Wisconsin: 2014 Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary (Mary Burke)

[Scuba]

http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2014/01/mary-mary-quite-contrary.html

Burke made clear her "credentials" clear when she said she agreed with at least part of Act 10 ...

Yes, I do believe [state employees] paying a fair share of health care and pension costs is something we needed in order to be able to balance the budget.

This is a very unfortunate position for her to take for a couple, three of reasons. First of all, Burke fails to acknowledge that if the budget at that time was even truly out of balance, it's not because the workers were receiving luxurious benefits. If there was a hole in the budget, it was caused when Walker and his fellow corporate stooges spent hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks and other giveaways to their campaign donors.

Secondly, as was discussed in Forbes by Rick Ungar at the time when Walker was dropping the bomb of Act 10 on the state, taxpayers actually contribute nothing to the cost of the pensions public employees receive. The reason for this is because public sector employees traditionally were paid less than private sector employees, deferring that money to their pensions.

In other words, private and public sector workers were being paid about the same. The difference came in the fact that public sector workers looked further ahead and put some of their pay at the back end of their careers. This was backed up by a report from the Economic Policy Institute which clearly showed (on page 7) that public sector workers did receive better benefits in exchange for lower wages:

...

To put it as succinctly as I can, what Walker did was take the money from the public sector workers to give to his campaign donors and other benefactors. That cut in pay, not to mention the thousands of jobs lost when he cut fund shares with local governments, meant that public sector workers had to make cut backs of their own. That causes a ripple effect as private sector businesses - especially for non-essential things like restaurants and the such - to cut back on their own staff if not close altogether. When Burke says that she is not willing and/or interested in finding a way to reverse this, it makes me question how serious she is about fixing the economy or bringing good paying jobs back to the state.

[unionthug777]

1. sigh.....walker-lite.

i think you should run, scuba !!!

[Scuba]

2. Governor Scuba! Bwahahahahahaha!

I'd turn Wisconsin into a cross between Colorado and Vermont.

[unionthug777]

5. do it !!!

that would be wayyyyy better than what we have now !!!

[Half-Century Man]

7. I'll help

Say the word.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. I'm on board with that--

as long as you get the right parts of Colorado & the right parts of Vermont.

Well, OK, pretty much all of Vermont is OK with me but there are parts of Colorado you could leave behind.

[AleksS]

3. I'm worried that Burke will be a state-level Abele

I'm worried that Burke will be a state-level Abele.

Abele got into the Milwaukee County Exec office as a Dem., using piles of $$$$ to steamroller his opponents, but has been governing as a straight-out Republican. Kind of like Sheriff Clarke that continues to run as a Dem. but is 100% a Republican (Heck, he's the favorite of right-wing talk/hate radio.)

Crap.

[Scuba]

4. Perfect analogy.

[dembotoz]

6. hit the nail right on the head.....damn that is accurate

[riversedge]

17. Mary Burke is no Abele...

I wonder if she has rethought some of her thinking on this issue--which was issued earlier in the campaign. I am willing to give her some slack--and yes I was a public employee who got smacked as are many of close family members (nurses and Corrections). I WILL campaign for Mary and my gosh, I hope she wins. The alternative is unthinkable --esp. with our Republican assembly and Senate!!

[AleksS]

20. In the general

In the general, I'll vote for her, if she's the nominee. She can't help but be miles and miles and parsecs and parsecs ahead of Walker.

I voted for Abele too, in the general. I mean vs. Jeff Stone? Jeff Stone who was around town laughing his disgusting ass off on the day Act 10 was brought out? I know in my heart that it's better for Abele to be the County Exec. than Stone. I can only imagine the damage Stone would have done by now. And these Teabagging nutjobs CAN do damage--Walker proved it. But, being better than Stone (in Abele's case) or Walker (in Burke's case) is hardly a ringing endorsement. 75% republican IS better than 100% republican. So when my choices are a 75% repub. vs. a 100% repub. I'll vote all day long for the 75%-er. Walker proved what a 100%-er can do, and I won't let that happen again if I can do anything about it. But it's still crummy.

I'm hoping for the best, of course. Whether that's for Burke to turn out to be more progressive than I think, or for an actual, strong progressive viable candidate to emerge, either would be great. The election's not today, so there's time!

