Over at Uppity Wisconsin, xoff asks a very good question:
Will State Sen. Jeff Plale, a South Side Milwaukee Democrat who portrayed himself as a friend of blue collar workers in his losing campaign for re-election, sell out union members and sabotage their contracts as his final act in the legislature?
The logical answer to xoff’s question is yes, because Jeff Plale’s angling for a job in Scott Walker’s gubernatorial administration. During the primary campaign he lost to incoming State Sen. Chris Larson, Plale received the support of AFSCME, the union representing public employees – the same public employees who are now questioning whether their labor contract covering the period from 2009 to 2011 will be approved by the legislature before the end of the year.
I’m betting Jeff Plale and Russ Decker (the former union bricklayer, no less) won’t stand up for Wisconsin’s public employees, despite their campaign promises to stand behind Wisconsin’s union workers, but hopefully they’ll both prove me wrong.
Using his past record rather than his campaign promises as the basis, the answer is yes.
Bill Christopherson’s post was bizarre at best. He offers zero evidence of Plale’s position. No quotes, no links, no articles. This seems more of some obsession with Jeff Plale rather than reality.
Show me some evidence.
The evidence can be found in the vote. As I predicted, both Plale and Decker voted against the contracts.
That’s not an obsession; that’s reality.
I guess you neglected to read my reply to your comment over on my blog, in which I cited a WisPolitics report.
Our comments apparently exist in wholly separate, insular universes.
That says more about you than me. It is called evidence.
And to that I reply, look at his statements, then look at his actions. Et ipsa loquitur — it speaks for itself. So do the election results.
What action? Christoferson, nor you, have offered any statements that show what he is going to do. That is my point, no evidence.
John, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to see how Plale and Decker were setting themselves up to vote against these contracts, with or without concrete proof or evidence.
Sounds like Xach was right, as those gutless pussies bailed on state workers and reality in order to get paid. Your response, Johnny?
One of the most frustrating parts of being liberal is constantly ending up telling loudmouths “Look, we told you this would happen….”
You should be mad at Decker. He is the one who screwed us.
No, Russ Decker and Jeff Plale screwed state workers. What’s ironic is Plale voted against the contracts after AFSCME supported him in his primary campaign against Chris Larson, who’s definitely a more pro-union guy.
Why are you so hot on defending Plale?
I was wondering that exact same thing.
Oh I do not know, maybe because you guys jumped all over him with zero evidence. Just because you ended up being correct does not mean you were right, just lucky. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
You should focus more of your attention on Decker who clearly traded his vote for something. If he gets a job, then that is trading his vote for something of value, a felony.
I would think just the opposite. At least Decker demonstrated some character & principle:
I certainly get disagreeing with him on this – but it sure seems like it’s at least a defensible position he’s taking.
Plale on the other hand – seems pretty obvious that it was a bit of a parting gift…retribution to his own party for running against him & beating him in the primary.
But tell me – how the hell do you guys defend pulling Wood out of jail for the deciding vote in the Assembly? It’s like calling the lame duck session for this & giving voters the middle finger on the way out just wasn’t enough. They needed to actually poke it in our eyes as well.
I don’t have much confidence at all that the Republicans are capable of doing a very good job fixing the mess we’re in. But the Dems definitely need a time out.
I’m not defending what happened with Wood; that was pretty shitty.
My issue here is the fact that both Plale and Decker were proud to be pro-union when they were running for reelection, but when it came time to put their money where their mouths were, they showed their true colors.
Mark my words….one or both will end up calling Scott Walker “boss” as a part of his administration.
So being “pro-union” means they must bend over backwards and just mindlessly accept whatever deal is before them? What about a responsibility to being pro-constituent, pro-taxpayer, pro-Wisconsin if and when those values conflict with being “pro-union”?
I guess it comes back to bite Dems for cannibalizing Plale and taking your party so far left that reasonable voices can’t stand it anymore.
I get the anger with Plale – obviously you guys haven’t been happy with him & his positions on certain things for awhile. And given his tendency to cross the aisle, switching sides completely wouldn’t be a huge surprise.
But does Decker actually have a history that would give you reason to think he was looking to curry favor with Walker?
And again – I do find Decker’s explanation (if it is legitimate & not just a rationalization) to be compelling.
I also think that voting against this agreement doesn’t have to mean they’re anti-union. For that to be true, doesn’t that necessarily mean that this deal was significantly better than what they’d get from the recently elected government? In which case, that does make the lame duck session called just to pass this a sweetheart deal?
these contracts are for 2009-2011. Realistically why would anyone think that scott Walker should have any responsibility in negotiating these contracts?
The rumor is that Decker wanted Doyle to pardon Chvala and when he refused Decker got mad and wanted to show his displeasure.
I feel the same for Chvala as I do for Scooter. I think both should be as far away from government as possible and would have no problem with both of them roomies in prison.