DNC sitting out the Walker recall? 15MAI12

THE DNC must financially support the Democrats and their candidate for governor, Tom Barrett D WI in his campaign to recall Gov scott walker R WI. Please sign this petition to DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and demand the DNC support the walker recall campaign!

---

Dear MoveOn member,

As a Wisconsin progressive working day and night for the recall of Scott Walker, I'm shocked: The Democratic National Committee still isn't giving financial support to the recall fight in Wisconsin.

After more than a year of grassroots efforts, Wisconsin citizens have accomplished more than anyone thought possible. We now have a Democratic challenger to Scott Walker who is neck and neck in the polls, even though Tom Barrett is being outspent by Walker's millions from out-of-state donations. 

There is no more time for the Democratic National Committee to wait—if Walker wins, it would be a huge setback to Democrats in races across the country this year. We need the DNC's support immediately!

That's why I created a petition on SignOn.org to DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, which says:

Democratic National Committee and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, invest now in the crucial fight to remove Scott Walker from office in Wisconsin—the people have worked hard and it's time to help.

Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:

http://signon.org/sign/democratic-national-committe?source=mo&id=41481-17549061-jw1kIWx

Thanks!

–Mary Magnuson

Source:

1. "EXCLUSIVE: Wisconsin Dems furious with DNC for refusing to invest big money in Walker recall," The Washington Post, May 15, 2012 
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=275547&id=41481-17549061-jw1kIWx&t=3

This petition was created on SignOn.org, the progressive, nonprofit petition site that will never sell your email address and will never promote a petition because someone paid us to. SignOn.org is sponsored by MoveOn Civic Action, which is not responsible for the contents of this or other petitions posted on the site.

Want to support our work? MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 7 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

Democrats, Labor Set Sights On Recall Of Six Wisconsin Republicans

WE can expect corporate America, especially the koch brothers, since they have already paid for gov walker, to fund the gop tea-bagger senators campaigns against their recall by Wisconsin voters. We all have a stake in the outcome, so please donate to the PCCC or the Wisconsin Democratic party if you can.
WASHINGTON -- The chaos that accompanied Wednesday night’s abrupt passage of Gov. Scott Walker's (R-Wis.) controversial anti-collective bargaining legislation gave way on Thursday to a series of strategy sessions by aggrieved parties plotting out a response.
A cadre of labor groups, progressive institutions, and campaign arms began informally coordinating a comprehensive pushback that some described as even more critical than the legislative battle itself. The most dramatic of these moves is acceleration of a campaign to recall Wisconsin Republican state senators who ended up backing not only the collective bargaining bill but also the backdoor parliamentary maneuvers used to pass it.
Union officials and progressive activists on the ground in Wisconsin say that six specific lawmakers have been targeted for recall (before Wednesday night that number had been eight). Of those, three were considered top tier “gets:” Sen. Randy Hopper (District 18) who won his last election by 184 votes, Sen. Alberta Darling (District 8) who won her last election with 51 percent of the vote, and Sen. Dan Kapanke (District 32) who also won his last election with 51 percent of the vote, in a district where President Obama won 61 percent of the vote in 2008. The other three lawmakers on the list were Sen. Robert Cowles (District 2), Sheila Harsdorf (District 10), and Luther Olsen (District 14).
“Without full capitulation this is the best possible political outcome,” said one top-ranking labor official, trying to put a good spin on a damaging development. “It is going to drive [Walker’s] negatives over 65 [percent] and we are looking at possibly winning six recall elections”
Earlier in the day, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka made similar overtures following a speech at the National Press Club. “We are helping to organize the process,” he told a small group of reporters. “They are doing it on the ground there and we are helping them do it on the ground. These are Wisconsinites. They are serious about this. This isn’t us going to them saying maybe we ought to recall, this is them saying to us we are going to recall them.”
In terms of timing, the recall process began well before Wednesday night’s vote. But Walker’s decision to ram through his bill with 14 Senate Democrats still decamped in Illinois added urgency to the effort. In a memo distributed by labor officials on the ground in Wisconsin and passed along to The Huffington Post, it was noted that the Wisconsin Democratic Party had already raised $800,000 for its recall effort, “with nearly $250,000 of that coming since Walker and Republicans’ anti-democratic hijacking of the Senate” on Wednesday. The memo also pointed out that two polls, conducted by Survey USA and paid for by MoveOn.org, had Hopper and Kapanke losing a recall election in their districts, “and that polling was conducted before last night’s … chicanery.”
Grassroots forces aren’t the only ones at play. Officials at various campaign committees in Washington D.C. told The Huffington Post that they too would be lending their resources to the efforts. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee was poised to help the Wisconsin State party once signatures were collected, a function that an aide described as a bit of new ground for the committee. “[T]he recall elections that may take place in Wisconsin in fact would be the first recall elections with which the DLCC has been involved.”

