VIDEO: Krauthammer Lays Out Wisconsin Endgame
Last night on Fox News’ Special Report, Charles Krauthammer outlined the steps Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker should take – and not take – in order to win the standoff with unions and his state Senate’s Democrats over public employee’s pension and health care contributions and the question of collective bargaining rights.
Krauthammer strongly advised the governor not to follow through with the proposed round of layoffs that have emanated from Walker’s office in the last couple of days, layoffs Walker has said are inevitable if the Democrats don’t return and allow the legislature to pass his budget restructuring bill. Krauthammer notes public opinion seems to be on the governor’s side so far, but layoffs would turn the tide against him.
But as to the meat of the issue, Krauthammer says Walker can win the day simply by separating the collective bargaining issue from the budget and pass it as a standalone bill. With 19 Republicans constituting a majority of the 33 Senators, Walker has a quorum to pass anything non-fiscal in nature. Once that issue is resolved, Krauthammer says, there’s nothing left for the Democrats to hold out on, since the unions have already agreed to Walker’s terms on worker contributions to pensions and health plans.
Link in case the player won’t load.
It’s a good plan and Walker should follow it – if he can. Apparently, part of the budget bill involves a restructuring of state debt so that Wisconsin retires it over time with savings generated from the clawbacks from public employees and, he hopes, economic growth resulting from his recently-passed business tax plan. But if the plan isn’t passed by Friday that debt issue becomes a major challenge – and Walker’s people say that might necessitate the layoffs.
But even if that can be navigated around, passing the collective bargaining changes could inflame the Democrats into staying out of the legislature out of spite or pique. At this point it’s fair to question whether they can be trusted to adhere to any bargain – or even make one.
Maybe Walker and the Republicans in the state legislature should have already check-mated the Dems on the collective bargaining issue. Or maybe this fight is destined to be bloody no matter what Walker does, in which case he at least can take comfort in the fact that he won’t be up for re-election for the next three years. But it’s not a bad idea to separate the collective bargaining fight, which he doesn’t need Democrats to pass, from the givebacks the unions have already agreed to, in an effort to win the stalemate.
“destined to be bloody”? Didn’t you get the memo that only liberals are allowed to use such violent rhetoric?
simple, if you’re not union busting and the union has agreed to the things you say or needed to reduce the deficit, drop the collective bargaining issue and move on to stop the giveaways to the corporations that are such wonderful “citizens” in Wisconsin.By the way, how does making the union recertify every year and making dues voluntary help the budget? Seems like the claim the unions have of union busting ring true. If union members want voluntary dues and annual recertification, shouldn’t they decide that. Should taxes, homeowners assoc. dues be voluntary? Chamber of Commerce dues voluntary? You get the idea
Public employee unions SHOULD be busted. They never should have been allowed
in the first place.
“All Government employees should realize that the process of collective
bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public
service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations … The very
nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for … officials …
to bind the employer … The employer is the whole people, who speak by
means of laws enacted by their representatives …
“Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have
no place in the functions of any organization of government employees. Upon
employees in the federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole
people … This obligation is paramount … A strike of public employees
manifests nothing less than an intent … to prevent or obstruct …
Government … Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government …
is unthinkable and intolerable.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1937
Making dues voluntary helps Wisconsin’s budget in that it allows public
employees to vote themselves $1,000 or so in folding money every year. Want
a raise? There’s one the state doesn’t have to pay you.