EVeryone who engages the public probably has dozens of these by now. The Capitol Times Dave Zweifel recently shared one of his:
My recent column suggesting that it’s time we stop demonizing public workers in Wisconsin generated a huge response from around the state.
Many thanked me for writing it, others suggested I take a long walk off a short pier.
One response, in particular, caught my attention. It came from a farm woman I’ll just refer to as Brenda and it expresses the frustration she feels about her and her family’s predicament, all of which doesn’t make her feel kindly about folks who work in public jobs.
Dave Zweifel shares an email he got that showed us exactly what Scott Walker has brought to our great state. Here is a little more of what “Brenda” had to say:
“My surgery is a direct result of wear and tear from grueling physical exertion to keep all of our animals healthy and well cared for (regardless of whether someone in a public servant position mandates it or not). The past few years have been horrific. Our health care is out-of-pocket (empty) with a $10,000 deductible.
“We could hardly understand the policy when we bought it because it was so well disguised. We don’t get sick days or days off, until now. My husband has had to hire someone to help him. This is an extra burden on our dwindling income. We have tried to refinance our debt to a lower percentage rate, but we’re told we don’t qualify because we don’t make enough. Funny, our current bank is doing well each month off our higher rate.
“You could say why don’t you just sell the family farm and get jobs so that you don’t have to work like slaves to the banks? I ask you, do you know anyone who is quitting their public service job, so I can get health care I don’t have to worry about, having security in my employment and maybe even be able to have disposable income I could put away for retirement instead of my monthly contribution to my health care provider?
“My husband and I are both from big families and it seems the only ones who are weathering this depression are the ones at the public trough. In fact several of the retired ones are in Arizona and Florida as I write. We are one more major health crisis away from losing all we have worked for our whole lives. Please forward me that job application soon.”
So “Brenda” rails against the outrageous cost of healthcare and the banks who have had a major cause in the economic downturn and figures out that the finger can be pointed directly at – public workers? huh? Well Brenda is not alone. We recently had such a post that probably went virtually unnoticed on our humble blog but it has been sitting open on my desktop since I received it(Here is Kris):
I am amazed at the people who decide when they dont get get get everything they feel “they” deserve how they decide they will take back the election that they won fair and square. I expect that those of you writing in right now are part of a public union and let me guess you aren’t getting it all handed to you anymore. Maybe you might be held accountable for the crap job you do
Well welcome to the rest of the world where you just don’t get everything handed to you:) the rest of us who pay for some of our healthcare and don’t get our retirement handed to us. By the way Scott walker was voted in by 54% of the wisconsin voters not 1% Idiot.
Just a few things to say to Kris(If he/she is still reading). While I have a problem with almost everything you wrote, there is a sentence that specifically stood out to me:
I expect that those of you writing in right now are part of a public union and let me guess you aren’t getting it all handed to you anymore. Maybe you might be held accountable for the crap job you do
Do you have any idea what these public workers do? What do you base your “crappy job” evaluation on? Let’s take a quick look at what some public workers do.
* 907 homeless children in the Madison School district. Who do you think is charged with education these children?
* Maidson Firefighters were called to a fire at 5:19 pm and by 5:31 pm the fire was extinguished.
* A 15 year old girl in Madison was recently found after being physically, mentally and sexually abused by her family for years. Who do you think will help this poor girl on her way to what we all hope will be recovery?
* This UW college student might disagree with your assessment.
* Who is plowing the roads in nothern Wisconsin for the biggest storm of the winter?
* I can personally vouch for the amazing job that the nurses and all staff at UW Hospital do.
I think you get the point. I am not a union member but I appreciate the work that these amazing public servants do. Maybe it is time we held them accountable for making the quality of life in our state what it is today and reward them for it. Lets start appreciating our amazing public workers and tell them thank you! I know I do!
The question is would “Kris” have sent this email 5 years ago? 2 years ago? if Tom Barrett had won?
I think we all know the answer….RECALL!
PS: to Kris, Walker won %52.3 – Barrett's 46.5%.!
While each letter was right on the money for the most part I do disagree that they do a crap job. Police, fire and guards work very dangerous jobs putting their lives at risk every time they go to work. But a large portion of the people in this state are tired of hearing the union people talking about their entitlement rights and how horrible they are being treated now that they are being held accountable. The protest last year the recall has just been more of a slap in the face to the people in this state. You want respect show respect, don’t keep telling us you are OWED respect
I love the presumption when some nutjob like Dante projects his opinion as representative of “a large portion of the people in the state” without any data to back it up.
Silent majority indeed. Silent and completely in your own mind.
Dante,
You just dont get it do you? Who exactly is “holding them accountable”? Do you consider forcing a pay cut on already underpaid workers “holding them accountable”? How much would you like to pay people who risk their lives everyday? Obviously much less than Scott Jensen…..
You do prove my point though. Scott walker came in and with no shame whatsoever attacked public workers. This allowed the people who have been getting screwed for years in the private sector to have someone to hate. His perpetual attacks on the people of WI who perform valuable services made it ok(in the minds of some) now to have an enemy.