Story continues below

An official with the Democratic Governor’s Association, meanwhile, said that while a recall effort targeting Walker was, by law, only approachable down the road (a lawmaker must be in office a full year before being subjected to a recall), the anti-collective bargaining bill and the governor himself would become fixtures of their political activities going forward.
“We will make him the embodiment of everyone’s worst fears about Republican governors,” the aide said.
Even the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee put out Wisconsin-related releases, cognizant that voter enthusiasm and fundraising dollars would shortly follow. [UPDATE: The DNC put out a statement late Thursday afternoon]. Organizing for America, the Obama campaign arm that engaged in the debate early on, only to downplay its involvement later, had not commented on the Wednesday night theatrics as of Thursday afternoon, though White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called them antithetical to the notion of bipartisan cooperation.
The real driving force, however, remained unions and progressive groups that had latched on to the Wisconsin budget battles before there was national recognition. Adam Green, whose organization, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, had been heavily invested in supporting the quorum break by the 14 Democratic senators said there were no plans to scale back their ambition simply because the bill had passed. Nearly $800,000 had been raised to air the group’s television ad and that money would be spent to keep momentum behind the recall efforts.
“We think of it as providing air cover for the ground troops,” said Green.
Officials with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, meanwhile, huddled for a strategy meeting on Thursday afternoon to discuss not only recall strategy but also how to upend similar anti-union movements across the country. Indeed, while it was demoralizing to see the Wisconsin bill pass, the prevailing fear within the labor community was that without a sufficient punishment, other Republican officials in different states would follow suit.
“I think that we are prepared to fight back like never before,” said Lee Saunders, AFSCME’s Secretary-Treasurer. “This is not just a labor issue but it is a student’s rights and civil rights issue … if we let this trend continue then what will happen next? ... This will not stand. This is not what people expected coming out of the November elections.”

Wis. Assembly Cuts Public Worker Bargaining Rights 10MAR11

WHAT'S next in Madison, the burning of the Reichstag.....er, Statehouse, so Ubervorsteher walker can unleash his National Guard troops on the people of Wisconsin? 

by NPR Staff and Wires

Wisconsin police tried to secure a door inside the state Capitol as thousands of angry people mobbed the area in anticipation of Thursday's Assembly vote.

Morry Gash/AP

Wisconsin police tried to secure a door inside the state Capitol as thousands of angry people mobbed the area in anticipation of Thursday's Assembly vote.

text size A A A

March 10, 2011

Wisconsin lawmakers voted Thursday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from the state's public workers in one of the strongest blows to the power of unions in years.
The state's Assembly passed Republican Gov. Scott Walker's explosive proposal 53-42 Thursday. The state's Senate approved it the night before after using a procedural move to bypass its AWOL Democrats.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald spoke to reporters after Wednesday's vote in Madison.

Walker says he'll sign the legislation as quickly as possible.
The vote brings a swift end to a standoff over union rights that has rocked Wisconsin and the nation. Tens of thousands of protesters have converged on the state's Capitol for weeks of demonstrations.
The implementation of Walker's proposal will be a key victory for Republicans who have targeted unions amid efforts to slash government spending.
Angry people packed the hallway leading to the Assembly on Thursday. At least 50 protesters were carried out by police, and the building was locked down briefly while officers did a security review.
"The whole world is watching!" protesters shouted outside the Assembly's entrance.
Democratic representatives pounded on the locked door of the chamber before the vote, scheduled for 11 a.m. local time. It wasn't unlocked until around 11:30 a.m.

I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government.