[strikeforce]

8. how about taking it easy on

mary burke.you reference the cognitive dissidence blogspot run by capper and his friends. he has sent people on wild goose chases for years now. walker john doe ("arrest of walker is imminent folks&quot wrong.

now son of doe is close to collapsing. he had his readers all worked up about that also.

if the teachers and such knew that the teabaggers were going to attack their pensions and healthcare insurance i am sure they would have opted for salary increases instead. but that would require 20-20 vision. it is an arguement they know they cannot win here in wisconsin.

the teachers are ready to"let it go" and to move on.it is time for those on the professional left to do the same.

if you want a more liberal candidate the democrats will lose in wisconsin. the leaders of the wisconsin democraric party know that.

[Scuba]

9. "Professional left". Snort.

If by "leaders of the wisconsin democraric party" you mean Mike Tate, he's the guy who failed to notice the protesters in Madison until their numbers were legion, the guy who brought us a June, 2012 recall election instead of waiting 'til November to ride on Obama's coattails (ever hear of Tammy Baldwin?), the guy who brought us twice-losing Tom Barrett and has now annointed Mary Burke as the next candidate to lose to Walker. Yeah, he's the guy to whom we should be bowing

As for your statement that "a more liberal candidate the democrats will lose in wisconsin", ever hear of Tammy Baldwin?

[Bonduel]

10. Everybody wanted that recall to begin with

If Tate had not gone through with it he would have been crucified. Ed and Rachel couldn't stop talking about it.

[Scuba]

11. Tate's supposed to be a pro. The recall should have been tied to the general election. Tate ....

... should have known that. Perhaps Tate did know that. Perhaps that's why so many of his candidates lose.

[dragonlady]

19. On the timing of the recall election

My impression was that Tate originally wanted it in November, but the other groups wanted to go as soon as possible and were intending to start petitions with or without the Democratic Party. We also need to realize that the Republicans would never have let the recall be held along with the November election. They would have kept matters tied up in court so that the precise timing that the law prescribes would place the recall at some stupid time like late December. Witness Chris Christie, who ordered the special Senate election just a week or so separate from his own reelection--they'll do anything for their own benefit.

That said, I've never been a fan of Mike Tate and am rapidly getting very frustrated with him.

[riversedge]

21. Tate should have stepped down a long time ago. I

really do not know how he got re-elected as Chair.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. Or that Russ Whatsisname?

[strikeforce]

15. you can't compare tommy thompson to scott walker

the people brought tom barrett to the election twice.not mike tate. the gal from madison got stomped by barrett in the recall primary.that's a fact.i voted for her too.

i don't know much about the june vs. november date for the recall election issue. you probably don't either unless you are an insider.
i do not support mike tate or the big mouth zelinski.but even zelinski says that people like you need to tone down the anti- burke banter.

my union and i were at the rallys early on. i seen tate their.

do you know of a similar democratic candidate that is close to being equal to tammy baldwin ? i haven't seen anybody step up to the plate as of late.vineout dropped out today.she had no money.

i will vote for any person that has the best chance of beating walker.i hate the man with a passion.

scuba,with all due respect,i hope you will too.

[lutefisk]

14. "the teachers are ready to 'let it go' and to move on"

As in move on to Minnesota or something like that? Or move on as in "You know, maybe Scott Walker was right to fuck me over.
I guess I deserved it..."?

What Walker did is a gift that keeps on giving. Ask teachers what the workplace is like without union representation.

[strikeforce]

16. rookie teachers in minnesota are getting

starting salarys of 10 to 15 thousand more per year than the new teacher would be offered in wisconsin. a lady caller on the joy cardine show said that.
minnesota barely escaped the tea party avalanche in 2010. good for them.and they are doing alot better in several markers than wisconsin is.
so yeah,if i was a new teacher i would go to minnesota.you bet.i don't know if wisconsin will ever recover from this libertarian takeover.

the teachers i know are ready "to let it go" meaning the hatred and anger they have for walker to see straight enough to get him defeated this year.

i am a union steward in the private sector. we are the next target (right to work). i am under no illusions.the widow hendricks has got ahold of walkers gonads and will not let go of.

the teachers in my school district are treated with dignity by our school board. i can't speak for other school districts.

[riversedge]

18. I had a part time temp job in MN last year and

have relatives who live there. They laugh at WI. It is true of teaching---they respect and pay their teachers more. Lots of border hoping for jobs--From Wi TO MN.