One year ago today was my first day at the protests. I know that the official anniversary is February 14th, I missed the first day. In the past year we have had many successes and many failures but every day has been a battle. The State is divided like never before and probably like no other state in the Union.
This all started when Governor Walker decided to “drop the bomb” on the people of Wi with his extremist and divisive ACT 10. This bill is what brought people to the Capitol to protest and what made the legislature do crazy things like meet throughout the night, hold 17 second votes, intimidate women, shut out one side of the debate, illegally shut down our Capitol, sign secrecy agreements with unethical lawyers, etc…
Never once has Scott Walker ever spoke up against any of the craziness that has happened in our state under his watch. As a matter of fact he has used it as a badge of honor by going to fund raise when he talks to extremist fringe groups like he did last weekend at CPAC.
As bad as Scott Walker has been, and as extremist has his unprecedented power grab been, the one thing that he took away, that he did not have to, was collective bargaining rights of public employees. He could have taken most everything else he did , he could have cut the $1.6 billion out of education devastating our public education system. ended local control in any issue they could get their hands on, partisan redistrict the state unlike anyone here has veer seen before, well you get my drift….
How do we remedy this? We started with the recall but the real test will be the recall election(which will happen). The question that the democratic party has to ask themselves is who is the best person to beat Scott Walker in November. I choose Kathleen Falk.
Kathleen Falk is a lawyer, an environmentalist, brilliant, approachable, intelligent, has a very good track record, and she did something that Thomas Paine would have been proud of. She pledged to restore Collective Bargaining rights. Unlike Scott Walker who campaigned one way and immediately governed another, Kathleen Falk is telling you EXACTLY what she plans on doing. There will be no calling your staff together, telling them she is just like ronald reagan, then “dropping the bomb” on Wi and passing draconian legislation in less than a week. Kathleen Falk is telling us ahead of time what she wants to do and how she wants to govern.
It is time to start uniting our state, it is time we had a Governor who wants to work with everyone, and NOT spend their time running around the country fundraising. It is time we have a Governor who is honest with the people of Wisconsin. It is time we have a Governor who has a successful track record and a transparent excellent education. It is time we had a Governor who understands how important it is to continue to lead in public education. It is time we had a Governor we can be proud of.
Therefore, I endorse Kathleen Falk for Governor of Wisconsin. Please join me and Kathleen Falk in bringing Wisconson together again and back to being a leader in our great nation.
*** This endorsement comes from myself only, not intended to mean endorsed by all of Blogging Blue.
“It is time we have a Governor who is honest with the people of Wisconsin.” “It is time we had a Governor we can be proud of.”
Honest with the people?? Proud of?? How can you write that with a straight face? Or maybe you didn’t.
Because I have been paying attention to scott walker and because I know Kathleen Falk.
The state of Wisconsin has been lucky to have a governor who puts ALL the people first not just a few union members who feel they have a entitlement right to steal form the hard working middle class paycheck in this state. Thanks for your support for FALK her extremist far left agenda will only play well in the Madison Milwaukee corridor the remainder of the state will she who she really is a progressive extremist owned by unions and a puppet for unions that will cause extreme harm to all the people in this state.
Once again you’ve shown how you can get all the talking points and catchphrases into one long, incoherent rant. Well done. You must be proud of yourself.
dante, I’d love for you to explain to me how I’m stealing from anyone. I’m a public employee, and I also happen to be solidly middle class and a taxpayer, and I’d like to think I work pretty darn hard for my paychecks.
However, if you think public employees have such a sweet deal, I’d love to see you sign on to be a corrections officer at Waupun Correctional Institution, or perhaps Columbia Correctional Institution. I’m betting you don’t have the balls to do the job, so you’ve got some nerve to complain.
Correct, my good man. But get ready to get bitch slapped by scads of leftist rhetoric and talking points. Mostly about how much they hate Walker.
Well, I would prefer another candidate (Peter Barca); but if all we get is Kathleen Falk, I will definitely stand by her.
Thanks, Jeff, for publicly backing Falk. Hopefully a progressive coming to our senses.