- Republican Gov. Scott Walker

"What more egregious, illegal, unethical step can be taken to prevent democracy in Wisconsin?" Rep. Donna Seidel (D-Wausau) said as she banged on the door along with her colleagues.
If the bill passes the Assembly as expected, it would head to Republican Gov. Scott Walker for his signature. At a news conference in Milwaukee, the governor said he'll sign the legislation "as quickly as I can legally."
Hours after Senate Republicans passed the bill Wednesday, a crowd of hundreds of protesters swelled to thousands in a rally as large as any seen inside the Capitol in three weeks of demonstrations. At one point, there were so many people pushing their way through the building's entrances that police just gave up trying to stop them.

They did this in a hurry because they knew once the public would find out, they would be furious.

- Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch

Shawn Johnson of Wisconsin Public Radio told NPR that the protesters really didn't see it coming.
"They knew there was going to be a vote on this at some point, but the way that it happened was definitely extraordinary," he said.
The Senate's 14 Democrats had stymied the bill for weeks by leaving the state and preventing the chamber from having enough members present to pass it. Walker introduced the measure to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.
Republicans needed at least one Democrat present for a quorum of 20 in order to take up any measures that spend money. So GOP leaders essentially outmaneuvered the missing Democrats by stripping away pieces of the bill that triggered the rule so that they could vote on the collective bargaining elements.
The entire process happened very quickly, Johnson said.
"At about 4 o'clock central time, Republican leaders said they were going to convene a special committee to consider this plan," he said. "Less than two hours later, that committee met and passed the bill, and just a few minutes after that, Republican senators met and voted 18-1 in favor of the plan without any debate and without a single Democrat in the room."
Spectators flooded the Senate gallery, screaming "You are cowards" at lawmakers as they voted. Republican Sen. Dale Schultz cast the lone no vote.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Democrats' chairs sat empty during the Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker's legislation that would restrict collective bargaining for most government workers in Wisconsin. Republicans voted 18-1 to pass the bill.

"I voted my conscience, which I feel reflects the core beliefs of the majority of voters who sent me here to represent them," Schultz said in a statement.
Walker said Democrats had three weeks to debate the bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come back, but refused.
"I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government," Walker said in a statement.
Senate Democrats met late Wednesday night to discuss when they might return. They said they would not be back Thursday, but gave no indication when they might come home.
"We are going to watch and see how the Assembly unfolds," said Sen. Spencer Coggs. "There will be fireworks. There will be a lot of people at the Capitol, and so it will be hard to get in and out of the Capitol."
Thursday's vote is something of a foregone conclusion, Johnson said, given that Assembly lawmakers passed a similar version of the bill a few weeks ago. But he said the recent maneuverings at the Capitol make it worth watching.

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Until Wednesday's Senate action, it appeared the standoff would persist until Democrats returned to Madison from their self-imposed exile in Illinois.
"In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin. Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten," Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller said. "Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people."
Speaking by phone, Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch said the vote left people in shock.
"They did this in a hurry because they knew once the public would find out, they would be furious," Jauch said.
Republicans said this was their only option, because they were convinced Democrats were prepared to stay away from the Senate indefinitely, and that it followed the letter of the law.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said he reviewed the plan with the Legislature's lawyers and budget specialists, and they advised him "that this proposal would not trigger the special quorum requirement."
But Democrats contended that it happened so fast that it violated Wisconsin law. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, the lone Democrat present on the special committee that put the bill in position to pass the Senate, shouted that the meeting was a violation of the state's open meetings law.
"The jig is now up," Barca said. "The fraud on the people of Wisconsin is now clear."
The Senate's chief clerk said hours later that the meeting was properly held.
Sen. Chris Larson said that when he and fellow Democrats got wind of what was happening, they tried to rush back to Madison.
"Personally, I tried to drive as fast as I could to get up there," Larson said. "My colleagues tried to get ready in order to do the same, but there was no chance with the very short time frame. They knew what they were doing; they intended to deceive the people."
David Newby, past president of Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, said union members are not going to sit back and let it happen.
"I'm ashamed for our state, but it means that we've got a protracted fight ... that is not going to go away," he said. "Once they pass this bill, that's just the beginning of the fight."
Walker had repeatedly argued that collective bargaining is a budget issue, because his proposed changes would give local governments the flexibility to confront the budget cuts needed to close the state's $3.6 billion deficit. He has said that without the changes, he may have needed to lay off 1,500 state workers and make other cuts to balance the budget.
The measure forbids most government workers from collectively bargaining for wage increases beyond the rate of inflation unless approved by referendum. It also requires public workers to pay more toward their pensions and double their health insurance contributions, a combination equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut for the average worker. Police and firefighters are exempt.
Despite being outfoxed, Democrats see an upside to the battle over bargaining rights.
Johnson said Democrats think the level of public energy could translate to the ballot box.
"Already, there are recall petitions being circulated against eight of the Republicans who voted for this plan. I should also mention that there are recalls being organized against some of the Democratic senators who left town," Johnson said.
"But Democrats think that overall, this is an issue that energizes their base certainly more than it was energized in last year's election."
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/10/134419331/protests-swell-after-wis-senate-curbs-union-rights?sc=nl&cc=brk-20110310-1652 