See every repuboican seems to think that one day they will be Scott Jensen,(maybe not the convicted felon set free part) but the one who will get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to try and advance your agenda. Every republican knows damm well they will never be a teacher, correction official, nurse, plow driver, etc…. the pay is too low and the hours suck.
Once again, for the cheap seats, when you “assume,” you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me” (but mostly “u” in this case).
Idiot.
I have no problem with public sector employees being paid COMPETITIVELY. In a nutshell though, what gets me riled up, is when I hear of how an insurance company called WEA trust was able to charge noncompetitive rates to teachers for health insurance for years. Now that would be bad enough, but the worst part is the teachers were not the ones really paying for it. The taxpayers in general were! And this insidious “collective bargaining” relationship that WEAC had with the politicians it paid to get elected is what allowed that to continue. Walkers bill was the catalyst to all that changing.
Teachers, firefighters, police officers should all be paid competitively. But I don’t think a bus driver needs to ever make $100,000 per year. I also don’t think public employees should have been able to stack overtime in order to pad their retirement.
Farmer Brenda echos the sentiment of thousands of people across this great state who’ve had to endure a long stubborn recession. So now public employees(not firemen, police officers by the way), have to contribute a little more for their great benefits. Meanwhile, the majority who do not enjoy that level of benefits but pay for those that possess them saw the drumming and whining, and camping, and singalongs and will most assuredly be the force that will reelect Walker. I’m certain of it.
James, those bus drivers who make $100,000 per year work well in excess of 40 hours per week. If you want to eliminate overtime for bus drivers, then you will have to hire more bus drivers (and incur the expense of health insurance and WRS contributions in addition to their salary). I think many people are offended by the idea of, as Steve Wynn put it when he forced blackjack dealers to share tips with pit bosses, “a nametag making more than a suit” (even if that “nametag” puts in more hours of more strenuous work than the “suit”). Farmer Brenda echoes sentiments of people who don’t understand that a lot of those public sector jobs (like teacher or social worker) require a college degree. She is upset about the debt on her family farm but forgets how many public employees have just as much debt in the form of student loans which they must now pay back. The myth of the overpaid public worker is being perpetuated by the Republican party just as the “southern strategy” was once cynically employed to convince poor whites that they had nothing in common with poor blacks and needed to be protected from them.
Ordinary Jill,
From this private sector teacher with school loans and no health care- well said. The myth seems the way to
stir resentment and divide, all the while the corporations and 1% walk off with the money and power.
Yes very well said Jill.
I did want to clarify a couple things. 1. I did not mean this to attack Karen the Farmer or even kris, I was just pointing out that anyone who debates in public gets so many of these emails/comments etc… that we do not even tend to pay attention to them. That is Walkers legacy, the divide in our state and the hatred and demeaning of public workers for the sin of having healthcare.
If karen and kris were that upset, they should have joined the 14 month long debate that ended up in the affordable care act….
JB….if you want to get ALL money out of politics I am with you 100%.
However, I think you even know the dangers of getting the money out of politics on just one side. I personally do not want the just the republicans funds cut off.
Until we do, what is wrong with the teacher’s unions working to get Kathleen Falk elected and then negotiating with her in good faith? at least they would do it in good faith and out in the open and they are all WI residents.
As opposed to say this:
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/02/11321/shameful-wi-redistricting-awaits-final-ruling
Farmer Brenda and every citizen of the state should be entitled to the same health benefits as our state legislators and health care costs need to be regulated across the board. Eliminating private insurance from medical care would save billions annually in reduced costs. The status quo in health care is a failed system. You only need to see our country’s health rankings, outcome per dollar spent, to see how bad we are failing.
Self-employed my entire life, not getting rich but not being used or overworked by anyone but myself. Unions brought child labor laws, more equal pay for women, safety regulations, consistent wage scales that helped me charge what I am worth, and much more to very many people. All those things cost the 1%. If they can dispense with those rules and costs, do you honestly think any further benefits will accrue to the 99%.
Did you forget that massive bank fraud and the taxpayers bailing out the banks for their massive gambling to the tune of trillions of dollars that the MSM doesn’t discuss on FOX news might be part of the problem. Socialism for the rich, but not for the rest, ring a bell?
Public vouchers going to no accountability for profit schools doesn’t upset you? Please say something sensible if you are trying to argue a point.
OK, my 6:48 PM comment was intended as a response to james booth at 7:34 AM.
Of the states that border Wisconsin –Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa– only Iowa pays teachers less on average than Wisconsin. So, wages for Wisconsin teachers are quite competitive and I would guess the wages for other public employees are as well. But the truth won’t stop James Booth from his reflexive, Republican anti-union screeds. Working for him must be a real joy.
Hate to say this since I love farmers and all the hard work they do. But if a farmer is going to rip on others for being “at the public trough”, well, that’s just damned ironic given the significant portion of their incomes owed to gubmint subsidies.
Distract and divide, distract and divide.
Should have clarified further: rightfully-earned gubmint subsidies.
Maybe it’s earned. By just owning a portion your are entitled to support payments, just ask farmer Michelle Bachman…
While I really do empathize with her situation, what do you bet that “Brenda” is one of the first on her block to chirp up and demand the repeal of “Obamacare”?