As if we needed another sign that the labor standoff in Wisconsin has become a national proxy fight, an air war has broken out on Wisconsin televisions. The latest salvo comes from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America, which has bought time on Madison and Milwaukee television stations for a one minute ad blasting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s anti public union budget proposal.
[See photos of the protests in Madison, Wis.]
The ad starts by noting that Walker pushed through "over $100 million in tax cuts [for] corporations," and is now trying to pay for it on the backs of teachers and nurses. “It’s not selfish, it’s just survival,” one public worker tells the camera, noting along with others how much money the deal will cost them. “This is Republican class warfare--an attack on the middle class,” another says. [See the U.S. News debate: Should public union workers have collective bargaining rights.]
The groups also put the ad online and raised $40,000 for their effort in the first two-and-a-half hours, according to Adam Green of the Progressive Change committee. Here's the spot:
The ad joins several others in what have become fairly crowded Wisconsin airwaves. The Republican National Committee went up with an ad trying to frame the fight as being one involving President Obama “and his union bosses.” It doesn’t reference Walker at all.
The Republican Governors’ Association and the right wing group Americans for Prosperity had already been on the air in Wisconsin, as had America’s Families First, a left-wing group.
Update: Progressive Change's Green now sends word that they raised $100,000 in five hours and are over $120,000. They apparently plan to expand the ad buy.
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Dale & Cheryl of WA 8:55PM March 09, 2011
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