Wisconsin is the New Egypt

[Sparky speaks]

Why America's teachers are enraged

By Diane Ravitch

 

Editor's note: Diane Ravitch is a historian of education and the author of the best seller "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education."

 

(CNN) -- Thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters and other public sector workers have camped out at the Wisconsin Capitol, protesting Republican Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reduce their take-home pay -- by increasing their contribution to their pension plans and health care benefits -- and restrict their collective bargaining rights.

 

Republicans control the state Legislature, and initially it seemed certain that Walker's proposal would pass easily. But then the Democrats in the Legislature went into hiding, leaving that body one vote shy of a quorum. As of this writing, the Legislature was at a standstill as state police searched high and low for the missing lawmakers.

 

Like other conservative Republican governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Rick Scott of Florida, the Wisconsin governor wants to sap the power of public employee unions, especially the teachers' union, since public education is the single biggest expenditure for every state.

 

Public schools in Madison and a dozen other districts in Wisconsin closed as teachers joined the protest. Although Walker claims he was forced to impose cutbacks because the state is broke, teachers noticed that he offered generous tax breaks to businesses that were equivalent to the value of their givebacks.

 

The uprising in Madison is symptomatic of a simmering rage among the nation's teachers. They have grown angry and demoralized over the past two years as attacks on their profession escalated.

 

The much-publicized film "Waiting for 'Superman'" made the specious claim that "bad teachers" caused low student test scores. A Newsweek cover last year proposed that the key to saving American education was firing bad teachers.

 

Teachers across the nation reacted with alarm when the leaders of the Central Falls district in Rhode Island threatened to fire the entire staff of the small town's only high school. What got their attention was that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama thought this was a fine idea, even though no one at the high school had been evaluated.

 

The Obama administration's Race to the Top program intensified the demonizing of teachers, because it encouraged states to evaluate teachers in relation to student scores. There are many reasons why students do well or poorly on tests, and teachers felt they were being unfairly blamed when students got low scores, while the crucial role of families and the students themselves was overlooked.Teachers' despair deepened last August when The Los Angeles Times rated 6,000 teachers in Los Angeles as effective or ineffective, based on their students' test scores, and posted these ratings online. Testing experts warn that such ratings are likely to be both inaccurate and unstable, but the Times stood by its analysis.

 

Now conservative governors and mayors want to abolish teachers' right to due process, their seniority, and -- in some states -- their collective bargaining rights. Right-to-work states do not have higher scores than states with strong unions. Actually, the states with the highest performance on national tests are Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, and New Hampshire, where teachers belong to unions that bargain collectively for their members.

Unions actively lobby to increase education funding and reduce class size, so conservative governors who want to slash education spending feel the need to reduce their clout. This silences the best organized opposition to education cuts.

 

There has recently been a national furor about school reform. One must wonder how it is possible to talk of improving schools while cutting funding, demoralizing teachers, cutting scholarships to college, and increasing class sizes.

 

The real story in Madison is not just about unions trying to protect their members' hard-won rights. It is about teachers who are fed up with attacks on their profession. A large group of National Board Certified teachers -- teachers from many states who have passed rigorous examinations by an independent national board -- is organizing a march on Washington in July. The events in Madison are sure to multiply their numbers.

 

As the attacks on teachers increase and as layoffs grow, there are likely to be more protests like the one that has mobilized teachers and their allies and immobilized the Wisconsin Legislature.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/20/ravitch.teachers.blamed/index.html?hpt=Sbin

[LouieB]

Exactly. Workers have already agreed to all economic concessions. This bill is about breaking the union as much as it is about balancing the budget.

This is also going on in Ohio and Indiana and perhaps several other places that have not yet gotten the publicity that Wisconsin has. When you consider that the concessions have already been agreed to, then all that is left is busting the unions for good.

 

LouieB

[lost highway]

Deficit reduction has now replaced 'Fighting terrorism' as the grab bag people can put their own agenda on. Walker hates unions so he uses a current event to mount an attack.

 

Somehow the same people freaked out about our deficit want to keep the Fed Gov funding Nascar, yet they want to cut funding for PBS.

 

The damndest thing about all of these recent issues is how rarely the main stream media discusses how much something costs/saves in relation to the budget with both a dollar sign and a percentage. Americans have to read publications like the Economist to obtain simple, accessible, proportional knowledge that can illuminate budgetary efficacy.

