“Businessman Michael Cudahy derided the recall supporters as a “lynch mob,” but outsiders who saw only the anger misunderstood the depth of the outrage. Supporters were neither puppets nor radicals: they were taxpayers who had raised their families in Milwaukee, bought homes, paid taxes, and played by the rules all their lives. They remembered when Milwaukee was known for its efficiency and integrity, and were offended at the insult to both their intelligence and their integrity.”

Predictably, Sykes has come out as a vocal opponent of the effort to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who Sykes has made a career out of carrying water for.

While his flip-flop won’t earn Sykes another Pulitzer Prize “nomination,” it will earn him an early nomination for Blogging Blue’s “Hypocrite of the Year” Award.

Neumann made his announcement on the notoriously conservative Charlie Sykes Show.  You remember Charlie was the one who promoted Paul Ryan for President.   Sykes is currently praising the New Berlin School District for the onerous work rules they’re imposing on their teachers.  (Jeff wrote about the New Berlin issue here)  Whackjob.  And supporting the Mark Neumann candidacy is just another whackjob move for Sykes.  I’m guessing that embracing the Charlie Sykes and Tea Partiers of the world is a bad move by Neumann.

Why?  Well, just the first conservative blog I turned to for reaction to Neumann’s candidacy already shows that Republicans who aren’t climate change deniers and who haven’t swallowed the tea bags line are luke warm at most to a Neumann candidacy.   The lemmings are not stepping up for Neumann.  Maybe they don’t want another disaster like Scott Walker to drive Republican disapprovals even further down.  But that’s the big problem with Neumann’s embracing of the Tea Party – Tea Party disapprovals are even higher than Republican disapprovals. 

Now it should be clear to all that Neumann is courting the Tea Party because he thinks that helps him in the GOP primary.  He’s also courting the Club for Growth to boost his financials.  But America is turning from both groups, and I suspect Wisconsin will also.

* Workdays for elementary will increase by 60 minutes and Secondary by 30 minutes
* Staff must be available to students before and after student schedules for at least 30 minutes per day
* You can be required to work an additional unpaid 15 hours; no more than 3 hours a week
* No set pay for overtime; only stipends
* No pay for subbing during your preps; Principals can assign you to sub
* Certified staff hours are 1520 per year full time (190 days for this year only)
* The 2012-13 school year starts on August 15′h and runs until June 15′h
* You may be required to start as early as 6:15 AM and end as late as 5:00 PM
* No pay for any attendance at IEPs prior to 5:00 PM
* You may be required to attend inservice or other training, outside your regular work schedule
* Next year, if we do not change the political landscape, pay will be based on performance; pay is insured this year because of the NBEA agreement.
* THIS YEAR, ELEMENTARY WILL BE WORKING AN ADDITIONAL 205 HOURS WITHOUT ADDITIONAL PAY; SECONDARY AN ADDITIONAL 95 HOURS WITHOUT ADDITIONAL PAY; NEXT YEAR, ADD 80 MORE HOURS TO THAT TOTAL, SINCE WE WILL BE STARTING AUGUST 15th AND ENDING JUNE 15th
* Full details not be revealed until September 8th; changes occur October 1
* Possible 80/20 plan and we pay additional premium if the cost of insurance rises
* $4,000 deductible with a $10 generic/ $50 brand drug cost
* The deductible can be reduced by $3,000 if employee and spouse fully participate in the Wellness Program
* Full participation in wellness program: health risk assessment, including biometrics, refrain from use of illegal drugs, participate in program to reduce risk factors, coaching, diet, behavior, follow up medical care, smoking cessation. 1st year: participate, 2nd year: have to take classes to reduce risk factors.
* False reporting, such as claiming you do not smoke when you do, can result in dismissal.
* Other details, such as increased co-pays TBD
* $15,000 payout and age 55 retirement has been eliminated
* Retire by 2016 at age 57 with 20 years at New Berlin, receive insurance until age 65
* Retire by 2021 at 57 with 20 years, receive 3 years of insurance
* Retire after 2021 no benefit packages given.
* 5.8% of your salary will be deducted for state retirement benefits (pension system)
* You are not allowed to drop any licensure without the superintendent’s approval
* Dress Code: Skirts below knee, no sweatshirts, no jeans, no large logos, no open shirts, etc.
* Be dismissed for having students as friends on Facebook
* Grievance: only in termination, discipline or alleged workplace safety issues; you cannot grieve non discipline issues are the items listed under non discipline items such as suspension, letters in file, plans of improvement, etc.
* Jury Duty: regular pay, but you must show documentation to the district that you’ve tried to change the jury duty time to July and August
* School calendar same, teacher convention will be professional development for this year only since it is part of the NBEA working agreement for this year.
* Evaluations: Done yearly without notice
* Collaborative time twice weekly for 2 hours a week.
* You must report all traffic incidents (except speeding) or any tickets you have received to the District within 3 days or face dismissal even if it occurs during your time off
* Take away all microwaves, refrigerators, and coffeemakers, even though each administrator and the District have these items.
* 4 initial days and earn l!I day per month based on good attendance
* However those who have accumulated over 45 days will not be awarded any days until they have used enough days to fall below the 45 day cap.
* Long term disability reduced from 90% of pay to 60% of pay. If ill or have had surgery and do not have any sick time built up, you will be short pay. You will also have to pay your insurance premium during any disability leave.
* No days will be added to sick bank, which will be discontinued after this year, erasing any safety net for those who become critically ill.
* Resign before first day of school, you must pay $200 plus board contributions of benefits (insurance).
* Resigns after the first day school, $2000 plus benefits payments if not 60 days notice given
* Compensation: -5taff will be issued a contract for pay not less than the amount of their pay in the year before the effective date of this handbook. Please report any effort to ask you to sign any additional “individual teaching contracts” unless they are co-curricular)

