What's Happening in Wisconsin, Tuesday to Thursday Abbreviated

After staying up until midnight last night, I hit the snooze button on my alarm at 6:00am, and at 6:15am I turned off the snooze...and at 10am I woke up, very embarrassed to not be at work. I made it in for a half day, but wasn't able to rally at lunch, as has been my habit.

Some other bits from Monday/Tuesday:
Over the weekend, the Medicaid issue finally got some attention. As I mentioned in my first note, part of this bill gives the Governor, in conjunction with the head of the Department of Health Services (a man who believes that the state shouldn't participate in Medicaid) can put into effect rules regarding Medicaid, even if those rules aren't in accordance with current law.  There are a few problems with this.  The biggest one is, of course, that this will endanger Medicaid coverage for many people.  This could come in the form of reducing the income limits (WI is currently one of the stronger programs in the country, from what I hear), restructuring payment to providers, etc.  And many of the people most affected are families, people with disabilities, and elderly people. Who are also less able to attend protests than the masses of state workers.  The other major problem is that this is a policy, which would place a tremendous amount of power into the hands of very few, with very little legislative oversight. That's scary.

Around the same time, perhaps more on Monday, people "discovered" the section that empowers the Governor to sell the state power plants...with the option of it being a no-bid sale.  I work in a federally funded program, and I know that to buy *apples for school lunch*, you need to obtain bids. So this is just fairly ridiculous. At the same time, though, since the Tea Party had just been in town, people started questioning the connection between the Koch brothers and Walker, and then hypothesizing that the purpose of this part of the bill was so that Walker could sell the power plants to the Kochs. Other than the Kochs having been a major campaign contributor, I'm not totally clear where this theory came from...but it became more important later on...

A lot of news sources have been trying to portray this as "Walker sneaking this thing into the bill", which is frustrating, because these things have been there all along.

Tuesday night:
One of the non-highlights of the day was Governor Walker decided to give a "Fireside Chat", in which he basically said nothing new. By saying nothing new, though, he created more of a story than if he'd said nothing at all.

Tuesday night was big for me, because it was my first day sleeping in the Capitol. Also, when I was there earlier in the day, I found that a very seat-of-the-pants first aid station/medic crew had set up on 1st Floor North hallway.  I introduced myself, and asked what would be helpful...things seemed chaotic, so I waited until I was back at night.  I tried to find a medic who had emailed me, but he wasn't there that night.  For a while, I sorted through herbal medicine that was donated, since the other 3 folks had no idea what any of it was for.  They sorted through tons of meds, trying to label which were vegan and throw out any that were expired.  I spent a long time talking and texting with Eo about the herbs that I didn't know the specifics of. While at home during the early evening, I spent some time chatting with Scott about resources, too.  It's kind of fun to be getting back into the medic swing, even though I feel positively ancient around this crew.

I tried to find my friend Benny, who was somewhere sleeping, but couldn't. Luckily, I found Richard, and a nice hallway room to sleep in. But before we went to sleep, it got loud. This turned out to be because the Assembly, which had taken a brief break to caucus, had come back into the hearing room, and they were broadcasting it on the televisions in the rotunda.  Any place that was open to the rotunda was incredibly loud, so we moved to a stairwell/elevator area, which was at least a bit quieter.  I had a very hard time sleeping, mostly because my brain was firing so fast, and I was trying to make out some of what the debate was about.

This was also the day when some new state troopers from somewhere upstate (I want to say Green Bay) were there. I'd heard from friends who had woken up in the Capitol that morning that the new troopers were a bit more confrontational than the Capitol Police had been.  They were more standoffish, for sure, and I wondered what they'd heard before coming down.  In the morning, around 6am, they came through and told us we had to leave that wing. I realized that without thinking, we'd ended up in the South Wing, which, as of Tuesday, is one of the wings that is closed to the public during the day.

Wednesday:
Though it was only yesterday, it feels very blurry, so I'll try to keep this accurate.

The first big news of the day was that a blogger named Ian Murphy, upon hearing that no one was able to speak with Governor Walker, decided to see if he would speak to a campaign contributor. So, he called Walker's office, pretending to be David Koch. Walker took the call, and Murphy recorded it.  A story with links to the video is at http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_7f7b33ce-3f6e-11e0-b629-001cc4c002e0.html.

A more analytical article is at http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/wisconsin-scott-walker-koch-prank.

The Governor's spokesperson issued a somewhat bland and pathetic statement on the issue: http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/February11/0223/0223walkerphone.pdf.  And then, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin issued *their* pathetic statement: http://www.wisdems.org/news/press/view/2011-02-scott-walker-his-masters-voice.

