2-16-2011, Madison, Wisconsin
Turning a deaf ear has become the signature move of Wisconsins' new republican governor. For a second day, Scott Walker refused to sit down with representatives of the states' unionized workers to discuss wage and benefit concessions.
Walker-watchers recognize this affectation of rule-by-edict from his days as a failed Milwaukee County Executive. His tenure was marked by a near- complete absence of content, communication and collaboration. Never known for innovative thinking, or for consulting with a broad spectrum of relevant analysts, Walker twiddled away his time in office without demonstrating any evidence that he grasped the complexity of the problems set before him.
Recognizing Walker's pliability, corporate ventriloquist/donors purchased a governorship for him. No one should be surprised by what he now spouts. The latest misdirection finds him and the new republican majority accepting the christ of fiscal sobriety as their savior, ready to smite the deficit-loving heathens.
This eleventh-hour conversion is laughable, but the misdirection it intends is sly. How did fifty state governments all find themselves in such similar, dire straits? Odd, too, the speed with which this new creed has spread among republicans nationwide.
A mere moments' thought clouds the sincerity of their conversion. What exactly were the causes of this rash of state government deficits? The Great Recession, yes, but what in turn caused it?
Reagan, long a demigod to conservative men with distant or absent fathers, now wears the mantle of instigator-in-chief. More on this parenting-style tomorrow.
Senator Larson Response, 2/16/2011
ReplyDeleteThank you for contacting me regarding Governor Walker’s use of the budget adjustment bill to reverse 50 years of Wisconsin history in preserving worker rights.
This move by Walker is an unprecedented attack on Wisconsin workers, their communities and our tradition of working with labor to move Wisconsin forward. What’s worse is that a good deal of the deficit he is proposing to fix was actually created by his own measures in the special session earlier this year.
I appreciate your support in the fight ahead of us.
The rubber-stamp Republican legislature is doing everything they can to railroad the Governor’s radical agenda through the legislature by the end of this week so please continue your advocacy with him as well as with your friends and community. We need you to let your neighbors know that this assault on worker rights will hurt every person and every community across Wisconsin. It will drive down wages and decrease work place safety for all Wisconsin workers, union and non.
If you attend any of the rallies at the State Capitol, please feel free to visit my office at 22 South.
Thank you for emailing me and for joining me in opposing Governor Walker on this crucial issue.
In Solidarity,
Chris Larson
State Senator
7th District