Gentlemen (well, ladies, too, of course), I give you 'President' Scott Walker

'Waddyamean', who he?  He is the current Governor of Wisconsin, and in my view, a man well worth watching for the Presidential election in 2016.  Of course, it is well known that an endorsement from this distinguished blog is usually the kiss of death to any aspirant so I donate it surreptitiously and, given that hardly anyone reads this blog, hope that no-one 'over there' will notice!

Somehow this remarkable man managed to win the governorship of the 'United Socialist State of Wisconsin', a basket-case entity whose public affairs, that is town halls, schools, State agencies and so forth were entirely in thrall to their public service unions - a bit like ours will be if Ed 'Milipede' wins next year and McCluskey's apparatchiks take over.  Walker took them head on and passed a law which reduced their legal bargaining remit to wages alone, not the myriad ancillaries they had ripped off from Wisconsin tax-payers.  The unions with Dem party helpers fought back furiously forcing the Governor to face a recall election.  Much to their chagrin, he won! 

Now, the State Supreme Court has ratified his policy that Wisconsin public sector unions are not only reduced to bargaining for basic wages and nothing else but also that henceforth they will be responsible for collecting their own union subscriptions instead of using local government offices to stop it automatically from workers' pay packets.  You will not, I'm sure, drop dead from shock to learn that it was teachers' unions who were the most hostile!  Of course, it will now be appealed up to the SCOTUS but givem the current membership I will be amazed if it is over-turned.

To add a dollop of cream to Gov. Walker's Wisconsin apple pie, his State court also upheld his plan for voter registration and identification.  That should go a long way to keeping elections fair and open, a policy detested by Democrats.  So this is a man who not only 'talks the talk' but executes the action.  In other words, a man worth watching but, of course, his immediate problem lies not in the serried ranks of Democrat socialists and trades unions but his own Republican party leadership, the biggest collection of clowns since Barnum's circus hit town!

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/08/wi_state_supreme_court_upholds_curbs_on_public_employee_bargaining.html

Comments

[Dom]

He also has to put up with the American media. Don't read the whole thing, the title says it all.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118145/scott-walkers-toxic-racial-politics

[Hank]

David

If someone is under the misapprehension that unions represent their membership:

Any contract in effect was grandfathered until the next normal renegotiation.

Several contracts came up for renegotiation between the time the law was passed and it went into effect. The unions were quite happy to sign a management proposal that cut wages and working conditions but allowed the union to collect dues for several more years.

[Hank]

The recession came early to rural Wisconsin.

The public sector workers in question had a higher average wage rural Wisconsin, those who still had a job. As you can guess the union case did not play well there.

If Gov Walker had done nothing, every school district and local government would have been forced to lay off workers to the benefits of those it kept. The unions were reasonably satisfied with this if they kept control of the membership and had the dues collected automatically.

His total proposal made it possible that no one was laid off, though they had to pay more for benefits. It did this by cutting the unions ability to object. The unions could still represent basic wages and speak for individual members in a dispute over whether member X or supervisor Y was the biggest jerk.

The only losers was the union organisations and their allies.

[AussieD]

I've got a long standing friend in Milwaukee. His reaction to the election and re-election was as if he had won the lottery. Mind you his political leanings may have something to do with 30 years in uniform.
From a distance and being somewhat uninformed it would seem that a Democrat victory in their elections would be a disaster for the West.

[David Duff]

Thanks for the link, Dom, I skim read most of it and my admiration for Walker rose even higher!

Hank, I just hope he wins BIG in October because that will provide him with a suitable launch-pad.

It will be a disaster for everyone, AussieD!

[JK]

"Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) leads our list, as he has since we introduced it last year."

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/2016-presidential-ratings-update-nothing-but-questions-on-the-republican-side/

[Whitewall]

Gov. Walker is an attractive candidate from a policy success standpoint as well as that intangible delight of making Lefty heads explode in uncontrolled rage. This explosion aspect seems to get easier.

[David Duff]

It all depends, I guess, on how well he wins in October.