Collective Bargaining Law Takes Effect

It's been a long painful process and taken a long time but Governor Scott Walker and Republican legislators can finally say "mission accomplished."

The budget repair bill takes effect today.

From the Associated Press:

After months of heated debate, ear-splitting protests and legal maneuvering, Gov. Scott Walker's divisive collective bargaining law is finally set to take effect.

Secretary of State Doug LaFollette published the law in the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper on Tuesday. The measure goes into effect Wednesday, capping an ugly four months in Madison that saw state senators flee the state and massive protests at the state Capitol.

The 14 Democrat senators who fled the state to avoid voting on the bill couldn't stop it.

Thousands of protesters couldn't stop it.

LaFollette couldn't stop it.

Judge Maryann Sumi couldn't stop it.

The law takes effect today.

Everything seems to be OK.

Apocalypse not now.

Fred Clark: 'Smack Around' Woman

DEMOCRAT Fred Clark has a violent streak.

From the Baraboo News Republic:

A rolling tape on an answering machine caught an unsuspecting Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, saying he wanted to "smack around" a woman from his district after she hung up on him.

Clark, who is challenging Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, in a recall election, was making campaign calls last week when he reached the Baraboo home of Sue and John Stapelman.

The answering machine took the call at first, but Sue Stapelman then picked up. The machine's tape kept recording.

After Clark introduced himself, he told Sue Stapelman that he was challenging Olsen in the upcoming recall election.

Stapelman responded: "Yeah, and isn't that a crime."

She then hung up on Clark, but her answering machine kept the line open and continued recording.

Clark apparently did not know he was being recorded when, after a short pause, he said to his campaign staffer: "OK. I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."

Wow!

That's really bad of DEMOCRAT Clark!

The Baraboo DEMOCRAT has issued an apology, but the recording is so damning that it doesn't help Clark much.

Of course, the apology was the right thing to do, but him saying that he wants to call back a constituent and smack her around lives. The recording exists. He can't make it go away.

Here's the recording:



Here's Clark's apology:

"In a moment of frustration after a discouraging phone conversation last week, I made a clearly inappropriate comment to my campaign staffer after the call," Clark said.

"I understand the statement was completely inappropriate under any circumstance and I want to apologize. I am deeply sorry for any distress this incident my have caused for Ms. Stapelman or anyone in her family."

Clark said he has called and left a message apologizing to the Stapelmans, and hopes to speak with them in person soon.

John Stapelman said Monday he and his wife are not happy about the comment. "I think that was totally inappropriate and my wife thinks it was pretty inappropriate, too," Stapelman said.

He said he doesn't think Clark actually was threatening his wife, but the incident does not speak to Clark's character.

"We're pretty independent, actually," Stapelman said of he and his wife's political leanings. "I have to say in this current situation, I'm leaning toward the (Republicans) for fiscal responsibility reasons, in addition to what happened here."

There is no question that DEMOCRAT thug Fred Clark should not serve in the Wisconsin State Senate.

DEMOCRAT Clark isn't fit to serve in the Assembly.

He lacks the character and demeanor to be a legislator.

Vote for Luther Olsen.

"OK. I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."

---DEMOCRAT FRED CLARK

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!

WI Assembly Approves Voter ID Bill

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The Assembly late Wednesday approved requiring people to show photo ID at the polls, putting the measure on a fast track to becoming law. The Senate is expected to sign off on the plan Tuesday.

The move comes when drivers are about to have to present more documentation to get their licenses and wait longer to get them.

The Assembly passed the bill 60-35 amid shouts from a small group of protesters in the viewing gallery.

"Welcome to Wisconsin, Jim Crow!" one of them shouted. The Republican-run Assembly quickly adjourned as the protesters chanted "Shame!" and were led out of the gallery by police officers.

Democrats Peggy Krusick of Milwaukee and Tony Staskunas of West Allis joined all Republicans in approving the bill.

In a change that's separate from the photo ID legislation, drivers will soon have to present more documents proving their identity to get licenses under a federal anti-terrorism law. And instead of receiving their licenses when they visit a Division of Motor Vehicles office, they will get them a week to 10 days later in the mail.

Gov. Scott Walker is a longtime supporter of requiring photo ID to vote. His fellow Republicans have pushed the idea for a decade but have been blocked by Democrats.

