Scott Walker retains Governorship in Wisconsin recall race

By Rachel Rose Hartman

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker retained his governorship Tuesday night, besting Democrat Tom Barrett in a race that was a referendum on Walker's decision to take on public employee unions.

Walker led Barrett, who was the governor's 2010 opponent and is the current mayor of Milwaukee, 55 to 41 percent with 76 percent of precincts reporting. Walker beat Barrett in 2010 with 52 to 46.5 percent.

A Walker win is a huge coup for the tea party movement, which rallied tea partyers across the country, as well as for fiscal conservatives and reform-minded Republicans.

Walker was targeted last year for a recall by state and national labor groups, progressives, students and others who viewed his decision to push for an end to collective bargaining by state public employee unions as an attack on middle class America.

"Tonight, Wisconsin voters rewarded political courage," Republican Governors Association Chairman Bob McDonnell said in a statement. McDonnell highlighted Walker's efforts as an attack on the "status quo" and against "unsustainable entitlements and long-term fiscal liabilities" and hailed the governor's actions to close the state deficit, reduce property taxes and improve schools. "His actions have made Wisconsin stronger today, and tomorrow. And they have improved the lives of the citizens of Wisconsin."

Wisconsin recall vote to resonate in presidential race

Certain elements in Wisconsin apparently don't care for a candidate who does what he promises. His proposals  sounded good on paper, but when he put them in practice, he stepped on some toes. Some money probably either stopped or looked like it might stop going into certain coffers. Now, those same coffers are spending MILLIONS to get the green water flowing again...... jbd

By John Whitesides

LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (Reuters) - The battle over whether to recall Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker, has sharply divided the state and become a nationally watched test of his party's push to limit government, slash spending and challenge public-sector labor unions.

Tuesday's recall vote also has the attention of two very interested outsiders: Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, who are gearing up for their November 6 showdown for the White House.

Whatever happens when Wisconsin voters decide whether Walker should be replaced by Democrat Tom Barrett, the repercussions promise to echo deep into the presidential campaign.

At a time when national polls show Obama and Romney in a virtual tie, both sides see the wrangling in Wisconsin as a chance to organize and gain early momentum in a politically divided state that could be crucial in determining who wins the presidency.

The recall battle has raged for months, sparked by Walker's elimination last year of most collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions. That led to huge street protests in Madison, the state capital, and to the recall effort that will culminate in Tuesday's vote.

Walker's national supporters see the recall as a referendum on his take-no-prisoners brand of fiscal conservatism, and both sides in the presidential race plan to scour Tuesday's results to gauge the mood of the electorate heading into November's bigger battles.

This came from a Washington Examiner article and the link is at the bottom. Interesting read if you have time.


An interesting and sensible perspective forwarded by Anchorage furrier Perry Green. It had occurred to me that the media are quiet about problems in Wisconsin, and it makes sense to me that the reason would be that except for an unhappy National Education Association everything is working well. THB

WISCONSIN REBORN

The Democrats and Liberals are keeping really quiet about this. Is There any wonder why Obama stayed away from Wisconsin on his latest Campaign Tour (Listening Tour, Cough! Cough!), even though he was right next door. Wisconsin is the last place they want to talk about, just like New Jersey !


IMPORTANT READ:

This got real quiet as to how it came out. Well, here are the results.

Remember the violent and disgusting demonstrations over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker doing away with collective bargaining for Teacher's unions? The results are in. Some school districts went from a $400,000 deficit to a $1,500,000 surplus as a result. They are even hiring new teachers, not firing like the Liberals said would happen. Why?

It seems that the insurance company that provided all the "so-called" benefits to the teachers was an insurance company owned and operated by the teacher's union. Since the outfit was guaranteed to get the insurance business from the teachers, and the State had to pay for it (not the teachers) the insurance company was increasing annual costs every single year to become the most expensive insurance company in the state. Then the company was donating millions and millions of dollars to its favorite democrat politicians who, when they got elected, guaranteed to keep funding the union's outrageous costs. In other words, the insurance company was a "pass through" for Wisconsin taxpayer money directly to the democrat politicians.


Nice racket, and this is the racket that is going on in every single State that allows collective bargaining. No wonder the States are taking it away. Now the State of Wisconsin is free to put the insurance contract out for bids and, lo and behold, they have saved so much money it has turned deficits into surplus amounts. As a result, none of the teachers had to be laid off, everyone got a raise, etc., etc., and the taxpayers of Wisconsin don't have to pay more taxes to fund the union's political ambitions.

If you weren't aware of the reasons Gov. Walker was fighting to take away collective bargaining, it gives you an idea of the problem the Republican Party has. Outside of one or two, none of them know how to speak up and explain properly what the problem was. We could sure use a Ronald Reagan now, someone who could explain things for people to understand, since we know that people don't like to read anymore.

Here is the article:


http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/07/wisconsin-schools-buck-union-cut-health-costs

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