The major ethical concerns that have been raised are: Is Walker doing political favors for those who gave money to his campaign, and is that an ethics violation? He says he thought about hiring people to make trouble at the protests, which is pretty sketchy. And, he talks about trying to lure the Democrat Senators back to WI.

Now, in the meantime, there has been some back and forth regarding whether the state troopers can legally be sent after the Senate Dems, but the Senate keeps sending them out, anyway. But that falls into Thursday's news.

On Wednesday, the Assembly continued meeting to debate the Budget Repair Bill. This consisted mostly of the Democrats offering amendments, which were then discussed, put to vote, and then tabled.  They started at 11am on Tuesday...and were still going strong when Wednesday ended.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, they voted the Voter ID Bill (one of the most restrictive in the country) into final stage, which means it can no longer be amended. They can't take a final vote, though, because it is a fiscal bill, and thus requires at least 1 more Senator present.

Most of the news all day continued to be about the prank phone call and the related ethics issues. It surfaced that the Koch brothers recently increased their lobbying presence in Madison, and a rally outside that office was planned for Thursday. Info about the opening of their office is at http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_7e8aa25a-3ec0-11e0-9923-001cc4c03286.html.

The other major, related, thing that happened on Wednesday was that newspapers started reporting that school districts were being urged to issue preliminary layoff notices.  The original directive from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) is at http://www.wasb.org/test/assets/URGENT_MESSAGE_FOR_DISTRICT_ADMINISTRATORS_AND_BOARD_PRESIDENTS.pdf. Basically, school districts are required to notify teachers of layoffs for the following school year by March 15th which means that a preliminary notice (15 days before) must be issued by February 28th.  Generally, school districts and unions are able to work together to extend this date - since schools want to wait until they know the budget before deciding on layoffs, and unions don't want people getting laid off. It's a perfect example of how unions benefit everyone.  With the current budget bills, though, school districts do not know what their budgets will be, nor do they know what their collective bargaining situation will be, so WASB is encouraging them to stick by their deadlines.  This has led, on Thursday, to many districts issuing layoff notices for substantial amounts of staff. Newspaper articles are at  http://lacrossetribune.com/news/state-and-regional/wi/article_0e2ac9a2-3f53-11e0-9292-001cc4c03286.html and http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/116707129.html.   

That's really all I can remember from yesterday.  It's getting late, so I'll just write some bullet points about Thursday, to be filled out in a new note tomorrow.

* Lots of districts issued layoff notices, including Fitzgerald's wife
* State troopers sent to retrieve Senate Dems from their homes where they are reportedly returning at night
* Questions arise about constitutionality of sending state troopers after the senators
* Questions arise about the ethics of Walker's phone call with "David Koch"; Government Accountability Board issues statement
* Madison Police Chief expresses concern about Walker's statements about bringing in troublemakers.
* Rally outside of Koch lobbying office
* Assembly continues to debate the Budget Repair Bill - as of right now, they have been going for 58 hours, voting down Dem amendments (eventually, they limited the number of amendments the Dems could submit, and limited the time of debate to about 10 minutes, though often went over). They are currently figuring out whether to vote, I believe.
* Huge day of protest around the state.

There continues to be a strange flow of information: things get really big really quickly, with little substantiation, and then we move on. For example, the statement that the Governor created the budget deficit continues to be brought up in opinion pieces, but is no longer a major piece of the outrage (mostly because it has been largely debunked).

Anyway, that's it for now. Again, WiscPolitics, The Wheeler Report, and the Daily Page Liveblog are your friends.  Your very good friends who you are slightly dependent on.   As usual, feel free to share this info.  it's not my best analytical work, but I'm tired :)

What's Happening in Wisconsin, Sunday to Tuesday Version

The weekend was busy and slow: I was out of town, and the weather in Madison was bad. And it was a Sunday. And then it was a Monday, and things were BIG, but I was on a plane. And then I jumped right back in on Tuesday and haven't had any time to collect links, explain, etc.

Sunday: From what I gather, things were slower on Sunday. The weather was bad, so people were mostly indoors. The Tea Party was gone, and didn't come back, though I imagine most of them weren't working (there's this thing called "the weekend" that was invented by the unions, and co-opted by the rest of us, just like we tend to co-opt other union benefits and then get mad at unions for having them).

Monday: Monday was, conveniently enough, a furlough day for many state workers. Madison Metro School District was also closed due to teacher absences, and Milwaukee Public Schools had the day off for some sort of pre-arranged break.  It sounds like the action was big, but the legislature wasn't in session.  In the evening, one of the leads from Rage Against the Machine played a concert at Monona Terrace, which I was sad to miss...but my flight was delayed (and also, while most people seem to have spent Sunday catching up on sleep & laundry, I did not).