...On the Assembly floor Wednesday, Republicans argued that requiring ID at the polls would prevent voter fraud and boost confidence in elections.

"That is a travesty to have your vote stolen from you," said Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon).

Democrats said the measure would have no effect on voter fraud while making it harder for poor, elderly, minority and rural residents to vote. They said that no widespread voter fraud has ever been uncovered in Wisconsin.

Finally!

The Democrats are powerless to block the effort to make voter fraud more difficult at polling places in Wisconsin.

They will be forced to use other routes, like frivolous recounts and inventing anomalies, to disenfranchise Wisconsinites.

The Democrats will have to revise their playbook.

Isn't it funny Dems "said that no widespread voter fraud has ever been uncovered in Wisconsin"?

That's exactly what they intend to claim has taken place in Waukesha County in the Supreme Court race.

Jason Fields (Audio, Transcript)

Wisconsin DEMOCRAT Rep. Jason Fields, while addressing the State Assembly, conducted himself more like a thug than a lawmaker.


Jason Fields, not shouting obscenities or throwing microphones

Of course, passions run high on certain issues, but that doesn't mean an elected official, like Fields from Milwaukee, should use profanity to degrade his colleagues.

During a heated debate on expanding the school choice program, Fields lost it. He acted like a thug, throwing the microphone after shouting to the Assembly, "You all are full of sh-t."

Here's the audio, from Wisconsin Radio Network:

AUDIO: Rep. Jason Fields – language warning (5:24)

Milwaukee-area lawmakers heaped heavy criticism on a bill expanding the city’s Parental Choice program, during debate on the bill Tuesday night. The legislation removes the enrollment cap for vouchers and expands the program to private schools in all of Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee Democrat Jason Fields (D-Milwaukee) accused lawmakers from both parties of playing with the lives of kids, angrily telling them to “knock it off.” Fields questioned why lawmakers have a problem with kids in MPS, before saying “you’re all full of (expletive)” and throwing his microphone.

Here's video of Fields being interviewed by Mike Gousha in March 2009.

It shows he's capable of conducting himself in an appropriate manner.

Clearly, Fields is very passionate about the issue of school choice and the plight of black kids in Milwaukee. It's a shame he couldn't control himself. Rather than delivering powerful remarks, they become lost in his anger and language. His message gets lost in his poor conduct.

I suppose Fields succumbed to frustration yesterday, but that's absolutely no excuse to yell at the Assembly, "You all are full of sh-t."

That's debate in Madison?

All members of the Assembly should have jumped to their feet and shouted in unison, "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!"
________________

Transcript of Jason Fields' remarks to the Assembly, May 10, 2011

REP. JASON FIELDS: You know, I wasn't gonna talk on this kinda stuff because, quite honestly, I feel like it's futile. We've been here before. We do this all the time. And some of you are starting to piss me off. You couldn't just keep me cool. You're pissing me off with your tactics.

It's funny to me how you all have a say-so when it come to children in Milwaukee. You all got a say-so. I don't like the talk on this floor because, quite honestly, I don't even think the intellectual capital is that high.

We doin' this and at the end of the day, what is it about? What is it about?

Everybody, look at my face: You're pissing me off. Because it means NOTHING to you.

(Shouts)

NONE of you! You don't have kids in your house, you haven't taken care of 'em. But you got the morale. Really? Show me how many black men you've taken care of. YOU HAVEN'T. YOU HAVEN'T! I HAVE!

FOUR YOUNG BLACK MEN. NOBODY TOOK CARE OF NONE OF 'EM! BUT YOU GOT THE AUDACITY TO SIT HERE LIKE YOU DOIN' SOMETHING!?!? FOR REAL? FOR REAL!

WHERE ARE YOU? ALL OF YOU, where are you?

(Lowers his voice, but still angry)

You're quick to send 'em to jail. So let me get somethin' straight, because again, I don't like to talk about this kind of stuff because I, I... honestly, it ticks me off.

I think you have an amendment comin' from me. Y'all, y'all playin' with black kids, man, y'all playin'. All of you, you're playin'. Knock it off. Knock it off. You're playin'.

(Raises his voice)

The same people on my side of the aisle, you're, you know, with all due respect, knock it off. KNOCK IT OFF!

YOU DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THESE KIDS! And y'all has high morals. You ain't took none of 'em in! Where were they? Did they go to your house?