Wisconsin assembly agrees to union bill vote; troopers' search for Democrats comes up dry 24FEB11

THE DICTATOR WANNA-BE gov scott walker continues his assault on workers rights in Wisconsin, and the repercussions will be felt around the nation. The Wisconsin Senate Democrats must stay united and stay out of the state until the union-busting legislation is withdrawn. Go to the Wisconsin Is Us live blog for the latest updates on the workers struggle, there is a link to them on this blog
By Ariana Eunjung Cha and Brady Dennis
Washington Post Staff Writers

Republicans and Democrats in the Wisconsin Assembly agreed to a deal shortly before dawn on Thursday that sets the stage for a vote on a bill that would limit collective bargaining rights for public workers.
The bill has prompted several days of protests at the State Capitol by more than 60,000 union supporters .
The agreement, announced shortly after 6 a.m., follows a marathon 40-hour debate that began Tuesday morning, during which Democrats sought to delay the vote by filibustering. The vote could come as soon as Thursday afternoon and will almost certainly pass, given the chamber's Republican majority.
That would send the bill to the Wisconsin Senate, which has been unable to vote on the issue since 14 Democratic senators fled the state and left it without a quorum. Wisconsin state troopers were dispatched Thursday to the homes of the missing Democrats to try to pressure them to return to break an impasse on a budget bill.
The Senate sergeant at arms said the troopers left after not finding any of the senators at home, the Associated Press reported. The troopers had been authorized by a Senate decision early Thursday to issue a "call of the house," allowing law enforcement to be sent to find missing members.
While police cannot arrest the members, Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has said he hopes they will feel compelled to come back to debate the bill. The Republicans need just a single Democrat to return to vote.
Democratic state Sen. Robert Jauch, a longtime Wisconsin lawmaker, said Thursday morning that despite rumors that some of his colleagues had returned to the state, "everybody is outside of Wisconsin -- all of us."
He said he had just spoken to his wife at their home more than 300 miles north of the state capital and that no law enforcement officials had come knocking at his door.
"They're too cheap to send somebody from Madison up to northern Wisconsin," Jauch said. "If they had, my wife was going to invite them in for hot chocolate."
Jauch criticized what he called the "police state mentality" by Republicans in the capital and took issue with Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's assertions that Democrats who had fled the state were abandoning their duties.
"I'm doing more from the Land of Lincoln to communicate with citizens in my district than he is," Jauch said, adding that the Senate Democrats talk regularly and are "trying to reach out through back channels to see what the solution could be. This governor has dug himself in -- that's very clear."
The scene at the Wisconsin Capitol resembled a siege. Elected officials and their staffers were taking turns sleeping on couches. Some Republican representatives' offices have had to defend themselves from angry protesters who defaced signs supporting Walker. Many Assembly members have had only a few hours of sleep over two nights.
Peter Barca, a Democrat who is the Assembly's minority leader, said that around 4 a.m. he was approached by the speaker, who told him that "his members were tired and they were frustrated."
Barca said in an interview that he was given an ultimatum: "Unless we limited our amendments, they were going to just pull the plug. They were going to use parliamentary procedure to shut down the debate. It would get ugly."
The Assembly's Democrats had no choice, he said. "We very reluctantly agreed."
Under Walker's plan, most public workers - excluding police, firefighters and state troopers - would lose bargaining rights for anything other than pay and would have to pay half of their pension costs and at least 12 percent of their health-care costs. Walker, who took office last month, says the emergency measure would save $300 million over the next two years to help close a $3.6 billion budget gap.
Rep. Tyler August (R), who represents the southeastern part of the state, said that the deal announced by the Assembly is the first step toward resolving the standoff that has triggered protests in state capitals throughout the country.
"I think the Democrats thought they might be able to wear us down. But they have not done so. We certainly plan on still passing the bill," August said.
August said he had heard that several Democratic senators already had returned to the state and was hopeful they would show up so that the bill could be passed.
"This isn't a game. For them to be running around is just so unbelievably irresponsible to their constituents," he said.
chaa@washpost.com dennisb@washpost.com

