Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker gets support from possible GOP presidential candidates
As the conflict in Wisconsin shifts from a battle over budget deficits into an ideological debate, some high-profile Republicans -- potential presidential contenders -- are lining up behind Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
Walker spurred massive protests in his state earlier this month with a "budget repair bill" that proposes scaling back public workers' benefits, as well as their collective bargaining rights, among other things. The dramatic showdown continues in the state, even though public sector unions have agreed to scale back their benefits for the sake of deficit reduction.
Public workers and their supporters argue that eliminating most public unions' collective bargaining rights has nothing to do with the budget and that the governor should drop that element of his plan. Walker isn't budging, however, and several other politicians in the GOP have his back.
Former Minnesota governor and possible presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty released a video today that uses dramatic music and quick cuts of protest footage to show support for Walker. At the end of the minute-long video, Pawlenty is shown on a news program saying, "It's really important that America stand with Walker, stand with Wisconsin."
Pawlenty also launched a petition on his political action committee website to gather public support for Walker.
"Governor Scott Walker is making tough choices needed to avoid financial ruin," the website reads. "The nation's governors don't need a lecture from a President who has never balanced a budget. All levels of government need to bring public employee compensation in line with the private sector... I'm confident Governor Walker's reforms will succeed in Wisconsin. Stand strong, Scott -- average taxpayers everywhere are rooting for you."
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Pawlenty's website fails to mention the unions' willingness to compromise, or the fact that Wisconsin's budget problems could be solved with other, non-controversial measures.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, another potential GOP presidential nominee, just published a public appeal on the conservative website Human Events for support for Walker.
"It is vital that every one of us help Governor Scott Walker today," Gingrich writes. He urges readers to call their elected representatives and ask them to back the Wisconsin governor.
"In Madison, Wisconsin, we are witnessing a profound struggle between the right of the people to govern themselves and the power of entrenched, selfish interests to stop reforms and defy the will of the people," Gingrich writes. "However, through a campaign of intimidation and cowardice, the government employee union bosses and the Democratic Party that is beholden to them, are trying to thwart the will of the people."
He calls the conflict "one of the most important struggles in modern America," as well as a "life and death struggle with the forces of the old order."
Gingrich also notes that he was an early supporter of Walker's and blasts President Obama for supporting the unions.
In an interview on CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged" yesterday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he would advise Walker to "stand tall, stay firm."
"He's doing what he's doing because he's clearly grasped that as a governor he's going to be responsible for balancing his budget," he said. "I think it's a responsible action on his part."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, is giving $5,000 to the Wisconsin Republican Party through his political action committee, Politico reports.
"Liberal big government interests are fighting efforts to rein in out-of-control public employee pay and benefits in Wisconsin," Romney said in a statement today. "It is critical that we stand with the Wisconsin GOP as it stands up for the rights of the taxpayer."
Yesterday, the Hotsheet reported on the support Walker has received from conservative groups like the Tea Party and the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity.
The debate in Wisconsin has become a proxy for the larger national debate taking place over government spending and deficits.
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Walker said this week he communicates regularly with Republican Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, suggesting he isn't the only governor willing to take on public unions.
"There's a lot of us new governors that got elected to do something big," Walker said this week. "This is our moment."
Similar protests over anti-union bills have erupted in Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere, but not all Republican governors are following Walker's lead. Yesterday, Indiana Republicans dropped their controversial bill after Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said it wasn't worth pursuing at this point.
Liberals are also taking the debate to the national stage. As fervent protests continue in Wisconsin, the Service Employees International Union and MoveOn.org are organizing rallies in all 50 states on Saturday to show solidarity with Wisconsin's public workers.
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GOV. SCOTT BROWN IS A PUPPET OF THE KOCH BROTHERS WHO ARE WORTH OVER $40-BILLION
GOV. SCOTT BROWN IS A PUPPET OF THE KOCH BROTHERS WHO ARE WORTH OVER $40-BILLION
None of that democracy stuff. None of this representative stuff.
How can we ever recover from the recession? Answer is never unless we stop outsourcing and buy only "MADE IN USA" products or when the third world country's wages and cost of living equals ours. Only then can we compete in cost for the products. Our only advantage is the label "MADE IN USA".
So you poor and middle class REPUBLICANS stop being like a KOOL AID DRINKER. Don't be mesmerized by the present day JIM JONES called the REPUBLICANS before they OUTSOURCE your job and be UNEMPLOYED. DON'T BE GULLIBLE, THINK.
"The billionaire brothers whose political action committee gave Gov. Scott Walker $43,000 and helped fund a multi-million dollar attack ad campaign against his opponent during the 2010 gubernatorial election have quietly opened a lobbying office in Madison just off the Capitol Square.
Charles and David Koch, who co-own Koch Industries Inc. and whose combined worth is estimated at $43 billion, have been recently tied with Walker's push to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers. The two have long backed conservative causes and groups including Americans for Prosperity, which organized the Tea Party rally Saturday in support of Walker's plan to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights and recently launched the Stand with Scott Walker website.