[virtualreason]

Out of curiosity, would there be any chance that someone makes this a referendum on the April ballot? With such a polarizing issue, why not put it to the public and let the majority rule?

 

I understand we have elected officials to make these decisions for us, however, this issue seems to be ripping the state apart. In my eyes, a public vote would put the issue to bed once and for all.

 

Does this make me sound incredibly idealistic?

 

Also, Beltmann, as a Wauwatosa native and the son of a South Milwaukee teacher/union representative and an MPS music teacher, I can understand your pain.

[Beltmann]

Also, Beltmann, as a Wauwatosa native and the son of a South Milwaukee teacher/union representative and an MPS music teacher, I can understand your pain.

Thank you, virtualreason. My wife is a teacher as well, which means we will be double hit by this bill. There is a very strong likelihood that we will have to sell our (modest) house after this bill passes. We have always lived extremely frugally, but the crushing debt of multiple graduate programs--all done in the hopes of eventual return on investment--has made it difficult to make ends meet. This bill will make it nearly impossible.

[Good Old Neon]

Scott Walker gets pranked, and, with any luck, finds himself deep in the shit (from what I've read, this is %100 legit)

 

From Buffalobest.com:

 

Koch Whore

 

Posted by Murphy On February - 23 - 2011

 

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker answers his master’s call

 

“David Koch”: We’ll back you any way we can. What we were thinking about the crowd was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.

 

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: You know, well, the only problem with that—because we thought about that…

 

***

 

whores

 

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS IS REAL. NO NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT. THERE ARE NO INNOCENT.

-MURPHY

 

***

 

“He’s just hard-lined—will not talk, will not communicate, will not return phone calls.”

-Wisconsin state Sen. Tim Carpenter (D) on Gov. Walker (source)

 

Carpenter’s quote made me wonder: who could get through to Gov. Walker? Well, what do we know about Walker and his proposed union-busting, no-bid budget? The obvious candidate was David Koch.

 

I first called at 11:30 am CST, and eventually got through to a young, male receptionist who, upon hearing the magic name Koch, immediately transferred me to Executive Assistant Governor Dorothy Moore.

 

“We’ve met before, Dorothy,” I nudged. “I really need to talk to Scott—Governor Walker.” She said that, yes, she thought she had met Koch, and that the name was “familiar.” But she insisted that Walker was detained in a meeting and couldn’t get away. She asked about the nature of my call. I balked, “I just needed to speak with the Governor. He knows what this is about,” I said. She told me to call back at noon, and she’d have a better idea of when he would be free.

 

I called at noon and was quickly transferred to Moore, who then transferred me to Walker’s Chief of Staff Keith Gilkes. He was “expecting my call.”

 

“David!” he said with an audible smile.

 

I politely said hello, not knowing how friendly Gilkes and Koch may be. He was eager to help. “I was really hoping to talk directly to Scott,” I said. He said that could be arranged and that I should just leave my number. I explained to Gilkes, “My goddamn maid, Maria, put my phone in the washer. I’d have her deported, but she works for next to nothing.” Gilkes found this amusing. “I’m calling from the VOID—with the VOID, or whatever it’s called. You know, the Snype!”

 

“Gotcha,” Gilkes said. “Let me check the schedule here…OK, there’s an opening at 2 o’clock Central Standard Time. Just call this same number and we’ll put you through.”

 

Could it really be that easy? Yes. What follows is a rushed, abridged transcript of my—I mean, David Koch’s conversation with Gov. Walker.

 

Walker: Hi; this is Scott Walker.

 

Koch: Scott! David Koch. How are you?

 

Walker: Hey, David! I’m good. And yourself?

 

Koch: I’m very well. I’m a little disheartened by the situation there, but, uh, what’s the latest?

 

Walker: Well, we’re actually hanging pretty tough. I mean—you know, amazingly there’s a much smaller group of protesters—almost all of whom are in from other states today. The State Assembly is taking the bill up—getting it all the way to the last point it can be at where it’s unamendable. But they’re waiting to pass it until the Senate’s—the Senate Democrats, excuse me, the assembly Democrats have about a hundred amendments they’re going through. The state Senate still has the 14 members missing but what they’re doing today is bringing up all sorts of other non-fiscal items, many of which are things members in the Democratic side care about. And each day we’re going to ratchet it up a little bit…. The Senate majority leader had a great plan he told about this morning—he told the Senate Democrats about and he’s going to announce it later today, and that is: The Senate organization committee is going to meet and pass a rule that says if you don’t show up for two consecutive days on a session day—in the state Senate, the Senate chief clerk—it’s a little procedural thing here, but—can actually have your payroll stopped from being automatically deducted—

 

Koch: Beautiful.

