Doyle Did It Without An Overreach

Lest we forget, Governor Jim Doyle managed to extract concessions from the state employee unions without the massive overreach that is going to cost Governor Walker his job.

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More on the betrayal of the state workers…

Zach has written extensively of Russ Decker’s betrayal of the state worker. We will see where Decker’s career goes from here now that his political career has disappeared. One thing that caught my eye that has not gotten much coverage was this story from the Capital Times on the Decker…

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Russ Decker: “That was a time that changed my whole life”

Watch as former Senate Majority Leader Russ “I was a union bricklayer” Decker explains how joining the bricklayers union back in 1977 changed his whole life: It’s amazing how far Russ Decker has come….from proud union member to Republican stooge sticking it to state employee unions. H/T to blue cheddar.

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A Tale of Two Newspapers

Zach said it better than I could about Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker’s decision last night to vote against contracts for state workers. What I found interesting is the different ways the state’s two largest newspapers covered the story. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Patrick Marley and Jason Stein provided deep…

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Jeff Plale, Russ Decker stick it to state employees

As I predicted yesterday, State Sens. Russ “I was a union bricklayer” Decker and Jeff “I was endorsed by AFSCME this year” Plale both joined Republicans in voting against state employee contracts, resulting in a 16-16 tie vote, leaving those contracts for Scott Walker and legislative Republicans to deal with…

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Will they really stand up for union workers?

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…

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One possible positive consequence of a Chris Larson win

In discussing the results of this week’s primary elections, including the win by Chris Larson over incumbent State Sen. Jeff Plale here in the 7th State Senate District, one of our conservative commenters opined that “Chris Larson (if elected) can be a lefty fringe nut in the Senate who won’t…

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Russ Decker kicks his own son out of a fundraiser

This is just hilarious…. Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) raised a few eyebrows when he called for an audit into student governance matters at UW-Stevens Point at the behest of his son, Jeff Decker. The younger Decker raised issues on the legality of the allocation of student fees. But…

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SEIU Wisconsin, AFT-212 endorse Chris Larson

In perhaps his biggest endorsement to date, Milwaukee County Supervisor Chris Larson, who’s mounted a primary challenge to incumbent State Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee), has received the endorsement of SEIU: SEIU members are proud to join in a recent wave of endorsements for Chris Larson who is running for…

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Christine Bremer won’t seek 7th CD seat

Shortly after Rep. Dave Obey surprisingly announced he would not seek another term in the House of Representatives, it was speculated Wausau-area attorney Christine Bremer might be a contender for the 7th Congressional district’s seat, but in a statement released yesterday, Bremer said she has no intention of seeking office:…

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