I’ve got a bone to pick with the Defending Wisconsin Political Action Committee (PAC), a group headed by “Segway” Jeremy Ryan. The Defending Wisconsin PAC is one of the myriad of political action committees that sprouted up here in Wisconsin in the aftermath of Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s assault on public employees and their collective bargaining rights, and from a quick glance at its website, the group certainly seems to be on the side of Wisconsin’s public employees.
However, while Defending Wisconsin seems to support Wisconsin’s unionized public employees, the July Continuing Report filed by Defending Wisconsin PAC shows that group spent spent $633 at Bob’s Copy Center in Madison for “printing – copies,” and expense that is among the largest expenses that group had for the reporting period. Being that I’m a pro-union guy, I figured, “Well Bob’s Copy Center must be a union shop….after all, why would a pro-union PAC use non-union labor?” Unfortunately, I was wrong, as Amy Pigott of Bob’s Copy Center confirmed that Bob’s Copy Center is not a union shop.
Reached for comment on why his pro-union group used non-union labor for printing, Jeremy Ryan noted, “Bob’s Copy Shop was chosen because of how close they were (a few blocks) from where I was living at the time and most importantly, because they provided the copy services at over 20% less than the next lowest quote I got.”
Solidarity? Not so much.
On a related “Solidarity” item– I wonder how many Union members shop at Wal-Mart?
I don’t shop at wal-mart unless it is an ABSOLUTE necessity! I shop there about 90% less than before I knew how anti-labor their policies were. You would be surprised how many people have stopped shopping at walmart and other Gov. Walker supporting companies.
So if Workers are not able to gain employment in a Union shop, yet still have to eat and pay for some kind of shack… and if those same non-union workers are intimidated by their employer into “not even thinking about starting a Union” and if unemployment is high, or even a possibility, and you can’t really handle any gap in paychecks because you live check-to-check because your wages are so low, and some weeks you r money runs out before the week does, and so you feel those workers should be shunned?
Protect the guys who are already protected?
Punish the employer a little (since he will have a larger “life cushion” but punish the employees a lot? maybe reduce the shop’s earnings enough that the Bossman decides to lay reduce staff?
Solidarity? Not so much. Non-union workers you must be personally at fault somehow. We aren’t sure how, but like Republicans, we also believe that The Deserving rise to the top. The Less Worthy are “down there” for a reason. Most of which has to do with Personal Choice. In the Stories of Olde, hostile Scabs made trouble for Union martyrs, it suits our purposes now to treat ALL non-union workers as if they are those same type of people.
In the musical chairs game of life if the music stops and you are NOT standing next to a Union Chair – TFB
Hey! I know! Let’s go beat up a Wal-Mart Greeter. yee-ha Cletus, bring yer ball-bat!
Annie, you can keep bitterly complaining about how bitter you are, and seak to tear everyone down.
Or you can fight.
In addition (tho’ unrelated, but you’ll probably post on this later cuz everyone has to weigh in on the exact same stuff) I can’t comment on Kos, but this guy http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/128722503.html is an idiot, I’ve had enough, I’m tired of this neighborhood and the fear and I’m about to devote my life to becoming the biggest Castle Doctrine Lobbyist anybody ever saw. AND I dunno, I’m getting older..do I need a gun? Or should I just lay back and allow male intruders to take/do whatever they want. Yanno, I should probably just sacrifice myself and my family to some B and E creeper.
Oh! I know! It’s OUR OWN FAULT for not being in a McMansion-y neighborhood. In spite of the ideas about not wasting gas, and living a “centralised life” away from the Suburbs, you should also just lay yourselves and your belongings out to whom-so-ever comes along !
Do Not Defend Yourself! Light some candles and lay there seductively!
Hell baby, Castle Doctrine all the way ! I can target-practice on Non-Union workers and Wal-Mart greeters and STILL be considered a Liberal
Omg I LOVE Deep Political Reasoning! Luv It!
I’m sorry I defended you the other day.
What the fuck is Annie K. talking about.
No seriously.
All I just see is WHARRGARBL.
The whole reason for protesting in Madison was to support public unions…if we don’t continue to protect our own union members…in public or private employment…who will? And if we don’t how long will any unions be able to continue to exist?
And that is not a slam on workers who work for non-union shops…I realize they have to work too…but many of the benefits in their work places are the result of union activities over the past 100 years or more. The US Dept. of Labor is now requiring employers to post information on worker rights to unionize…maybe we should all read them and organize!
If I were to make a list of the ways in which Jeremy Ryan is full of crap and a detriment to the movement, this one would come in around #78
I hope to chronicle each of the top 100 ways before I’m done here.
Grifter.
And a stupid one at that.
Jeremy Ryan found out what the rest of us already know… whenever unions get involved, the only people who do better are the unions, the employees and the public get the shaft. thanks Scott Walker for exposing these thugs!
Who are thugs?
