Let’s get this straight. The labor movement has been invigorated by Wisconsin’s dictatorial governor’s war against unions. The fabulous 14 state senators left the state to prevent a vote that would kill the unions’ collective bargaining rights, further energizing the left across the nation.
Walker’s trying everything to either get the 14 back (threats, intimidation, withholding pay, etc) or to figure out how to change the rules so they don’t need 3/5 of the Senate present for a quorum.
Meanwhile, Walker’s BFF John Kasich, governor of Ohio, just may have stolen ol’ Scotty Walker’s thunder. The Ohio state senate yesterday voted 17-16 that would restrict collective bargaining rights for 360,000 teachers, cops, firefighters, prison guards and other public workers statewide.. How could this happen?
Well, the people of Ohio really fucked up in November, giving the senate enough Republicans for their quorum without any Democrats. Apparently six of the Republicans had enough decency to vote against the bill, SB6. But it wasn’t enough to keep it from passing- by one vote.
But the vote actually shouldn’t have happened at all. It had to pass through various committees before coming up for a floor vote, and the Republican party did NOT have the votes.
The Dayton Daily News reports:
To get the bill to the Senate floor, Niehaus removed Seitz and state Sen. Scott Oelslager, R-Canton, from key committees. Their opposition along with the Democrats could have tied the bill up. The committee voted 7-5 in favor, sending the bill to the Senate floor.
Did you get that? Two Republicans were replaced on those key committees in order to get the outcome the party wanted. (Isn’t there a law against that? If not, there should be!)
So, the committee votes were rigged, the bill went to the full senate, and the bill passed. It now goes to the state assembly where, with its huge majority, it is expected to pass. And Dictator Governor Kasich is expected to sign it into law.
We learned via the fake David Koch phone call to Scott Walker that Kasich and Walker talk every day. Do you think Kasich is doing the “neener neener” thing to his buddy, saying “I broke my unions faster than you broke yours!”? I do.
Meanwhile, hypocrites around the country keep wrapping themselves in the flag and hijacking words like “patriot” and “Christian” to mean something akin to hate and intolerance. This morning, I spoke with Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, who just released The Year in Hate & Extremism” report, and shows the number of hate groups in the US has topped 1000.
The hits just keep coming….
Kudos to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America who’ve joined forces to fight back against Scott Walker and his ilk. They’ve produced this spot and in less than two days, has raised over $200,000 to keep it on the air in Wisconsin:
I spoke with one of those protesters on the show this morning– Richard Scoby, a graphic designer whose wife is a school teacher who will be directly affected by the elimination of collective bargaining.
After getting a news update from Ellen Ratner of TRNS, we finished up the week with a bit of humor from my friend John Fugelsang.
Thanks, as always, for listening… I’ll be back Monday… radio or not!