 

Walker: —into your checking account and instead—you still get a check, but the check has to be personally picked up and he’s instructing them—which we just loved—to lock them in their desk on the floor of the state Senate.

 

Koch: Now you’re not talking to any of these Democrat bastards, are you?

 

Walker: Ah, I—there’s one guy that’s actually voted with me on a bunch of things I called on Saturday for about 45 minutes, mainly to tell him that while I appreciate his friendship and he’s worked with us on other things, to tell him I wasn’t going to budge.

 

Koch: Goddamn right!

 

Walker: …his name is Tim Cullen—

 

Koch: All right, I’ll have to give that man a call.

 

Walker: Well, actually, in his case I wouldn’t call him and I’ll tell you why: he’s pretty reasonable but he’s not one of us…

 

Koch: Now who can we get to budge on this collective bargaining?

 

Walker: …I think the paycheck will have an impact…secondly, one of the things we’re looking at next…we’re still waiting on an opinion to see if the unions have been paying to put these guys up out of state. We think there’s at minimum an ethics violation if not an outright felony.

 

Koch: Well, they’re probably putting hobos in suits.

 

Walker: Yeah.

 

Koch: That’s what we do. Sometimes.

 

Walker: I mean paying for the senators to be put up. I know they’re paying for these guy—I mean, people can pay for protesters to come in and that’s not an ethics code, but, I mean, literally if the unions are paying the 14 senators—their food, their lodging, anything like that…[*** Important regarding his later acceptance of a Koch offer to “show him a good time.” ***]

 

[i was stunned. I am stunned. In the interest of expediting the release of this story, here are the juiciest bits:]

 

Walker: …I’ve got layoff notices ready…

 

Koch: Beautiful; beautiful. Gotta crush that union.

 

Walker: [bragging about how he doesn't budge]…I would be willing to sit down and talk to him, the assembly Democrat leader, plus the other two Republican leaders—talk, not negotiate and listen to what they have to say if they will in turn—but I’ll only do it if all 14 of them will come back and sit down in the state assembly…legally, we believe, once they’ve gone into session, they don’t physically have to be there. If they’re actually in session for that day, and they take a recess, the 19 Senate Republicans could then go into action and they’d have quorum…so we’re double checking that. If you heard I was going to talk to them that’s the only reason why. We’d only do it if they came back to the capital with all 14 of them…

 

Koch: Bring a baseball bat. That’s what I’d do.

 

Walker: I have one in my office; you’d be happy with that. I have a slugger with my name on it.

 

Koch: Beautiful.

 

Walker: [union-bashing...]

 

Koch: Beautiful.

 

Walker: So this is ground zero, there’s no doubt about it. [Talks about a “great” NYT piece of “objective journalism.” Talks about how most private blue-collar workers have turned against public, unionized workers.]…So I went through and called a handful, a dozen or so lawmakers I worry about each day and said, “Everyone, we should get that story printed out and send it to anyone giving you grief.”

 

Koch: Goddamn right! We, uh, we sent, uh, Andrew Breitbart down there.

 

Walker:Yeah.

 

Koch: Yeah.

 

Walker: Good stuff.

 

Koch: He’s our man, you know.

 

Walker: [blah about his press conferences, attacking Obama, and all the great press he's getting.] Brian [sadoval], the new Governor of Nevada, called me the last night he said—he was out in the Lincoln Day Circuit in the last two weekends and he was kidding me, he said, “Scott, don’t come to Nevada because I’d be afraid you beat me running for governor.” That’s all they want to talk about is what are you doing to help the governor of Wisconsin. I talk to Kasich every day—John’s gotta stand firm in Ohio. I think we could do the same thing with Vic Scott in Florida. I think, uh, Snyder—if he got a little more support—probably could do that in Michigan. You start going down the list there’s a lot of us new governors that got elected to do something big.

 

Koch: You’re the first domino.

 

Walker: Yep. This is our moment.

 

Koch: Now what else could we do for you down there?

 

Walker: Well the biggest thing would be—and your guy on the ground [Americans For Prosperity president Tim Phillips] is probably seeing this [stuff about all the people protesting, and some of them flip him off].