Are union members the thugs you’re talking about?
xlaurenstephens,
I went to your facebook page and saw the ” SOCIALISM DESTROYS ” poster. It’s very impressive, what with the dingy jail cell and such.
You should take your message of condemnation immediately to the people of North Dakota, who are living under the horrors of a 3.3% unemployment rate and a large budget surplus due to their state owned bank and state owned mill and elevator.
Socialists have been quietly taking over North Dakota for over 90 years,calmly going about their business, dressing and talking just like average Americans, secretly waiting for the day when a Wall Street driven financial crisis would plunge the nation into the worst fiscal crisis in over 70 years, and all so they can feature their successful state economy in stark contrast to the ravages of run amok, unbridled capitalism.
Those sneaky bastards!
I can’t help but wonder if Lauren thinks “socialism destroys” when it comes to health care for our military members, considering that’s socialized health care.
Does Lauren not support giving our troops health care?
I am so incredibly tired of “the military is socialism” so incredibly stupid non-example of liberal progressive non-think. Unless the military is feeding itself, providing its own health care, and building it’s own housing, this is NOT AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIALISM!!!!
In fully free market economies, towns, cities, states and nations hire government employees to do certain jobs that are best done without free market competition: legislation and governance, police and fire, and the military. This is not socialism, it is logical.
Unfortunately, we have decided teaching, vehicle emmissions testing, and janitorial services should all be free of free marke competition, a decision we are all coming quickly to the conclusion were some of the stupidest things we could have put on the public payroll. Free markets encourage better products and services at lesser costs.
Dan,
I think we all know that putting janitorial services on the public payroll was a huge, huge mistake, but thanks for reminding us.
I am in a public union but support all hard working Americans. Jeremy Ryan did mothing wrong…..he supported.a local business and hopefully the workers there will unionize. He did not support a campaign contributer or an overseas company. I am sorry you are upset with him howrver his commitments and concern are profound, real and extend beyond union issues but to all labor, the freedom of speech and keeping our judicial system honest and our government open and our public education functionable. Maybe it is you that needs to be reminded solidarity extends beyond the union. Thank you and Jeremy for contributing in this fight. Solidarity!
Friend, I respect your pro-union views, because I am also very pro-union. However, we’re all being strapped for money lately. Mr. Ryan, as you probably know, has dedicated himself to the cause but his PAC is in its early years. That said, we’ve gotten quite a lot of bang for our bucks that he’s used given the great amount of awareness raising his actions have created. For you to pick at his use of a copy center when the survival of the PAC is dependent on maintaining extremely low costs as it builds support is almost like chopping off your own nose!
Certainly Mr. Ryan supports unions. It can’t be doubted given his many actions advocating for them and against the recent union busting laws.
I don’t see it being productive for you to bust his chops on an issue of fiscal responsibility which requires keen management of limited funds. Surely, you already knew this. Have you nothing else to blog about with the almost myriad of attacks from the other side? It’s almost senseless to pick apart his copying costs.
Similarly, I’m in a financial rut, and if I needed to buy another car right now and I had to choose between an American or foreign used car, and all things considered equal except the price was 20% less for the foreign model, I would most certainly be driving the foreign car off the lot! Yet, I truly support unions, but I cannot personally afford to give away my money to them right now. I’m willing to stand in protests and speak my mind and support them in every other way. But, you cannot expect me to be unable to buy more business clothes for a new job, or be unable to feed myself because I support unions. It makes NO sense to do so, and it makes no sense, at all, to hack on your brothers and sisters that do support you, especially those who are in the lead of the efforts, such as Mr. Ryan’s PAC is, at a time when we must act in solidarity as much as we can.
The world is not perfect. I hope you strongly consider retracting this statement and apologizing so we can continue appreciating your contributions to the movement we are all part of my friend! It’s really all it would take, and I’m sure we’d all understand that your point was made in good faith, and it is an important one. When we can, we should all support the unions by buying America, locally and union. Let us all agree on that and continue working together! You mature consideration of this issue is greatly appreciated by all of us out here who would much prefer we are all in agreement on reasonable courses of action.
Thanks, and please continue your excellent blog without considering Mr. Ryan an unacceptable outlier. It just doesn’t make good sense to do so.
– Eric Nelson Shook
I won’t be retracting anything, but thanks for the suggestion.
And I’d also like to note that you’re absolutely right that all of us are strapped for money right now, which makes the fact that Jeremy Ryan is begging folks to support him by donating towards his living expenses extremely poor taste. Maybe Jeremy should actually try getting a job, because there’s plenty of us out here who do what we do to fight against Scott Walker and his Republican allies while still holding full time jobs and paying attention to our families.
Eric, if you can’t afford to support unions now when they are under attack, you certainly won’t be able to support them when they are gone…and you are making Chinese wages.
Exactly.
“I don’t see it being productive for you to bust his chops on an issue of fiscal responsibility which requires keen management of limited funds.”
