Feingold endorses Barrett in Wisconsin recall

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1708815

By Doug Cunningham

Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is endorsing Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the June 5th recall election against Governor Scott Walker. Feingold is campaigning with Barrett.

[Russ Feingold]: “There is no more honest and decent person in the state of Wisconsin than Tom Barrett. It’s as simple as that. He will be a wonderful governor in bringing us together and stopping this divide and conquer attitude in the state.”

Feingold says Walker has a problem with the truth and combined with his attack on working people and his ruthless divide and conquer tactics against Wisconsin’s people, the recall is justified.

[Feingold 2]: “The governor chose to attack the working people of the state and the voting rights of the people of the state in a way that was unprecedented and unexpected. He did not let us know that that was his platform, and he did it in the form of a surprise attack.”

FULL story at link.

[Scuba]

2. The budget deficit is not gone, taxpayers have saved nothing....

... Walker has pushed maintenance costs down the road, just as he did as Milwaukee County Exec, to create the appearance of "budget repair".

In the meantime, well, here's how Mark from Rapids responded to Walker's bewilderment over the recall:

“In this time of economic distress you have chosen to abandon the working poor 
and the middle class in favor of the privileged few. At the behest of corporations and
 sinister plutocrats you have chosen to suppress democracy. You have chosen to 
make it harder to vote, to make it harder to earn a decent wage, to make it harder
 to obtain decent health care, to make it harder for citizens to express their First 
Amendment rights, to make it harder to give our children a decent education and
 a decent future. You have made your choices abundantly clear. Now we, the working people of 
Wisconsin, are making our choice.”


Enjoy your stay. If you stop posting and start reading, you will learn.

[Fawke Em]

3. It's not a savings to taxpayers if their wages

stay stagnant.

Hope you like pepperoni!

[HereSince1628]

4. Austerity starves people and government, and economic recovery.

Funny thing how large tax-gifts to corporations do lower state tax numbers and are not be noticed as good things by average citizens.
Funny thing how the gov takes credit for lost taxes due to reassessments of property to match crashed home values.

Do you suppose that's because the austerity path yielding the minimal tax reduction isn't seen as any good for the average citizen?

[99Forever]

5. A freakin' Snotty Walker supporter here?

Are you kidding me? What's that smell?

[WI_DEM]

6. He should do an ad for Barrett

[brooklynite]

7. Isn't this a little late?

Everyone knew there was a short window between the Primary and the General. Why weren't the endorsements and surrogates lined up ahead of time?

I don't wish to put a damper on the recall effort, but I get the impression that this wasn't the best planned campaign around, and I suspect that the national Party's reluctance to invest a lot may draw from the same analysis.

[milwaukeelib33]

8. Here's what really happened...

Speaking the truth is frowned upon lest it sap voter enthusiasm, but being on the ground here in WI, and having a feeling of disgust as this race seems to be slipping away, I'll give it to you straight.

Everything was going fantastically well up to turning in the recall petitions. It was a good year of organized efforts and the movement was focused and strong on getting Wanker recalled. You have to remember, there have only been a couple governors put up for recall in the entire country- EVER. The effort had to be focused just on obtaining the required signatures, nearly one million. The effort was successful and should be applauded.

But here is where things went off track. The spark that lit this energetic movement was Wankers attack on working families, stripping them of their right to collectively bargain. After the petitions were turned in, which was the main focus up to that point, TPTB huddled up to decide what the next step would be and to devise as strategy for the recall election campaign. As is SOP these days, polls were conducted to gauge voters stances on issues. The very sad fact is Wankers union bashing is not much frowned upon by many a Wisconsinite.

This upsets me greatly considering WI's rich progressive heritage. Home of visionary leaders- Fighting Bob LaFollette, Aldo Leopold, Russ Feingold, and more.

But, TPTB decided they were not going to focus on the stripping of collective bargaining rights because the polls showed it was not a winning issue. Very sad. As could be expected, workers who were the soul of this uprising became somewhat disillusioned, as our main cause has been thrown under the bus.

With that spark that ignited our outrage extinguished, the primary became a blurry mess. What would the campaign issues be, if not C.B.? Our unions at first said screw the polls and attempted to remain focused on C.B. They backed a pretty good candidate in Falk who very strongly stated she would re-implement our stripped rights.

Then, as days passed, and more polls were released, more focus was given to them. Falk didn't poll as well as Tom Barrett. So, support drifted to Barrett, despite the fact he's hardly a friend of workers.

What has gone on here in WI will and should be studied. I think when it all boils down, putting too much weight in polls to decide who our candidate is sapped the energy out of the movement. We should have stuck to the main issue, and put up a candidate that stood strong on that issue and would proudly run on it.

Might not be popular to say, but there you have it folks.