 

[Abrupt end of first recording, and start of second.]

 

Walker: [bullshit about doing the right thing and getting flipped off by “union bulls,” and the decreasing number of protesters. Or some such.]

 

Koch: We’ll back you any way we can. What we were thinking about the crowd was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.

 

Walker: You know, well, the only problem with that —because we thought about that. The problem—the, my only gut reaction to that is right now the lawmakers I’ve talked to have just completely had it with them, the public is not really fond of this…[explains that planting troublemakers may not work.] My only fear would be if there’s a ruckus caused is that maybe the governor has to settle to solve all these problems…[something about '60s liberals.]…Let ‘em protest all they want…Sooner or later the media stops finding it interesting.

 

Koch: Well, not the liberal bastards on MSNBC.

 

Walker: Oh yeah, but who watches that? I went on “Morning Joe” this morning. I like it because I just like being combative with those guys, but, uh. You know they’re off the deep end.

 

Koch: Joe—Joe’s a good guy. He’s one of us.

 

Walker: Yeah, he’s all right. He was fair to me…[bashes NY Senator Chuck Schumer, who was also on the program.]

 

Koch: Beautiful; beautiful. You gotta love that Mika Brzezinski; she’s a real piece of ass.

 

Walker: Oh yeah. [story about when he hung out with human pig Jim Sensenbrenner at some D.C. function and he was sitting next to Brzezinski and her father, and their guest was David Axelrod. He introduced himself.]

 

Koch: That son of a bitch!

 

Walker: Yeah no kidding huh?…

 

Koch: Well, good; good. Good catching up with ya’.

 

Walker: This is an exciting time [blah, blah, blah, Super Bowl reference followed by an odd story of pulling out a picture of Ronald Reagan and explaining to his staff the plan to crush the union the same way Reagan fired the air traffic controllers]…that was the first crack in the Berlin Wall because the Communists then knew Reagan wasn’t a pushover. [blah, blah, blah. He's exactly like Reagan. Won't shut up about how awesome he is.]

 

Koch: [Laughs] Well, I tell you what, Scott: once you crush these bastards I’ll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.

 

Walker: All right, that would be outstanding. [*** Ethical violation much? ***] Thanks for all the support…it’s all about getting our freedoms back…

 

Koch: Absolutely. And, you know, we have a little bit of a vested interest as well. [Laughs]

 

Walker: [blah] Thanks a million!

 

Koch: Bye-bye!

 

Walker: Bye.

 

***

 

So there you have it, kids. Government isn’t for the people. It’s for the people with money. You want to be heard? Too fucking bad. You want to collectively bargain? You can’t afford a seat at the table. You may have built that table. But it’s not yours. It belongs to the Kochs and the oligarch class. It’s guarded by Republicans like Walker, and his Democratic counterparts across that ever-narrowing aisle that is corporate rule, so that the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots can swallow all the power in the world. These are known knowns, and now we just know them a little more.

 

But money isn’t always power. The protesters in Cairo and Madison have taught us this—reminded us of this. They can’t buy a muzzle big enough to silence us all. Share the news. Do not retreat; ReTweet.

 

The revolution keeps spinning. Try not to get too dizzy.

 

Link - which, due to extremely heavy traffic, may be down.

 

http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045

[ih8music]

Scott Walker gets pranked, and, with any luck, finds himself deep in the shit (from what I've read, this is %100 legit)

Governor's office has apparently confirmed the call as legit.

 

http://www.todaystmj.../116739254.html

This morning, the Governor's office sent a statement about the phone call, confirming the call with the fake David Koch happened.

 

"The Governor takes many calls everyday. Throughout this call the Governor maintained his appreciation for and commitment to civil discourse. He continued to say that the budget repair bill is about the budget. The phone call shows that the Governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having."

 

edit: the audio is up on youtube also

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBnSv3a6Nh4

[Guest Jules]

I don't see what is wrong with what he said on that phone call.

[Doug C]

I don't see what is wrong with what he said on that phone call.

[Guest Jules]

Enlighten me.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I don't see what is wrong with what he said on that phone call.

 

First, he really loosened up on the phone with someone he couldn't even confirm was who he says he was, which is just plain stupid.

 

Second, this whole time he's been whining about how it's the budget and pretty much flat-out admitted his motivations are equally split between power-play and union busting.

 

Third, I don't think he would EVER say, if he knew it would go public, that he'd like to go after people with a bat. That's just crass and unprofessional.

