Main Street

Wisconsin Roundup VII: Welcome to Walkerville!

For this week’s roundup, we welcome you to Walkerville, the capital of Fitzwalkerstan. In this land, the working poor get tax hikes,  firefighters caused the deficit, and Republicans run as Democrats to help Republicans win against Democrats. And some politicians even tell the truth!

Are you confused yet? You’re not alone. This if your Wisconsin roundup:

•It goes to nine. Three Democratic state senators will join six Republicans on the recall ballot this summer. Or they might be on separate dates. Either way, the Government Accountability Board, after carefully considering the many charges of fraudulent signatures and questionable practices on the part of the GOP petition circulators, in the end decided to go ahead and certify the recalls.

To provide a check against the anti-worker Governor Scott Walker, the Democrats need a net gain of three seats in the State Senate. Depending on how the Wisconsin Republican Party’s “spoiler candidate” strategy pans out, the election will probably be held on August 9.

•Hooverville 2.0. The fastest growing municipality in Wisconsin is Walkerville, the tent city set up in Madison to educate, satirize, and protest around the destructive policies of Governor Scott Walker.

Even in the short yet dynamic history of the Wisconsin protests, we’ve never seen anything quite like this. There have been concerts, film screenings, a boxing match (to represent the “fight for quality healthcare”), a mock town hall featuring Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers, a “die-in” (to represent the death of secondary education in Wisconsin) and a thousands-strong March for a Fair Budget.

There are tons of pictures and videos coming out of Walkerville, and every day has a theme. You can keep up by following the #Walkerville hashtag on Twitter, and check out the beautiful photos on the Wisconsin AFL-CIO Flickr page.

•Freudian slip. We’ve talked on this blog about how Wisconsin’s collective bargaining bill is different from Senate Bill 5 in Ohio. Wisconsin’s bill carves out an exemption for public safety workers like police and firefighters, while the Ohio bill does not (read this post to learn why this is deadly for Ohioan workers). This has led some to believe that Scott Walker is not as bad as people say, because at least he allows police officers to bargain for better Kevlar, right?

Wrong. Turns out that Wisconsin Republicans really wanted to strip public safety workers of their rights but darn it, they just couldn’t.

When state Rep. Chris Kapenga was asked by a constituent why cops and firefighters would be exempted from the collective-bargaining changes, the freshman Republican lawmaker left no doubts what he thinks.

Kapenga pointed a finger directly at the police and firefighter unions.

“We have pushed for police and fire to be included with all other public employees,” said the Delafield Republican.

This created an awkward situation for Mike Crivello, the head of the Milwaukee Police Association. Crivello and his organization came out huge for Kapenga and other Republicans in the election last year. He even starred in an ad for now-Gov. Scott Walker! Kapenga’s statement left Mr. Crivello “flabbergasted.”

Chances are Crivello will join the trend of law enforcement officers deserting the Republican Party over their anti-worker stance (other examples here, here, and here).

Wisconsin Republicans have made their intentions for public safety workers before. Kapenga echoed fellow “K”-named legislator Sen. Dan Kapanke, who said in April that he wanted to take rights from public safety workers, and that he wanted to see if there was “enough will” to include them in Walker’s union-busting bill. Because it takes courage to tell a firefighter he can’t have a new oxygen mask.

Either in July or August, we might be setting off some fireworks in Walkerville to celebrate the end of one-party anti-worker rule in Wisconsin. It’ll take a lot of work, and we’ll be keeping you updated. On Wisconsin, and on Walkerville!