One of the most exciting actions of Monday was that the Firefighters slept in the Capitol. I gather it was about 40 of them, including the president of, I believe, the WI Chapter.  As a reminder to those who aren't living this 24/7, police and firefighters are exempt from the collective bargaining sections of the Budget Repair Bill. There are theories about why this is (because they tend to be more conservative? because they supported Walker? because Walker wants law enforcement on his side?), but for all the theories, the important part is that the firefighters union has seen through that. They are aware that they will eventually be targeted. More importantly, they believe that union means standing together.  Firefighters have been there every day, in uniform, with bagpipes, with signs identifying where they are from.

Another, less exciting, thing that happened on Monday was The Daily Show. I'd been really hoping that Jon Stewart would pick up on this; he's done some great things with protests in the past.  Finally, he sent John Oliver out...and they proceeded to do some sort of section involving a camel. Camels are not Wisconsin-winter adapted. Nor are they props. I'm not sure who the handlers were, but the camel got its legs stuck in a fence and fell, and there is video of the whole thing.  I have not yet watched that Daily Show episode, but I believe it aired on Monday 2/21. The video of the camel (please complain to Comedy Central) is at http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=32394.

Another less exciting thing from Monday: News broke that the WLEA (Wisconsin Law Enforcement Association) (http://wlea.org/) issued a statement of regret for backing Walker in the elections. It later turned out that what had actually happened was that the leader had issued a statement, based on a different (non-union) organization.  Apparently, the WLEA is going through some in-fighting because some of its members will lose collective bargaining through this bill (state troopers, for example) and others (police) will maintain those rights.

Tuesday: Both the Senate and the Assembly reconvened on Tuesday. In the early morning, police presence was increased at the Capitol - about 600 new officers/state troopers/etc were brought in from around the state. This created a slightly more tense situation between law enforcement and protesters, but as far as I know, no major problems.  There *is* an off-site staging area (one reliable source says it is currently at Alliant).

The Senate is able to take up non-fiscal bills - it is only fiscal bills which require a larger quorum.  They have said they won't divide the Budget Repair Bill into multiple parts, so that they can vote on the collective bargaining language separately from the fiscal parts, but it's not clear if this will turn out to be true. Several of the bills they took up were minor: a resolution regarding the Packers, the appointment of a new head of DCF (Dept of Children & Families - I haven't done much research, but my understanding is that, like most of Walker's appointees, she is not particularly in favor of some of the government programs she'll be overseeing), and their Elections Committee voted to move forward on a very restrictive Voter ID bill. Oh, and they repealed a Racial Profiling law.  So, basically, since they couldn't crush unions or healthcare for poor people, they decided to enforce racism.

The Assembly took up the budget bill. First, though, they put into place some security measures, restricting access to certain parts of the Capitol and setting up metal detectors to enter the Assembly Gallery. They also announced restrictions on behavior in the Assembly hearing room (I'm not sure if these are general rules, or special rules). The announcement is at http://wseusepac.blogspot.com/2011/02/security-details-for-tuesdays-assembly.html.

The Democrats introduced many many many (at least 100) amendments.  As of writing this, the Assembly is still meeting (it is 10pm on Wednesday night; they started at 11am on Tuesday morning). So far, many of the amendments have been tabled. One that has, as far as I know, passed, will require Joint Financial Committee some oversight over the sale of the power plants. However, it can still be a no-bid sale.

Another big thing that happened on Tuesday was that the TA Association (TAA)'s protest website (http://defendwisconsin.org/) was not accessible using the state's internet connection.  This led to an uproar, which the media and the Democrats seized on.  The Department of Administration very promptly had their software vendor unblock the site.  As someone who works for the state, I can attest to some of the *weird* workings of the software they use to block websites. I've had some very innocuous sites blocked on me before. DOA's explanation was that their software blocks all new sites. At the moment, I am not able to find the news story that I read about this, but I will try to search tomorrow or later in the week.

On a side note: It seems that we've reached the stage in the protests where everyone is very excitable, and fact-checking and rational brains sometimes get pushed aside until later. This worries me because that's a prime atmosphere for things to boil over - whether internally or whether pushed by the powers that be.

Finally, there was communication from The Government:
The Office of State Employment Relations (OSER) released a Q&A for state workers regarding what's happening to our jobs.  It is found at http://oser.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid=7209. I believe this was the first official communication that explained what will happen to us when our contracts end, and when our collective bargaining ends. It's not about the money...but it certainly is helpful to know what the financial impact will be. (Short version: I can no longer use my health insurance to lure a good spouse).   