 

I think none of this will impact the fight in any significant way, but he at least put to tape what a moron he is.

 

ETA: Fourth, as any one ever can tell you about any situation ever, accepting a "good time" from someone you don't know very well NEVER ends well.

[LouieB]

Thank you, virtualreason. My wife is a teacher as well, which means we will be double hit by this bill. There is a very strong likelihood that we will have to sell our (modest) house after this bill passes. We have always lived extremely frugally, but the crushing debt of multiple graduate programs--all done in the hopes of eventual return on investment--has made it difficult to make ends meet. This bill will make it nearly impossible.

This is very sad.

 

Scott Walker is at least being up front about his desire to bust the union. That is refreshing, in a very sick way. What is sad is that as soon as te public unions are busted, the right wing is going to go after what is left of the trade and industrial unions. At this point the public employee unions are the largest part of those currently in unions so busting the rest is going to be easy.

 

After nearly 40 years of concerted effort to gut US workers of their rights, the powers that be are on the verge of actually accomplishing this. So long middle class.

 

LouieB

[ih8music]

Also the part about having considered planting "troublemakers" in the crowds, but decided to not do it for political purposes (apparently has no moral objection to the practice).

[ih8music]

And the "this is our moment" stuff should leave no doubt that his goal is to bust the unions and that this has very little to do with the WI budget.

[Guest Jules]

He was stupid to talk about any of it on the phone. The other stuff & his "unprofessionalism" seems like the usual political b.s you would hear anywhere.

 

I feel for Beltmann and anyone this will hurt. That just sucks.

 

I have a hard time with the concept of unions in general (unrelated to this), so I should just stay out if it.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Exactly. Governors should be interested in managing the interests of the state, and this phone call clearly outlines his aspirations as politically-motivated. While all elected officals obviously harbor political motivations, that Walker showed his hand so soon will hurt him in the long run.

 

I have a hard time with the concept of unions in general (unrelated to this), so I should just stay out if it.

 

I'm still not sure how I feel about them (I believe in protecting workers, but find it to be a horrible waste of time to have to negotiate terms of employment every 20 seconds). On the other hand, union-busting is not unlike banning gay marriage: while I understand that making gay marriage legal won't necessarily happen any time soon, legislation to completely block the option really frosts my nutsack. I believe that unions should have to tighten their belts in these times, but that's no reason to take away forever the right to bargain.

[Doug C]

Jules,

 

Regardless of your view on the issue, doesn't it bother you that he is a liar (obviously, he is not an anomaly)? He publicly insisted that busting unions was not the goal but privately, to a financial backer, he says that union busting is the goal. He should now publicly make a case against unions. Explain that this bill is the first step toward busting unions of all kinds. Explain why busting unions would be good for Wisconsin. He should then explain how WI could be the leader in making unions a thing of the past, nation-wide, and how this would be good for the country. If he is unwilling to do this, then he should have the bill withdrawn. Stupid or not, he has been found out. Now he should do the right thing and make the bill's case based on the truth as he sees it. If the bill still has wide support, then pass it.

[PopTodd]

Country is moving backwards; taking away rights in the name of fiscal responsibility.

People say that with the unions, we can't compete with China, Korea, and India. But, do we want our laborers to work in and live in the same conditions as they do over there?

 

This shit depresses me.

Where are we headed?

[Guest Jules]

You don't need unions to have good working conditions. That's ridiculous.

[Guest Speed Racer]

If the governor is going to pop the union life raft without setting up a game plan to ensure good working conditions, then I don't see how anyone could think that an anti-union governor cared about ensuring their safe and productive working conditions.

[PopTodd]

You don't need unions to have good working conditions. That's ridiculous.

No, because we have laws on the books that assure good working conditions. We did need them to get those laws passed. Even considered. The right to organize is pretty essential to maintain those rights in the long run. As long as there's profit to be made, corporations will find a way to maximize that profit, rolling back one law -- one worker protection at a time.

[Good Old Neon]

You don't need unions to have good working conditions. That's ridiculous.

 

Correct. And for that, to a large degree, you can thank unions.

[Guest Speed Racer]

So then what's the fuss?

[caliber66]

Buffalobeast.com is currently offline.

[Good Old Neon]

In which fox news makes yet another "honest mistake"

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/02/fox-reverses-poll-results-to-portray-public-as-anti-union/#