HELL NO! SO KNOCK IT OFF, WITH YOUR HIGH MORALS!

And with all due respect to my friends on that side of the aisle, I gotta say this: You can't show up and be like, you know, 'I'm gonna be cool with black kids today.'

You ALL are wrong! And you have been!

YOU DON'T SLEEP WITH 'EM! YOU DON'T SEE THE PAIN THEY GO THROUGH! I DO! Because I'm there. I'm there. They in my house. I feed them. I put 'em in dress shirts.

So which one of you will tell me that I'm wrong?

Stand up. Which one of you?

That's what I thought.

It's easy to pretend to be like this. It's easy, but honestly, I gotta be honest with all of you. I'm tired. Because I'm fighting for young black men and I'm tired. And you're not helping me, none of you. You're not helpin'.

You get caught up in school choice, MPS. Really? Did y'all notice that they all black kids? Did you all notice that? Guess what? The kids in MPS don't have a problem with the kids at the Milwaukee Parental Choice program. They don't have a problem with each other. So why do you?

Y'all are full of sh-t!

(Throws microphone down and walks away)

MADD: Neutral on Drunk Driving Proposals

Senator Alberta Darling and Representative Jim Ott, both Republicans, have proposed measures to strengthen Wisconsin's drunken-driving laws.

The reaction from the national office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is "neutral."

NEUTRAL?

My reaction to MADD's reaction is most definitely NOT neutral.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

An official at Mothers Against Drunk Driving says his organization has taken a neutral position on two drunken-driving proposals put forth by Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Rep. Jim Ott (R-Mequon).

On Friday, the two legislators held a press conference to announce they were introducing two bills they said would strengthen the state's drunken-driving laws.

One bill calls for a first drunken-driving offense to be a crime if the person has a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 or higher.

Current law makes a first offense a municipal violation. Current law also makes it a criminal offense if the driver has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher and there is a child 16 years of age or younger in the car.

The other bill would make a third and fourth drunken-driving conviction a felony. Currently, the fourth arrest for drunken driving is considered a felony if it comes within five years of the third offense.

But Frank Harris, state legislative affairs manager for the national office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said in an email to Darling and Ott that, while their bills are well intentioned, MADD wants laws that make drunken driving a misdemeanor at 0.08 as opposed to 0.15. Additionally, Harris wrote, MADD wants laws that require an ignition interlock for first time offenders who have a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or greater.

"MADD applauds your leadership on keeping the streets safe from drunk drivers in Wisconsin," Harris wrote in the email, which was also sent to the Journal Sentinel. "MADD supports making a third offense a felony but is neutral on the proposal to make a first conviction with a blood-alcohol of .15 or greater a misdemeanor.

That's nuts.

Strengthening current laws is an improvement. MADD should be supporting the efforts of Darling and Ott.

"Making a first OWI conviction a misdemeanor at .15 BAC is not a step and this does not represent progress against drunk driving."

Added Harris: "This .15 BAC bill sends a mixed message on what the illegal level of drunk driving is in Wisconsin exactly and will not send any message or deterrence necessary to stop drunk driving or the majority of drunk driving deaths in Wisconsin caused by drunk drivers with no prior convictions. The only benefit to this legislation is that more drunk drivers may refuse and thereby receive an ignition overlock."

The bill doesn't send a mixed message at all.

Harris isn't making sense. Increasing penalties for drunk driving is a deterrence. It's certainly better than doing nothing at all.

I really don't understand why MADD would choose to be "neutral" rather than strongly supporting any and all steps taken to save lives.

I find MADD's position extremely troubling. Something is not right here.

The organization is not living up to its mission statement.

I'm through making financial contributions to MADD.

Brett Hulsey and the OKC Memorial

Brett Hulsey, Democrat member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, visited the Oklahoma City Memorial on April 19, 2011.

He shared his thoughts on Facebook:

Visited the OKC Memorial yesterday with the family on the 16th anniversary of the bombing that killed 168 public servants and their children in the daycare center. It was very moving and a strong reminder of why we fight those who attack public servants. They attack all Americans and the core value of America: freedom.

Hulsey's remarks are extremely offensive.

To equate the murder of innocents with measures requiring public union employees to contribute to their health care and pensions, and empowering communities to control spending, is sick.