And, Governor Walker said that if the Budget Repair Bill doesn't pass by Friday, they will begin to layoff 1,500 state employees beginning next week. The initial story is at http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_551d34c2-3e8f-11e0-8f91-001cc4c03286.html.  Theoretically, this is because Friday would b the deadline to refinance the state's debt (a major part of the Budget Repair Bill, and one of the pieces I understand the least; financing is confusing enough to me that re-financing just loses me). Today there are more articles about the truth of this, but I'm not up to that yet.

That mostly covers through Tuesday afternoon. I've been writing for way too long, so I'm going to stop.  Tomorrow, there will be Tuesday night through Thursday, and I'll try to re-compile some useful links. In the meantime, I've been sourcing a  lot from:

http://www.thewheelerreport.com/ (has press releases on EVERYTHING by EVERYONE, as well as tons of legislative links)

http://wiscpolitics.com/ (unfortunately, the archives aren't free, but they do have a great budget blog at http://budget.wispolitics.com/)

http://www.thedailypage.com/walker

See you in the streets! Drink plenty of water, remember to do rumor control, and try to stay calm. We can keep fighting this thing, even though it is multidimensional.

And as usual, feel free to share this, and any other, notes I write about this stuff.

What's Happening in Wisconsin, Friday and Saturday Version

Hello again, friends & family,

I'm writing from Boulder, CO, where I'm visiting with my wonderful old roommates Mark and Melissa. It was painfully hard to leave Madison, but this trip has been planned for a while.

I went to work via the metro bus on Friday morning. While standing and waiting for the bus, around 9:45am (I went in late so that I could catch up on sleep and pack for this trip), about 8 buses, both cheese buses (that's school buses, for you WI folks) and charter buses, passed me, all packed with protesters heading to the Capitol. I figured that my bus would be pretty empty, since it was late...but...it was packed! When the doors open, a woman shouted "Kill the Bill" and most of the people on the bus were teachers heading downtown. Plus, an off-duty Metro driver, who pointed out that if Walker does what he's planning to do, Metro Transit will lose a ton of money and there won't be nearly as much bus service.

As has become my custom, I went down to the Capitol during my "lunch".  It was packed, absolutely packed. Inside, the Capitol Police were restricting access to the ground level because it was so full. I went up to the 1st floor, and eventually the 2nd floor, and it was the most full I've seen the building all week.  There were plenty of people outside, to - the estimate was 35,000 inside, 5,000 outside. The national AFL-CIO president spoke, as did a bunch of other folks. Sadly, I had to go back to work.

I stopped by after work for a few minutes before catching my bus to the airport.  For the first time all week (shocking!) people sang "Solidarity Forever" (well, the chorus) inside the building, and as I was waiting for my bus, I could hear them singing it outside, too.

The Senate Democrats were still in hiding in Illinois. The Repubs called on them to "do their jobs", to which many of us say, "They are doing exactly what we elected them to do". And some of us also add "How come when you left the hearing at 3am on Tuesday night, you didn't listen when we said *you* weren't doing your jobs?"

In the afternoon, several union leaders, including Marty Beil (from my union, WSEU - AFSCME Council 24), and Mary Bell (from the teachers' union) offered to Walker that we would be willing to agree to the increases in health insurance and pension contributions, if we retained our collective bargaining rights. Walker and Fitzgerald (Senate Repub - there are 2 Fitzgeralds, one in the Assembly, one in the Senate, and yes, they are brothers, and yes, they are both horrible) refused to accept those terms. This is being taken by many as a clear sign that the intent of this bill is union-busting.

I'm actually relieved that these terms weren't accepted, because just as this is not about wages, it is also not only about unions.  This bill would also grant broad powers to the head of the Department of Health Services (a man who doesn't believe that WI should participate in the federal Medicaid program) and the Governor to create rules regarding Medicaid...regardless of what laws are currently in place. This will result in many people, people who desperately need it, losing their health care. We're talking low-income people, people with disabilities, women, people of color. Basically, the opposite of who voted for Walker.

Plus, those who've been reading the bill carefully (I confess that I have not) have pointed out that it reads:
SECTION 32. 16.765 (2) Except with respect to sexual orientation, the contractor further agrees to take affirmative action to ensure equal employment opportunities. ( http://legis.wisconsin.gov/JR1SB-11.pdf)  So, this is about equality in general, and maintaining the rights of a wide swath of people in this state.

The State Assembly decided to take up the bill on Friday afternoon. They were to convene at 5pm. A few minutes before 5pm, all the Republicans assembled, and convened the session without the Democrats (they hold enough majority in the Assembly that this is possible). They began a vote to move the bill towards final passage, meaning no more amendments. The Democrats all arrived at 5pm (as scheduled) midway through the vote, and got a little annoyed. Eventually, the Speaker (Fitzgerald - R, the other one from the one previously mentioned) agreed that they had violated the rules, and adjourned the Assembly until Tuesday at 10am, giving more time for amendments to be offered.