Top Six Revelations in the Call Between Fake David Koch and Governor Scott Walker 23FEB11

gov scott walker is a real piece of work....just listen to this phone call to him by a blogger pretending to be one of the koch brothers...


The call made by a Buffalo blogger pretending to be billionaire right-wing activist David Koch to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is quickly making an impact on the news cycle. (You can listen to the call on YouTube: Part 1 | Part 2.)
Walker is extremely frank with the man he believes to be an important financial supporter, both of his own campaign and right-wing causes. Below are the six most important revelations we learn from listening to the Governor speak his mind.
1. Walker and the Senate Republicans are conspiring to withhold Democratic lawmakers' paychecks.
A minute into the call, Governor Walker describes a plan by the Senate Majority Leader to institute a new rule that would stop automatic deductions of lawmakers' paychecks if they do not appear in the Senate for more than two days. It would require lawmakers to appear in person to collect their checks.
Walker describes this as part of a plan he is working on with GOP Senators: "Each day, we're going to rachet this up a little bit."
2. Walker sees billionaire David Koch as "one of us."
Two and a half minutes in, Walker is describing a conversation he had with a Democratic state lawmaker, Tim Cullen, who Walker says is the "only reasonable" one among the Democrats. When the man pretending to be Koch suggests he calls Cullen, Walker says that although Cullen is reasonable, he is not "one of us." Who is the "us" that includes Walker and out-of-state billionaire Koch, but not an elected state legislator?
3. Walker is planning to threaten state workers with layoffs.
Five minutes into the call, Governor Walker says he is planning to issue between 5,000 and 6,000 "risk notices" to state workers announcing that they are at risk of being laid off. He makes this statement in the context of what he is planning to do to put pressure on Democrats to cave into his demands, not what is necessary due to the budget crunch. "If they want to start sacrificing thousands of public workers to be laid off," he says, "sooner or later there's gonna be pressure on Senators to come back. We're not going to compromise."
4. Walker has a plan to lie to Senate Democrats and pass the bill while they are not aware of the vote.
Seven minutes in, Walker describes a plan created by his chief of staff to call Senate Democrats back to "hear what they have to say." While he is discussing the issues with the Democrats, the Senate would be in recess. In actuality, once Democrats come back to the state assembly, Republicans would be able to pass the bill eliminating collective bargaining rights while Walker is in discussions with Democrats.
5. Walker considered planting fake protesters to cause trouble among the real protesters.
Fourteen and a half minutes in, the fake David Koch says that they are considering "planing some troublemakers" among the crowd of protesters. Walker responds with, "we thought about that." He expresses no moral objection to the plan, but says that he thinks it is the wrong strategy, because a "ruckus" would make people think he should compromise.
6. Walker is corrupt.
Although early in Walker says they are investigating the Democratic Senators to see if they are committing ethics violations by accepting union funds, when the fake David Koch says he will fly Walker "out to Cali and really show you a good time," Walker responds by saying "that would be outstanding."

Scott Walker's Prank Caller: I Was Going To Pretend To Be Mubarak First 23FEB11

This proves gov walker is owned by the koch brothers and other members of corporate America, and what a fool he is.....