Regards, John
Apart from Jeff’s endorsement, has anyone given serious consideration to Falk’s veto pledge? How would this play out with a GOP controlled Assembly a year from now? Will the repubs put collective bargaining into a budget bill because of a veto threat? What will happen when they refuse?
Steve,
I have. The whole assembly is up for grabs in November. While i get that they have an advantage to keep it, its not like people ar chomping at the bit to go vote for people like scot krug or Don Pridemore, etc… ”
Lets say that the repubs do maintain control but lose seats, and you add the first time WI has fired a governor and aflipping of the Senate and dont you think the remaining repubs in the assmebly would have to be insane not to negotiate.
Which brings me to my last point , negotiation. if that is the case then she would have to sit downand negotiate with them. Something scott Walker has proven incapable of doing.
I’ve long wanted to write a rant about how us proles should stop approaching candidacies like cable pundits, trying to second-guess how they’ll play with everybody else.
Obviously some consideration has to be paid to viability, and it’s possible to slip into an idealistic, Naderite political solipsism. But judging on the discussion out there about this and other races, we’re discounting our own individual instincts and preferences far too much and debates are conducted on a strange meta-level where the voters are “out there.” The voters is us.
So I’d like to endorse from-the-heart endorsements like Jeff’s.
I’d rather we find out who’s all going to be in the race before we go endorsing anyone. And that’s what annoys me the most about WEAC’s pledge and even endorsements like Jeff’s, because are you going to tell me with a straight face that Kathy Falk is automatically the best we can do? I don’t accept that premise at all, and I certainly think she needs to EARN this primary nod, and not be given it.
Maybe she ends up being the next one, but I see a lot of behind-the-scenes maneuvering here that’s trying to lock out some very qualified potential candidates. The people made this recall happen, not insiders like Kathy Falk, and therefore I think the people should get to be the ones to make the final call. Weird concept, I know.
Trying to lock out, or trying to get the horse out of the gate?
My choice isn’t in the race, and is becoming less and less my choice as time goes on. I think there’s more hedging going on by people who have something to lose than power plays.
Jake,
I want and prefer a primary. Kathleen Falk is my candidate of choice for the primary and the general if she survives the primary. I am not taking away anything from anyone who is in or gets in but I have made my choice.
Other people might get in still but in reality what are they waiting for?? I was holding out hope for Russ but he is NOT running so its time to move on. Not trying to lock anyone out, just from the candidates I see running and the ones who are considering it I still prefer Kathleen.
All bets are off though if Lori Compas runs for Governor!
Jeff- I’m with you on the “What are they waiting for?” angle, as I think there are better candidates out there, but it’s helping a potential opponent in Falk by allowing her to remain the top name in the race (Vinehout is legit, but not as well-known). I’m more complaining about organizations like WEAC making their call this early, because it does seem like a pre-emptive strike intended to keep certain candidates out.
I also fear that Falk has sort of a Hillary Clinton in 2008 mentality of “Well, it’s my time, you know who I am, and you should just vote for me based on that.” She needs to understand that she has to sell a lot of people on her being the one to take out Scott Walker, and the “succession line” method of getting support is something that sunk Tom Barrett in 2010, because he didn’t go out and get people excited to vote for him. Whoever the candidate is should get in and EARN IT.
My endorsement of endorsements extends to anti-endorsements.
I get way more out of you telling me what you don’t like about Falk than why you think she’s unelectable. The latter seems to me to be encrusted with conventional wisdom.
I do not think that Kathleen Falk is necessarily “next” (not sure who would be considered next for governor)and I am usually against the concept of next. I agree that whoever gets the nomination has to want it, and the fact that she came in aggressively and hasa good team behind her shows that she does.
I also like the idea of a primary because it keeps the democrats in the 24 hour news cycle every day for free. Lets be honest here also, if the dems didnt have a primary the repubs would have forced one anyway so we might as well have a relevant one.
AGain though if anyone else is going to get in they better fish or cut bait.
I still think it’s too early in the process to be making endorsements and lining up behind one candidate.
Having said that, how about…Tim John for Governor!