More people spent the night in the Capitol that night, and there was a lot of focus on the need to keep Saturday peaceful.  Saturday, today, was when the Tea Party was schedule to show up.

It sounds like there were somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 people present today, all told, including a few thousand Tea Partiers. Things were kept entirely peaceful - so peaceful, in fact, that the Madison Police Department issued a thank-you press release: http://www.cityofmadison.com/news/view.cfm?news_id=2512

To be sure, the Capitol Police did restrict access to the Capitol today in order to maintain safe limits, but it sounds like they allowed more people in than had been there on previous days.

The theme of the Tea Party rally was supposed to be about "cleaning up", and in response, it sounds like protesters organized into cleaning brigades to make the Capitol building and grounds look spotless. On the downside, there is now a Tea Party effort to recall several Democrat Senators. It's critically important to work with people in those districts at this point, to make sure these recall efforts do not go through, or to make sure there are progressive candidates available.

According to some sources, doctors set up a booth on the square to write medical notes excusing those teachers who were out sick earlier this week (districts have said that unless they can prove medical reasons, they cannot use sick time).

It also sounds like people have organized food, regular cleaning in the building, and a phone bank. I'm pretty impressed, given that it seems like a lot of the people involved are not seasoned protesters. The one thing that seems to really be lacking is a good communications system. There are a number of Twitter hashtags, and a few live blogs, but nothing from any centralized location where rumors can be verified.  And the unions, for the most part, don't seem to be much better. I kind of want to volunteer to help my union get more more into the technology that can really drive actions like this. But first, I'll need to learn the twitter :)

Other events of note: On Thursday or Friday, articles started circulating which reminded people that Hitler signs are never okay! Very exciting, since I'm still busy being annoyed by the Mubarak signs. Which are also not okay. More on that, maybe tomorrow.

It has also been pointed out by a number of sources, including Politifact, that the statement that Walker created the deficit is not entirely true. This is partially because many people are assuming that the 1+million in tax cuts to businesses take effect during this budget, but they don't - they aren't active until the 2011-2013 biennium. So, hold the blame on those until July 1 :)

Looking forward:
Tomorrow, Sunday, the weather is expected to get really bad. Snow, wind, rain, cold. The Capitol will be warm, but I'm hopeful that people will bundle up and take care of themselves outside.


Also on Sunday, Disability Advocates will be holding a press conference at 1:00 pm Sunday, Feb 29, 2011
at the Senior Center at 330 West Mifflin St.

On Monday, there is....A STATE MANDATED FURLOUGH DAY!
The timing is brilliant. There will be a multi-union meeting at 10 or 10:30am. I'm not sure quite where, since I've now heard a few different locations. Then a march to the Capitol.

Buses continue to run from all around the state.

Madison teachers have said they will be back at work on Tuesday, but perhaps more of us will walk out? I'm remaining hopeful....

I'm sure I'm forgetting other important things, but this is what I've got now.  For those just tuning in, see my previous note at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=461520893077.  That note outlines what exactly is going on, what we're fighting for, and how we ended up in this situation.

Still to come: some actual analysis, rather than just play-by-play.

To keep yourself informed:
The best live feed I've found is at http://thedailypage.com/walker. Click on the "live feed".
There are two major politics sites here: http://thewheelerreport.com/ (has an archive), and http://wiscpolitics.com/
To watch the testimony: Wisconsin Eye is at http://wiseye.org/.
The major #tags seem to be #wiunion, #killthebill, #defendwisconsin, #wisolidarity.
For particular people to catch, Senator Jauch and Senator Taylor have been very eloquent and impassioned.
Local newspapers: http://madison.com/ and http;//jsonline.com.  Both have biases, but at least they are on the ground.
Rachel Maddow has apparently talked about us a lot, and said smart things. Check out her show.
Someone named Ed Schultz has filmed his show in Madison a few times this week.
There are tons of great photos and videos floating around the internet.

In closing, I will show you what got me a little teary the other day. I highly recommend watching this.  As a reminder, firefighters (as well as police) unions will retain full collective bargaining rights under the Budget Repair Bill...and yet, they are solidly with us, and have been every single day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXHqjOCxPxM

Oh, and one final thing. If you want to support the protesters but you can't come to Madison, you can order us pizza from Ian's Pizza at http://www.ianspizza.com/html/stateStreet.html.  They've shut down normal operations in order to provide pizza - they've had orders from all over the US, plus some international orders, including from Egypt.

Solidarity and pizza. What could be better?

What's Happening in Wisconsin

Dear friends and family,
In talking to some of you today, I gather that you are catching bits and pieces of this story on mainstream national media.  There are rumors that there is a violent protest happening here, or that we are fighting about our benefits, or that we are using children as human shields, or that public employees earn too much. Much of what's in the national media seems to be a bit distorted.