Tonight was the board meeting and unfortunately the hate right radio triumverate got word that the teachers were going to attend the meeting and put word out to their brownshirts that they were needed to heckle and intimidate the teachers. Their mission was accomplished as the minimal crowd of ” tea party” leftovers did the hate radios bidding and showed up and not only caused a disturbance, but according to people at the meeting, yelled and spit at the teachers, pulled signs out of their hands and ripped them up and even disgustingly handed out pacifiers to the teachers.

Yes the sin of professionals wanting a say in their workplace rules and a few disgusting thugs and bullies show up to attempt to degrade the teachers of New Berlin? They were dramatically outnumbered yet yelled the loudest and were the most antagonistic. The hypocrisy of that amazes me, also where were Sykes or Vicki Pyzinski or Jeff Wagner?? Too ashamed to show up on their own or too cowardly?

With the outrage at a few kids who dressed up like zombies and said nothing at a Scott Walker event, who on the right will be a leader and condemn the disgusting display tonight (especially the total disrespect of the teachers by handing out pacifiers).

This display shows exactly who the sykes/pyzinski/Belling hate radio triumverate really are and the picture is not pretty! I wonder if next they will try and hand out pacifiers to police officers when they call and ask for help, or maybe fire fighters when their house is on fire or prison guards everytime we overcrowded their prisons…

Will have more info and video later.

UPDATE: Here is some video from the meeting. I personally love when cowardly politicians take votes w/o discussion then have nothing to say afterwards. The WISN news report is here. The Journal Sentinel story is here. H/T Blue Cheddar for the following video, (PS> If you are not already, you should be reading her blog also.).

I actually think that the Firefighters Local 312, made a mistake and should have fully embraced this float. What better way to show the difference between the two parties – The Republicans who are trying to take the firefighters collective bargaining rights away and make their workplaces less safe and the democrats who are not.

The fake outrage even got the “tea party” involved and since history is not their strong suit lets review. On 9/11, 343 firefighter died in the attacks on the twin towers. Due in large part to the incredible incompetence of Rudy \"9-11\" Guiliani. Who not only did not update the radio system that the firefighters desperatly needed, but also stopped the firefighters from recovering their fallen comrades. He then went on to perpetually lie about his role in this while cashing in on the deaths of 3000 Americans every chance he had( even being mocked by the other candidates). Let’s not forget that Charlie Sykes backed Rudy Guiliani.

I also think that the righty blabbers and the tea party seem to have forgotten who killed Osama Bin Laden. So in reality Mr. Gorniak truly put forth a float in the Racine Parade that showed the stark difference between the two parties, one of incompetence and one that has actually supported working Americans and national security.

Thank you Mr. Gorniak and the “tea party” for the reminder.

As Mike Elk and Think Progress point out:

After not paying any taxes and making huge profits, ThinkProgress has learned that General Electric is expected to ask its nearly 15,000 unionized employees in the United States to make major concessions.

This year, 14 unions representing more than 15,000 workers will negotiate a new master contract with General Electric. Among the major concessions GE has signaled that it will ask of union workers is the elimination of a defined contribution benefit pension for new employees, a move the company has already implemented for its non-union salaried employees. Likewise, GE is signaling to the union that it will ask for the elimination of current health insurance plans in favor of lower quality health saving accounts, a move the company has already implemented for non-union salaried employees as well.

In addition, General Electric may ask some workers for a wage freeze. Since the recession began in 2007, GE threatened to close plants in Schenectady, NY and Louisville, KY unless workers took wage concessions and adopted two-tier wage structure.

In case you were wondering, General Electric Co. Chairman and CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt\'s 2010 compensation more than doubled(from 2009) to $15.2 million!

Even Jon Stewart weighed in:

While Charlie Sykes wanted the name of a single union that has come to the table and offered to pay more towards health insurance and pensions, I’ve got two – AFSCME and WEAC:

Earlier Friday, Marty Beil, head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, said his members would agree to pay more of their pension contributions and health insurance benefits as Walker is demanding. But Beil said his union would never agree to give up decades-old bargaining rights.

Beil’s union is part of AFSCME, the largest state and local employee union in Wisconsin, which represents 68,000 workers for the state, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and other municipalities. An AFSCME spokesman said Beil was speaking for all the group’s union locals in the state.

“We are prepared to implement the financial concessions proposed to help bring our state’s budget into balance, but we will not be denied our God-given right to join a real union . . .  we will not – I repeat we will not – be denied our rights to collectively bargain,” Beil said in a statement.

Mary Bell, the president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers union, said her group also would make the financial concessions to keep its bargaining rights.

“This is not about money,” Bell said in a phone conference. “We understand the need to sacrifice.”

Now I’m sure Sykes defenders will be quick to point out that neither AFSCME or WEAC have actually come to the table to concede higher health insurance and pension payments by their members, but let’s not forget that it’s Gov. Scott Walker who has refused to come to the table and even try to negotiate such concessions.

However, in honor of all those “family values” conservatives out there, I think we should call it “National Charlie Sykes & Newt Gingrich Third Marriage Week.”