin.”

The script continues: “Our government employee contract laws tie her salary to what we pay the worst teachers. It’s not fair to teachers and it’s not fair to our kids.”

Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski was confident that both Hansen and Holperin would survive any recall vote, saying both Democrats “clearly represent the values of their districts.”“They see that collective bargaining, education, health care are all important things to Wisconsin, whereas [Republican Gov.] Scott Walker wants to take all of that away,” Zielinski said."