The current protests in Wisconsin are about the attempt of the Governor to strip workers of the right to collectively bargain, to consolidate power into his own hands, and to put hostile policy into a budget fix bill.

Last Friday, February 11, Governor Scott Walker (republican) sent an email to all state employees, stating that he was announcing his "Budget Repair Bill" to deal with a $137 million deficit in the 2009-2011 biennium. That email is http://wseu-sepac.org/political_walker_scott/legaction_peunions_letter_20110211_walker_stateemployees.pdf.

The press release about the bill is here: http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/February11/0211/0211walkerbudgetrepair.pdf.

As a "Budget Repair Bill", it is only intended to address the next 4 months. The full budget proposal for 2011-2013 will not be announced until next week, at earliest (currently, it is scheduled to be announced a private company instead of in a government building).

Later in the day, Walker announced that effective March 13, he was canceling the contract extensions to unions who's contracts have not been passed: http://wseu-sepac.org/political_walker_scott/legaction_peunions_letter_20110211_oser_terminationofcbaextensions.pdf (History: we have been working under a contract extension since 2009. A contract agreement was reached in December, and the democrats tried to push it through the legislature, but one democrat flipped his vote, and it failed).

Finally, Walker announced that he'd spoken with the National Guard, and that they were ready to step in if there was civil unrest. He claims that this just meant that they would fill in if corrections officers didn't show up to work, but the way his message was worded made it sound like pretty clear union intimidation.

The major issues in the bill (as I see them) are:
1) Removes collective bargaining rights: Under this proposal, all public employee unions (state, local, county) except certain law enforcement and fire departments, will only be able to bargain over wages, and increases will be limited to Consumer Price Index, or will require a referendum if higher.  Contracts will only be for ONE year. Each year, every union will need to take a vote of its members to remain certified. Employers would no longer collect dues, and members of the bargaining union would not be require to pay dues (currently, we all pay dues, regardless of whether we choose to join, since we are under the same contract). All of this is meant to weaken public employee unions.  Walker has a goal of making Wisconsin a "Right to Work" state. That may sound pretty cool...but what it actually means is that unions lose a tremendous amount of power, and workers lose a tremendous amount of protection.

Additionally (as if that wasn't enough!), University workers will lose the right to form unions.

2) Grants power to the Governor and the Director of the Department of Health Services (a governor-appointed position) to make changes to Medicaid....regardless of what current state laws are!  This removes power from our legislators to make laws...and in turn, takes power away from us as citizens to have our beliefs and opinions represented.

3) Public workers will be required to pay 50% of our pensions (about 5.8% of our salaries) - currently, we pay none. Public workers will also be required to pay 12% of health insurance premiums (currently, we pay about 6%).

4) Authorizes the governor to sell the state's power plants. This just seems like a bad idea.

5) There are a number of other worker-related provisions, all of which serve to decrease the amount that public employees earn, benefits, protections, etc.

All of this is being "sold" to us with the great deal that there won't be additional furloughs (in the next 4 months - no one knows what the next budget cycle will hold) or layoffs (this number started at 1,500, then moved to as many as 6,000, and then a senator was quoted as talking about averting 20,00 layoffs...).  We are unfortunately too smart to fall for that.

-----------

So of course, there was a response. There had to be, especially once he notified our unions that our contract extension would be up after 3/13/11. (New info as of today: According to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, those of us currently covered under contracts will become Civil Service, which means we will still have certain protections and grievance procedures, but no bargaining).

First, all the various officials responded. Check all that out at http://www.thewheelerreport.com/February11.htm and http://www.thewheelerreport.com/February14.htm.

Then the protests started. It started small, over the weekend, with protests at the Governor's house and downtown.

On Monday, University of Wisconsin students delivered Valentines to the Governor. Their theme was "I heart UW, don't break my heart".

On Monday afternoon, the Joint Financial Committee of the State Legislature announced that they would hold a hearing on the bill (pointing out that they believe in transparency, unlike the democrats who did the last budget bill without a hearing).  The hearing was to be held at 10am on Tuesday.

I got there at 10am on Tuesday, and there were probably 100-200 people standing in line to get into the hearing room, plus the room was full.  People who didn't want to speak could register their opposition by filling out a slip of paper - we tried to encourage people to do this option even if they didn't want to go to the hearing itself. The hearing was telecast in the Capitol Rotunda, and it was packed in there, too.

The hearing went until 3am, when the republicans on the committee left. However, the democrats stayed and continued to hear testimony. It is now Thursday night and they are STILL at the Capitol, hearing testimony after about 60 hours.