WASHINGTON -- The man who pretended to be conservative bankroller David Koch on a prank phone call with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Wednesday that he originally planned to pose as exiled Egypt President Hosni Mubarak but couldn't perfect the voice.
Ian Murphy, the editor of the Buffalo Beast, told The Huffington Post in an interview that he was "shocked" at how easy it was to get Walker, currently the nation's most-talked-about governor, on the phone merely by pretending to be a billionaire donor.
"Fifteen minutes in, I wanted to almost stop it and say, 'Are you so dumb, I'm not David Koch. How can your staff be so incompetent and how could I get on the phone with you so easily,'" Murphy said, barely suppressing his glee. "But I didn't."
Instead, Murphy spent an additional five minutes talking to Walker about a host of outlandish proposals and takes on the protests that have erupted around the governor's anti-union budget legislation. Walker's office insists that he said nothing on the phone with Murphy that he wouldn't have said in public, but the governor pitched the Koch impersonator some bizarre plans.
Walker said he wanted to ostensibly trick Democratic lawmakers to return to Wisconsin so that he could call a quorum and quickly pass his bill to strip collective-bargaining rights from the state's public-employee unions. He also talked openly about putting plants in the crowd of protesters to sway public opinion against their favor.
"He didn't do it because it was unethical, but because it didn't work," Murphy said. "People ask me what was the smoking gun. That's what I'm saying."
How the call came to happen provides a window of sorts into how even the most audacious forms of guerrilla journalism -- if a prank call can be called that -- can affect political debates. Murphy said he came across a Huffington Post article quoting a Democratic state Senator complaining that Walker wouldn't take his calls.

Story continues below

"I just wondered ... who could get ahold of him," Murphy said.
After deciding not to call as Mubarak, Murphy said he was looking to pose as someone whose voice was "more generic." He settled on Koch and practiced imitating the billionaire's voice with the help of some YouTube videos.
Perfection, however, was elusive. Instead, Murphy just spoke with a bit more bass, with the idea of playing the part of a Koch caricature. "I just envisioned him saying 'beautiful, beautiful' a lot, and things like 'crush those union bastards,'" he said.
Calling the phone number on the governor's website, he managed to talk his way onto the line with Walker's chief of staff, via Skype. After explaining that Walker couldn't call him back because his "maid" threw his phone in the washing machine and he'd have her "deported" but she made "next to nothing," Murphy waited for 10 minutes on the phone -- a tell in itself, he noted: "You don't expect David Koch to wait 10 minutes on the phone."
Nonetheless, Walker came on. "I kind of just let him talk. I was in shock," Murphy said.
So too, apparently, was the governor. As Murphy noted, Walker seemed "thrilled" to talk to "Koch." The impression left was that the billionaire backer and the upstart governor really hadn't rubbed elbows before.
"That might be one downside of this thing, it shows that they don't have the intimate relationship people imagined," Murphy said. "It's henchmen passing envelopes back and forth and the billionaire never actually talks to the politician."
But Murphy said took another key lesson away from the prank. "If you are David Koch, you can get anyone on the phone," he said, "period."

• Scott Walker

WASHINGTON -- The man who pretended to be conservative bankroller David Koch on a prank phone call with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Wednesday that he originally planned to pose as exiled Egyp...

WASHINGTON -- The man who pretended to be conservative bankroller David Koch on a prank phone call with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Wednesday that he originally planned to pose as exiled Egyp...

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In the newly released prank call, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is extremely frank with the man he believes to be an important financial supporter both of his own campaign and right-wing causes.

Wisconsin Senate to convene without Democrats this week 20FEB11

AN update on the battle for worker's rights in Wisconsin, be sure to check out the live blog Wisconsin Is Us (link on this blog). SOLIDARITY WISCONSIN!!!!!
By RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press

AP/Wisconsin State Journal, Steve Apps

Protesters gather down State Street in Madison, Wis. after a a rally outside the Wisconsin State Capitol on Saturday.