So, when the TAXPAYERS ask the same thing of government, you go ape SH!T? Yet you will let this one go? Wow, I’ve heard of double standards, but this takes the cake.
Mark, I agree. We need to hold our allies to at least the same standards as we do our opponents or our government…and frankly we should hold our allies to higher standards…
Uhm, ya know I have to interject here. I am sorry but this fight is not only “all about supporting unions”.
To claim that it is, is spreading a blatant falsehood.
This fight is about what Scott Walker and his ilk are doing to screw over ALL Wisconsinites in his effort to serve his campaign contributors over the constituency he was elected to represent.
Weeks before the introduction of ACT 10, Gov. Walker signed into law a bill known as “AB1JR1.”
http://nxt.legis.state.wi.us/nxt/gateway.dll/Session%20Related/2011%20Text%20of%20Proposals/2/3?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0$q=%5Bfield%20folio-destination-name%3A%27AB1JR1%27%5D$uq=$x=Advanced$up=1
This bill limits any and all ability to hold entities accountable for negligence.
The passage of this bill and Walker’s subsequent signing resulted in the inability of the woman who lost her son as a result of Walker’s malfeasance, while serving as MKE County Executive from holding him accountable for his policies of “deferred maintenance”.
A tactic he employed for political theatrics while posing with Publishers Clearing House sized props while claiming to save county taxpayers millions of dollars.
You may have also forgotten that ACT 10 not only curtailed the rights of the people to collectively bargain, but also included provisions for Walker to sell off publicly owned assets to entities with no oversight whatsoever.
Some of those properties include state owned power plants which provide utility service to many of the campuses that make up the University of Wisconsin system.
Yes, ACT 10 takes away from the public sector union members a great many rights and we cannot let this pass without exhausting every effort imaginable to defend the rights that were fought for long and hard by those who came before us.
But please don’t forget this fight is about a lot more than union rights.
Not only did ACT 10 strip away from the workers, it curtails the abilities all municipalities any opportunity to with their employees on ways to address the budget shortfalls that will adversely affect the communities they live in.
Yes, Unions are an important element in this fight and demonizing public union workers, thus pitting citizen against citizen is a terrible way to go about ramrodding an agenda however you’re doing an equal disservice when you claim that this is all about unions and attack another who is in this fight under the guise of criticizing his solidarity.
And to do so on Labor Day, of all days is completely disingenuous.
Hi Mark, I’m sure it was just an oversight on your part, but I didn’t post my entry on Labor Day “of all days;” this was posted four days ago.
Thanks for reading!
You’re right, it was an oversight as I missed the date when I posted this at 2:30 am. But it doesn’t change my sentiment and that is this fight is about all of us just as was opined in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by none other than WI AFL-CIO State President Phil Neuenfeldt.
This attack on labor reaches all across the globe, from the streets in Madison to the slums of the third world where protagonists of middle class destruction want to send all of our jobs.
Mark, you do raise a good point that the fight is about all of us, but that’s a point Jeremy Ryan seems to have forgotten in all his self-promotion.
He’s doing more harm than good to our movement, and anyone who doesn’t see that isn’t looking hard enough.
Of course you know that the AFL-CIO used the same shop, right? Moron.
I love it when folks feel the need to resort to name calling, especially when they’re hiding behind the anonymity of the internet.
From Jeremy Ryan’s Faceboook page:
Add paranoia to the list of Jeremy’s issues, because anyone who knows anything knows this blog is in no way affiliated with the DPW.
Nice try though!
paranoia and a bit of conspiracy rhetoric…love the comments…LOL!
Funny, I didn’t see this self-absorbed guy at Labor Fest today. Nice to know he’s committed to the cause when the cameras aren’t rolling.
A few thousand others were, but Jeremy apparently couldn’t be bothered.
He was in Wausau supporting liberals there.
xlaurenstephens
What are you doing wasting your time on Blogging Blue? You should be in North Dakota fighting socialists!
This is ASININE!! U r tearing JR apart w/out giving ANY info on exactly how many print shops in the area are union shops !! Nevermind that, yes, the AFL-CIO used them as well!! This sounds more like a republican troll page than REAL progressive activists page & ANYONE who is active in this movement & knows JR would NOT be wasting their time trying DESPERATELY trying to rip apart a fellow activist!!!! ZACH you outta be ASHAMED!!!!! THIS is what U think defines solidarity???? Who’s the REAL detriment to this cause????!!!!!
The real detriment to the cause is Jeremy Ryan, who continues to solicit online donations to support himself instead of getting a real job.
I wonder how many of the folks who’ve donated to subsidize Jeremy’s lifestyle know that at least some of their donations have likely been used to support his marijuana habit.
People like Jeremy only serve to reinforce the negative stereotypes some have of us on the left who are fighting this fight, and if we’re going to win hearts and minds, we need to do things better than that.