The Oklahoma City bombing was a horrific act of terrorism. The victims, not all "public servants and their children" as Hulsey claims, were killed by Timothy McVeigh, in cold blood.

It's twisted and shameless for Hulsey to use his experience at the Memorial to play politics. Nothing about what happened in Oklahoma City parallels the effort to tackle Wisconsin's debt and its economically unsustainable future.

Here's a statement on Hulsey's offensive analogy from the Dane County Young Republicans:

Rep. Hulsey is absolutely correct. Governor Walker’s plan to give local municipalities the power to improve schools and to stop runaway entitlement spending is totally the same thing as blowing up a government building and killing 168 men, women and children.

Similarly, the Democrats that oppose giving state and local workers the right to vote on whether they want to be unionized are just like southern plantation owners before the Civil War that kept their slaves from voting. So the Democrats are totally like slave owners.

By the way, do you know who else totally enjoyed visiting the Oklahoma City bombing memorial? Hitler.

Hulsey's rhetoric is inexcusable. I'm sure his Leftist supporters love it, but he shouldn't be exploiting the deaths of McVeigh's victims to serve his political ends.

New tone of civility?

Yeah, right.

Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald

From the Associated Press:

Blood ties unite Wis. brothers in union bill fight

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker needed help twisting arms to get his polarizing bill eliminating most public employees' union rights through the Legislature, he turned to Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald. The Irish Catholic brothers hold the top two legislative posts in the state, and they said their success was due to blood as much as political skill.

"If Jeff and I were not brothers, and if we didn't have the personal relationship that we have, I don't know if it would have worked or not," said Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who is known as "Big Fitz" even though he is shorter than his younger brother, the Assembly speaker. "We were all on the same page in just about everything we did," he added.

The two took over the leadership positions this year after Republicans won control of the Senate and Assembly in the 2010 midterm elections. They are a unique family dynasty. There are no known cases, either now or in the past, where brothers held the two highest positions at the same time in a state Legislature, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

They also have forged a close relationship with Walker. The three have a standing weekly meeting, and sometimes, as in the heat of the union fight, they meet daily. They say the struggle to get the law passed in the wake of a walkout by Democratic senators and protests that drew as many as 85,000 people to the Capitol only strengthened their relationship and resolve.

Read more.

Budget Hearing: SHAME, SHAME, SHAME

What a stunning turn of events!

People/protesters were upset that they ALL couldn't speak at the budget hearing held at State Fair Park yesterday.

They started chanting, "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!"

Where have I heard that before?

For one, I heard the Democrats in the Wisconsin State Assembly scream it.



From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

It was the third of four hearings around the state held by the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee on Walker's proposed budget. And like earlier hearings in Stevens Point and Superior, the turnout was in the hundreds, rather than the thousands that some expected.

Only hundreds, not thousands?

Is the movement losing steam?

In all, about 270 speakers signed up before registrations to speak were cut off about 12:30 p.m., according to Ted Blazel, Wisconsin Senate sergeant of arms.

Though committee co-chairs Rep. Robin Vos (R-Burlington) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) had said they planned to end the meeting by 6 p.m. - a plan that drew criticism from Democrats - testimony was allowed into the early evening, and everyone who signed up to speak had done so by 6:30.

A crowd of hundreds of people who had rallied outside the expo center came in late demanding to speak, but they had not registered by the noontime cutoff, and Vos adjourned the meeting after hearing from all of those who registered. As he and Republican legislators left the room, there were shouts of "let us speak" and "shame."

Vos said he had to end the meeting because he was scheduled to attend a Wisconsin Conservation Congress meeting in his district.

No hearing would have been long enough to satisfy the Democrats and their union allies.

It was guaranteed that they would complain about not being heard.

This "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME" chant is getting to be a joke.

Their rallying cry is akin to a tantrum that's lost its effectiveness, like when the parent simply ignores the screaming child and he finally quiets down.

Acting with some decorum would be a smarter move. Calm and controlled is better than crazed.

As Rep. Robin Vos said, "While many people wanted to speak, and we gave an opportunity to several hundred, many more are going to be able to testify through written communication or electronic."

He's absolutely right.

Time is finite. It's unreasonable to expect public forums to go on indefinitely. Everyone who wants to speak can't always be accommodated. That's not trampling on democracy. It's what we call the earthly limits of time.