Wisconsin's senate majority leader says the chamber will convene to pass non-spending bills and act on appointments Tuesday even if minority Democrats remain out of state.
Republican Sen. Scott Fitzgerald told The Associated Press on Sunday that he would be reviewing which bills and appointees to schedule for action. He says senators can't wait around "twiddling their thumbs" until the Democrats return.
Fourteen Democrats fled to Illinois last week to delay action on a budget bill that would effectively eliminate collective bargaining rights for most public employees. Republicans need 20 of 33 members to have a quorum to pass any spending bill but only a simple majority of 17 for other items.
Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller says Democrats will not return until Gov. Scott Walker is ready to compromise on his labor proposal.
Gov. Scott Walker predicted Sunday that Wisconsin would lead states across the country in weakening unions that have negotiated compensation packages taxpayers can no longer afford while his opponents rallied for a sixth day in the Capitol in an attempt to avoid that fate.
Democratic lawmakers, union leaders and rank-and-file teachers and firefighters called on Walker to back off his plan to eliminate most collective bargaining rights for public employees. They argued the unions had already agreed to cuts in their health care and retirement benefits that could reduce take-home pay for many workers by about 8 percent, and it was time for the Republican governor to compromise.
In a Sunday morning interview from Madison with Fox News, Walker said he did not believe union leaders were really interested in giving up their benefits and cities, school districts and counties will need weakened unions to cut spending for years to come. With Democratic Senators still out of state to delay passage of the bill, Walker said he would not compromise and predicted that Wisconsin would pave the way for other states to follow suit, much like it did with welfare reform and school vouchers in the 1990s.
"We're willing to take this as long as it takes because in the end we're doing the right thing," Walker said.
The sweeping measure led to massive protests that started Tuesday and have gained steam including an estimated 68,000 people turned out Saturday. Most opposed the bill, but the day marked the first time that a significant contingent of Walker supporters showed up to counter-protest.
Hundreds of protesters gathered inside the Capitol on Sunday, as snow turned into freezing rain that made walking outside the building a challenge. The demonstrators banged on drums and danced in the Capitol Rotunda while they chanted, "This is what Democracy looks like" and "union busting!"
The crowd swelled throughout the day, but an estimate was not immediately available. Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the state AFL-CIO, told the crowd the protests would continue until the proposal was killed. Another large protest was expected Monday, when many state workers are being furloughed to save money.
Mariah Clark, an emergency medical technician at University of Wisconsin hospital and a volunteer firefighter, said she stands to lose $250 per month from her income with the benefits concessions. Standing on a bench holding a sign reading "EMT. Firefighter. Not the public enemy," she said the pay cut would hurt but that's not why she was protesting.
"I really believe this is about workers everywhere, not just public employees," said Clark, 29. "It's pathetic that in Wisconsin, one of the places where the labor movement started, that this would happen."
Jacob Cedillo Tootalian, a 27-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student and teaching assistant, slept overnight in the Capitol for a third time this week as part of a union representing teaching assistants. He said he was worried about paying more for his health insurance and tuition, but what kept him protesting was the possibility of losing the union.
"Normalcy would be nice," he said. "But it seems the governor and the state Republicans are intent on taking these rights away."
The bill would require government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs and limit collective bargaining to pay increases less than the Consumer Price Index unless approved in a local referendum. Workers could not negotiate their benefits and working conditions. Unions could not force their workers to pay dues, and would face a vote every year to remain certified.
Walker denied the bill was an attempt at "union busting" and said the measure is needed to deal with the state's projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall for the two-year period that ends June 30, 2013.
He told Fox News he hoped the senators would return to work early this week.
Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said in a telephone interview Sunday that the senators weren't likely to come back until the governor was willing to compromise.
Erpenbach said he remained at a Chicago hotel and his colleagues were "scattered" out of state. They had a conference call Saturday night, and Erpenbach said they remained united in their effort to stall the bill.
"It's trying to slow this train down," he said. "It's making sure that obviously everybody in the state knows what we're dealing with here. It's an opportunity for the governor to calm down, take a step back, realize what he's asking for with this legislation and hopefully come to his senses."
Erpenbach said Democrats have reached out to Walker's administration but their phone calls have not been returned. He said it may take a coalition of moderate Republicans in the Senate to try to negotiate an end to the stalemate.
One of them, Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, has proposed suspending collective bargaining rights temporarily to get through the state's two-year budget, but then restoring them in 2013. That idea was endorsed Sunday by the Wisconsin State Journal, the state's second largest newspaper.
Erpenbach called Schultz brave for bucking Walker's administration with the proposal. Asked whether Democrats could accept Schultz's plan, Erpenbach said workers should not lose their rights since they have agreed to make concessions.
On Sunday, cornerback Charles Woodson, a member of the NFL Players Association, became the latest Green Bay Packer to back the public employees' cause. NFL owners and the players' union are locked in their own fight over a collective bargaining agreement. Along with Woodson, seven other current and former Packers have expressed support for the protesters.
Associated Press writer Dinesh Ramde in Milwaukee contributed to this report.