Dan from Madison

Reagan Roundtable – Should Governor Walker Go Nuclear?

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I am not sure if the Reagan Roundtable is still going on but oh well, one more entry can’t hurt. Here is how he handled a public sector union.

Well then.

Similarly, the teacher “sickout” here in Wisconsin, or as it should be called, wildcat strike, is illegal. Teachers unions, by state of Wisconsin law, are not allowed to strike. So can Walker go all Reagan on them? Should he? The Madison Metropolitan School District has already gone to court to try to secure an injunction to get the teachers back to work and failed. But thats Madison for you. I have not heard if they will be appealing that yet and cannot find why the court said no. I imagine they are still calling it a sick out rather than a strike or work stoppage. I would be interested to hear your comments on the nuclear option.

“Sickout” = Wildcat Strike

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Per wiki, the definition of a wildcat strike:

A wildcat strike action, often referred to as a wildcat strike, is a strike action taken by workers without the authorization of their trade union officials. This is sometimes termed unofficial industrial action.

Lets start calling the teachers’ “sickout” what it really is. A wildcat strike. Madison schools will be closed for the third day in a row. Milwaukee schools are now closed. In what may be an interesting indicator, many of the more rural school districts are open today, where they were closed yesterday. I have a feeling that those in the outlying areas who aren’t as beholden to the teachers’ unions as the folks in and around Madison have made it pretty clear that they are not happy.

I have heard that there will be counter protests today and/or Saturday. I may be down there Saturday afternoon after work.

There are rumors that there may be class action lawsuits brewing against the teachers’ unions on behalf of the parents. I hope some of the school districts have the stones to hold the teachers’ feet over the fire for breaking their contract due to the wildcat strike.

I certainly will help with any and all recall efforts and to bring back our missing legislators. Thinking about it on the way in to work this morning, I have essentially been disenfranchised, as my legislator is sitting in my hometown of Rockford as I write this, instead of representing me at the capitol. Whether I voted for him or not does not matter. His office has heard from me once already electronically. I will be mailing them a hardcopy letter today. His office staff will get to see my smiling face in the not so distant future. I will have to rehearse my lines and try to control my anger when I go there.

Madison Update

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Shocking news:

Madison — Law enforcement is now searching for Democratic senators boycotting a Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair plan Thursday in an attempt to bring the lawmakers to the floor to allow Republicans to move forward with action on the bill.
 
One Democratic senator said that he believed at least most of the members of his caucus are in another state. At least one, however, Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said he was still in his Capitol office listening to constituents.
 
In a press conference just off the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said that Democrats were “not showing up for work” and that police were searching for them to bring them to the floor.
 
“That’s not democracy. That’s not what this chamber is about,” Fitzgerald said of the boycott to reporters.
 
Sen. Tim Cullen (D-Janesville) confirmed Thursday that Democrats are boycotting the Senate action on the bill in efforts to block a quorum and keep the measure buylevitra from passing. Because 20 senators of the 33-member house are needed to be present to pass a fiscal bill, the body’s 19 Republicans will not be enough to pass the budget repair bill without at least one Democrat present.
 
“They can’t pass this bill if there’s not a Democrat in the chamber,” Cullen said.
 
Cullen said he believed at least most of the Democrats were now outside Wisconsin, though he declined to say where.

I literally cannot believe this. The Democrats got creamed in the last election, and they decide to skip out when it comes time to vote. I hope the state police find at least one of them to force a vote. If this doesn’t get resolved fast, I will be making a personal appearance at my state senator’s office demanding that he explain his actions. I am absolutely furious.

Madison on the National News, Vouchers, and Other Random Thoughts

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I was a bit surprised this morning when I was listening to Bloomberg on my morning drive and there was a mention of the protests here in Madison. Bloomberg’s news reports are pretty concise (for those not familiar, Bloomberg is pretty much a financial news station), and for a story to make the Bloomberg news is a pretty big deal.

In addition to this, I have been receiving a lot of email and phone calls from business associates across the nation. Since this thing has gone national, people are seeing images of the thousands of people clogging the streets on the capitol square.

I was reminded of a post Shannon Love put up just over a year ago. A small aircraft crashed into a building in Austin and Shannon put it this way:

… but for all that the crash directly affected me it might as well have been on the other side of the planet. Had my spouse not called, I wouldn’t have know about it until I did my lunch-break scan of Instapundit. I can’t even see the smoke. Everything I know about the event comes from the TV news.

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