The lobbyists for Koch Companies Public Sector registered with the state on January 5, two days after Walker's inauguration.
The expanded lobbying effort by the Koch brothers in Wisconsin raises red flags in particular because of a little discussed provision in Walker's repair bill that would allow Koch Industries and other private companies to purchase state-owned power plants in no-bid contracts.
"It's curious that the Kochs have apparently expanded their lobbying presence just as Walker was sworn into office and immediately before a budget was unveiled that would allow the executive branch unilateral power to sell off public utilities in this state in no-bid contracts," says Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy."
PAYING ATTENTION DOUG ???
This is the audio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBnSv3a6Nh4
However, at a time when the Koch brothers were enjoying spectacular financial gains, Koch Industries laid off well over 2,000 people. Using the same approximate "jobs multiplier" Koch Industries used in its study last week, that means Koch Industries extinguished nearly 8,000 jobs in recent years:
- Koch's John Zink Company subsidiary laid off 63 people in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
- Koch's Georgia Pacific subsidiary laid off 118 people at its Roxboro, North Carolina plant.
- Koch laid off 50 people at its INVISTA plant in Wilmington, Delaware.
- Koch's Georgia Pacific subsidiary laid off 158 people at a paper-making plant in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Most of the jobs have been replaced with automated machines.
- Koch's INVISTA subsidiary laid off 50 people at its plant in Athens, Georgia.
- Koch laid off 150 people at its headquarters in Wichita, Kansas.
- Koch laid off 500 people at its Seaford, Delaware INVISTA plant.
- Koch laid off 400 people in its Waynesboro, Indiana INVISTA plant. As one of the primary employers in the city, the layoffs were expected to have serious ripple effects. City officials said layoffs at Invista will "force cuts across Waynesboro." "The rest of the community, this will probably instill a bit of a wake-up call and they will cut back also," predicted Waynesboro Vice Mayor Frank Lucente.
- Koch laid off 320 people at its Georgia Pacific plywood plant in Cleveland, Texas.
- Koch laid off 60 people at its INVISTA plant in Victoria, Texas.
- Koch laid off 169 people from its Flint Hills Resources plant in Odessa, Texas.
- Koch laid off 300 people at its Georgia Pacific plant in Monroeville, Alabama.
- Koch "indefinitely" idled its 60-worker Georgia Pacific mill in Louisville, Mississippi.
The Koch downsizing isn't limited to the United States. In England, Koch laid off workers at its chemical plant in Wilton, England and closed down its INVISTA plant in Offenbach, Germany.
Koch Industries pretends that it thrives from the "free market," and that the government only inhibits its growth. But in reality, as Koch slashed jobs, the company exploited government contracts, public forests, public land, narrow corporate loopholes, eminent domain seizures of private land, and has demanded taxpayer bailouts for its refineries.
Moreover, while Koch Industries has interests in a number of different businesses, much of its money is made by simply polluting for free. The core of Koch's immense profits are based on burning fossil fuels that contribute to climate change, while not paying a dime for these "externalities." For instance, Koch refines oil, including high carbon Canadian crude, at its Minnesota refinery, Koch owns one of the largest oil pipeline networks in America, Koch manufacturers fertilizer, Koch sells products for mining coal and owns coal-burning power plants, Koch transports coal, oil and natural gas, and finally, Koch sells financial derivative instruments to bet on the price of its own products, like oil or natural gas. Because Koch Industries gets rich burning fossil fuels, the Koch brothers are the largest funders of climate change denying organizations and "libertarian" nonprofits in the world. Koch political donations have helped the company escape serious prosecution for emitting cancer-causing chemicals as well.
- George Zornick, in a Think Progress cross-post.
But now, there is a conspiracy theory coming out of the fiasco in Wisconsin that may tell us everything we ever needed to know about Governor Scott Walker - and the cool part is that it comes with a verifiable ending.
Check out Section 44.16.896 of Wisconsin Senate Bill 11, which reads-
(1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state?owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).
What this says is that the State of Wisconsin can sell or contract out management of state-owned heating, cooling and power plants without the requirement that bids for such a sale or leasing be solicited so as to maximize what the government can pocket through such an arrangement.
Put another way, the state can pick who they want and make whatever deal they want without anyone else having a chance to bid on the deal.
So, who in the state of Wisconsin would be in a position to buy or operate these utilities such operations and benefit from a bid-free scenario?
The Wisconsin based companies are the largest -or among the largest - in their fields. And they all have one thing in common.
Each of these companies is a subsidiary of Koch Industries.
Hey DougInWisc ? Paying attention ?
This is very, very scary. Your governor will be in charge of all financial matters in your state, soon. He's the only who can sell power plant and other real estate (yes, it's in the Bill). He's the only one who will decide the participation in Medicaid. (yes, it's in a bill)
So please tell me, why do you have a State Senate or Assembly?
Oh yeah, you have the Kochs!