Also on Tuesday, the unions organized buses from around the state. An estimated 10,000 people were outside the Capitol, with about 3,000 inside. 800 students walked out from East High School and marched the 2.5 miles to the Capitol to join the protest.

When Tuesday night came, and the hearing was still going, people decided to stay at the Capitol. People brought pillows and blankets, and camped out. (I did not go to any of the overnight bits because I am already exhausted from this week, and needed the sleep).  WEAC, which is the largest teachers union in the state, with 98,000 members, encouraged teachers to call in sick on Wednesday. By 11:30pm, the Madison Metro School District had 40% of teachers calling in, and decided to cancel school.

On Wednesday morning, the union buses returned. They were joined by tons of teachers, and tons of students who were off from school - including even more high school students than the previous day.  The estimates on numbers were more varied, but consensus seems to be that between 20,000 and 30,000 people were there, inside and outside of the Capitol.

In the evening, the Joint Financial Committee convened in "executive session" (meaning, no testimony from citizens) to vote on the Budget Repair Bill. A few tiny amendments were made - the only one of substance being that LTEs can still have health insurance and pensions (but that's probably only because LTEs are how the state gets around needing to spend real money on permanent positions).  Some of the questions were quite brilliant, and some of the commentary, as well.

At the same time, I believe Wisconsin was featured on the Rachel Maddow Show, and I've heard she did a great job. I haven't had time to watch it, though!

Late on Wednesday night, the Joint Finance Committee voted (along party lines) to approve the bill, and sent it to the state Senate.

Protesters continued to camp out at the Capitol.  The UW Teaching Assistant Union (http://www.taa-madison.org/) announced a walk-out from the University to be held on Thursday at 10am.  And, anticipating more teachers calling in sick, Madison Metro School District announced it would be closed on Thursday.

Reports started to surface that Walker actually inherited a surplus, and that his actions led to the currently deficit.  I have not had a chance to read this info yet, but the sources are:
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/article_61064e9a-27b0-5f28-b6d1-a57c8b2aaaf6.html
and
http://buckyville.yuku.com/topic/39425/Walker-himself-caused-the-deficit?page=-1
(NOTE: As of posting this to blog, rather than Facebook, on 3/14/11, this has been de-bunked. Walker did NOT create the deficit, and his tax credits for businesses don't go into affect until the 2011-2013 biennium)

Thursday, which is today, the unions decided to run MORE buses (originally, they were just bringing people down on Tuesday and Wednesday, but that has been extended through Friday). There was talk of both teach-outs and walk-outs at the UW.

By the time I got to work, about 2 dozen school districts were closed. Some were closed due to "sick-outs", while others were closed for "fog advisory". Yes, it was foggy this morning but really? Fog? GO SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND SCHOOL BOARDS!!!!!  Almost every district around Madison was closed, plus some large ones from other parts of the state (Eau Claire, Wausau, Racine). Unfortunately, the Milwaukee Public Schools, the largest system, did not shut, and as far as I know, most teachers reported to work.

The protest today were agreed to be larger than the previous days.  At 11am, the State Senate was called into session to vote on the bill. There are 19 republicans, but the quorum is 20 Senators in order to pass a bill.  The Democrats didn't show up. Actually, they left the building. Then they left Madison. Then they left Wisconsin.  The republicans tried to send State Troopers to retrieve them, but since they were out of state, that didn't really work too well. Amazingly, two Republicans ALSO left.  I haven't yet heard which ones, unfortunately.  As of 11:55pm on Thursday, the Senate Dems are still in hiding (apparently in safe places) outside of Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, the Assembly Democrats wore orange shirts with a message about supporting Wisconsin workers and families.  They spoke at the lunchtime rally. They continued to hear testimony from citizens.  They spoke at the evening rally.

Today was the first day of arrests. 5 members/staff of my union, AFSCME (WSEU Council 24) were arrested for disrupting an Assembly hearing. Some others committed Civil Disobedience by blocking the doors to hearing rooms and offices.

People are still camped out in the Capitol, and when I left at 10:15pm, things were going strong. It looks like the majority of the Capitol overnight is university students. During the day, there's a ton of high school students.  It's great to see a student and teacher movement, and it's especially impressive to see so many high school students making the connection between workers rights and their lives.  I do wish my union was a little more actively involved; I don't want to sick-out without the backing of a union, but I am starting to feel like shutting down the government is going to be the only way to stop this.

One of the most inspiring things has been the other unions that have been out there with us - many private sector unions have been showing their support, and we all recognize that the removal of collective bargaining from public employee unions will have a huge impact on unions in all sectors, and eventually, around the country.  The law enforcement and firefighters have been AMAZING.  They are exempt from the collective bargaining portions of this bill, and yet, they recognize that we are all in this together. The firefighters have been there every day, in uniform, with bagpipes, etc.  Lots of police and state troopers have come by, and even the law enforcement that is working at the protest, has been calm, respectful, and friendly.  Many of us have been trying to thank them for that.

