Republicans Need to Focus on the Scott Walker Recall Election

Walker has shown his true purpose not to help the state but break unions. Unions gave into his BUDGET demands yet he wanted to destroy their collective bargaining for public unions EXCEPT EXEMPT FIRE AND POLICE. So to Walker backers, WHY if this is a good move exempt so many? Maybe because the backed him before, or maybe the other groups (primarily teachers) are easier targets? Sounds hypocritical and political garbage. Some of you don't even think in the reverse that unions, as they DID show, can make changes necessary for the state. As the article states Walker needs to be ousted to show politically motivated legislation that is bad for many and NOT evenly applied will not stand.

Joe of IL 4:51PM January 23, 2012

People's memories are so short....Doyle robbed from the transportation and medical malpractice fund, neglected to pay Minnesota 60 million dollars, and we were still in a deficit situation.

I don't necessarily support Walker, but you democrats need to do better if you do gain controll...

JB of WI 11:44PM January 22, 2012

Wow. This article is SO one sided. It blows my mind. This is my first time on usnews.com, and I'm like, What?

"A Walker loss would send a message that unions, no matter how much damage they are doing to the economy and their members, cannot be touched. "

excuse me, what about the banks and insurance companies that WE THE PEOPLE had to bail out? For THEIR own mistakes? We didn't get a bail out. It i quite obvious who can not be touched.

Do you know Walker one by about 100,000 votes? and that was only with 50% of eligible voters voting. Wake up. If he wanted to fix our economy, why did he give $200 million in tax breaks to the big Co.s in our state? Why is he cutting public jobs when he said he would create jobs? Why is he making the little people pay, while "creating" more and more minimum wage, little-to-no benefit corporate jobs?

Brandon of WI 3:04PM January 22, 2012

In response to the article, what has Walker done for National Security? He was hoping the protests would turn ugly and considered planting troublemakers in the crowd. I'm ashamed of how he represents my state from that idea alone.

Alan, where are you getting your numbers from?

I wanted to verify the number of union members to see who was correct and it's difficult to find current information. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010, Wisconsin had 355,00 workers belonging to a union, accounting for approximately 14% of all workers in the state. That's a higher number than what Ted posted but less than half of your number. Since there was a record number of retirements this year amongst state employees (almost double the average of the past 7 years') and Walker's legislation has made it more difficult for unions to exist in the state, I highly doubt the number of union represented employees has miraculously tripled. But until you cite your source, I guess I can't be certain...

Additionally, Walker never campaigned that he was going to end collective bargaining, which undoubtedly would have cost him the election. An election is one moment in time. Walker only won by 125,000 votes and only 2 million people turned out to vote for the midyear election (almost 900k less than the previous election). That number of votes alone should demonstrate that his "majority" win wasn't by much. When he announced in mid-February his plans to rush through legislation that would undo 50 years of advancement in workers' rights, he drove a stake through the heart of our state. It became a private vs. public, tax-payer vs. "hand out"/entitlement class warfare when we are ALL workers. The governor and Republican legislators also dictated who was of "value" to the state (police officers, firefighters, state patrol) and who was worth less (teachers, prison guards, nurses, wardens, etc.) in an effort to create a further divide and scapegoat a particular group of individuals that didn't back his campaign. At the end of the day, our state runs on the backs of the working class. There is no need for such a division, and it did not exist to such a hateful extent before February 2011.

"Public unions have been dictating policy..." Sorry, but isn't that a part of what their purpose is? It's no different than ALEC, the AMA, AARP... Why shouldn't the public workers, who work for the good of the community, be able to have their perspective shared and heard within it? It would be doing a disservice NOT to, and the lack of local communities and the state government listening to those voices is being felt all over. As for collective bargaining, it's been a source of pride for our state since 1959, and we are stronger and better because of it. Who does he think he is to undo our history in the span of a week?

If peacefully protesting and legally recalling our legislators after 1 year's worth of service isn't democracy, I'm scared to know what you think is acceptable.

Mary of WI 12:35PM January 21, 2012