Citizens do have other ways of communicating their concerns to elected officials.

Back when Russ Feingold held elected office, he didn't allow his listening sessions to go on forever. The former senator had a strict policy - "up to an hour." Read the rules here. Dems didn't complain then. The union thugs didn't erupt.

Of course, Democrats Chris Larson and Lena Taylor had their lines rehearsed. Whenever the hearing ended, they would object. The chants would begin. The fists would be raised.

Larson and Taylor would ratchet up the rhetoric once again.

Larson tweets:

Public hearing shut down. Republicans sneak out the back to shouts of "shame" from the 100s in crowd

And this:

Pictures of people who showed up but not allowed to testify are being put up on empty chairs.

Like that bit of theatrics was just spontaneous. Sure.

More from Larson on Facebook.

Also on Facebook, Taylor wrote:

To Milwaukee and Wisconsin waiting at the budget hearing to heard:

"Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Right.

Rage, rage, shame, shame, shame, rage, shame, rage, shame, shame, shame, shame, rage, rage, rage, shame, rage, shame TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

Video, from FOX 6:

 

Budget Hearing: State Fair Park

Wisconsin politics has really been off-the-wall in 2011.

We have elected officials acting like utter buffoons.

Dan Bice, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, writes:

This is how you pour gasoline on what is already expected to be an explosive hearing at State Fair Park on Monday over Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget:

You do what state Rep. Tamara Grigsby did this weekend.

The Milwaukee Democrat accused the leaders of the Joint Finance Committee of taking steps, in advance, to shut down debate early on the budget bill - and then claimed they are doing this because they don't want to be near Milwaukee too late.

"They're scared to death of Milwaukee," Grigsby said. "They don't want to be here
after dark."

Without naming names, she said some of her fellow lawmakers share a "real fear about being in Milwaukee." Asked if she felt the committee leaders were acting on racist concerns, she said, "If it looks like a duck."

Grigsby quickly added, "I didn't use those words," referring to the notions of race or racism.

Joint Finance co-chairman Robin Vos said he was stunned by her remarks, saying Grigsby was leveling a baseless accusation.

First, he noted that the budget hearing, which is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., is in West Allis, not Milwaukee.

In addition, the Rochester Republican said he and his wife had spent Saturday night at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, enjoying a good time in the city after dark.
"People can make up any lies they want," Vos said. "I just think it's stupid."

I have three words for Grigsby: SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.

Suggesting that the hearing is scheduled to allow fearful Republicans to be out of Milwaukee before dark is nuts.

Robin Vos appropriately condemns Grigsby's remarks.

Does Grigsby know that the hearing isn't in Milwaukee?

It's in West Allis.

Does Grigsby know when it gets dark?

On Monday, the sun will set at 7:30 PM.

If the time of the hearing really had something to do with leaders of the Joint Finance Committee "being scared to death" of the city after dark, as Grigsby claims, it wouldn't have to end at 6:00 PM.

EIGHT HOURS of testimony seems more than reasonable.

Grigsby's accusation that fellow legislators are racist, yet refusing to be specific and name names, is unforgivable. She's cruel and cowardly.

I think she's unwilling to be specific because she's lying. It's just more incendiary, over-the-top, crazy rhetoric from the Leftists.

Grigsby should retract her statement and apologize to her colleagues, or she should name the supposedly frightened Republicans.

It's funny that the Democrats are complaining about 10:00 - 6:00 being an inadequate time for the hearing. Just a few weeks ago, thousands of union members, teachers, walked off their jobs to protest in Madison. They didn't hesitate to shut down schools to attend and be heard.

Are we supposed to believe that 6:00 PM doesn't fit into their "schedules"? I don't think so.

...Several unions have events planned at State Fair all day, including a rally beginning at 4:30 p.m.

If union events at State Fair are being held ALL DAY, it certainly doesn't appear that the time of the hearing is a problem.

Bottom line: Spewing poisonous remarks is terribly irresponsible. I guess Lena Taylor and Tamara Grigsby can't help themselves.
_________________

Details on the hearing:

What: The third of four budget hearings around the state conducted by the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee.

Where: Wisconsin State Fair Park, West Allis. Expo Center, Hall A. Parking, enter Gate 4.

When: Public comments will be taken starting at 10 a.m. and are expected to continue until 6 p.m.