Okay.  That's the bill, in a very large nutshell. This weekend, I will try to do some more analysis of the situation for folks.

Other important things to know about our recent history:
Walker wanted to reallocate our $800 million in High Speed Rail funding...or turn it down. The Federal government took the money back before he even took office officially. There are now rumors that he may want to turn back our Title 1 money, too.

In the last few days, there have been rumors of what's to come in the main budget bill next week. Possibilities include: splitting UW-Madison from the rest of the UW system, reducing school aid money by $900 million, and unknown labor provisions.

Walker's slogan is "Open for Business", and in his first month, he put into effect a number of tax credits and other financial incentives for private businesses to open here...

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To keep yourself informed:
The best live feed I've found is at http://thedailypage.com/walker. Click on the "live feed".
There are two major politics sites here: http://thewheelerreport.com/ (has an archive), and http://wiscpolitics.com/
To watch the testimony: Wisconsin Eye is at http://wiseye.org/.
The major #tags seem to be #wiunion, #killthebill, #defendwisconsin, #wisolidarity.
For particular people to catch, Senator Jauch and Senator Taylor have been very eloquent and impassioned.
Local newspapers: http://madison.com/ and http;//jsonline.com.  Both have biases, but at least they are on the ground.
Rachel Maddow has apparently talked about us a lot, and said smart things. Check out her show.
There are tons of great photos and videos floating around the internet.

Coverage beyond WI so far has been on CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, Guardian (UK), BBC, NPR, NYTimes, BoingBoing, etc. Jon Stewart still hasn't been here, though...

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It's quite late, so I'm not going to proofread this, and I'm sure I'm missing major points.

Please feel free to ask if you have questions, or add information if you have some links handy.

-Rek

Info from Leah's Dad

Last night, I had a conversation with Leah's Dad. He is a lawyer, and worked for the legislature for a long time. I asked him some questions about the current stuff, and here's some useful bits:

1) Clarification: this is the Budget Repair Plan. The stipulations regarding pension, health insurance, furlough (no additional), etc, are until the end of this biennium (June 30). Obviously, the parts about collective bargaining, changing Medicaid, etc, will still affect the next biennium (and the one after, and the one after)

Walker has not yet unveiled his budget plan; we should look for it at the end of this month, or the beginning of next. The things that are promised now, may not be part of that plan.

What this probably means is that we won't have to take MORE furlough that we are currently supposed to, through the end of the FY, but next FY, who knows how much we'll be required to take.

2) As far as we know, any money that has already been put in the pension system (for example, if you are an LTE) remains there.

3) March 13th (aka, contract termination day): Walker may not have the right to cancel our contracts effective March 13. The way contracts work is that the terms of the previous contract apply until a new one is signed. So, this will probably get challenged.  Because of this, it is EXTRA IMPORTANT to go vote tomorrow, and get Prosser off the Supreme Court!

In the meantime, if we are without a contract, that makes us at-will employees. It is not clear who will have the power to fire - it may be the "agency head" (confusing for teachers - is that the superintendent? the principal? the school board?), or it may be Walker, or something in between.

4) The effect on local governments is going to be HUGE. City of Madison employees, and Dane County employees, have already signed 4 year contracts. If this Budget Repair Plan passes, the state will not be required to fund local governments at the same rate that they have been....but these local governments will be locked into paying based on the terms of the contracts. (For example, the state may only give Madison X amount for staff health insurance, since employees are now supposed to contribute a larger percentage...but Madison can't just switch out of its contract, so it will take the hit)

5) There will be a public hearing tomorrow at 10am, on the 4th floor of the Capital. Go, get there early.  Speak if you want - keep it very brief. Put your comments in writing so they can be entered into the official record.

6) No one seems to really know what the Health Risk Assessments are, but they probably can't charge different rates for individuals depending on their health. However, it does seem like they are going to be trying to cut health insurance costs, which may be less comprehensive coverage.

7) Leah's Dad says, as a parent "be careful".  Don't get too visible; we don't really know what's happening, don't jeopardize your job.

8) There was an article in the Wisconsin State Journal yesterday that tracked the history of unions, especially public employee unions, in Wisconsin. Read it. Familiarize yourself with it. We're a state of firsts, and that can be used in the argument against this bill.

In conclusion: go to the hearing tomorrow, go to the rally tomorrow, go lobby tomorrow, go VOTE tomorrow.

Note: this is NOT legal advice. I may have transcribed things wrong, and he was not giving me the legal answer to these things, just what people seem to be able to tell so far.