FinanceDude
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2006
- Messages
- 12,483
Which bill are you referring to? The bill which reduced union bargaining rights had nothing to do with these preliminary lay off notices. The preliminary lay off notices where due to budget issues. Did he also sign a bill which reduced school funding? I thought they were still arm wrestling over that since they don't have a quorum without the Dem senators.
The budget repair bill took away collective bargaining rights so local govt could balance their budget or allow collective bargaining to continue, it took away the dtate mandate. If local govt still want to play footsie with the union they can, but there's no blessing of the state behind them, so now they are on an island. The budget bill that cuts $900 million in state aid to schools is the REAL bill. All the Republicans need is one Dem senator to be IN THE ROOM and they can pass the budget if they vote along party lines. We'll see how that plays out..........
It's really quite different than the assumption that the recently passed bill reducing union bargaining rights is leading the anticipated public sector layoffs (including possibly Ms Fitzgerald). These layoffs are budget driven and would have happened without the union bill.
Yes and no. Our "esteemed" last Governor, Jim Doyle, raided the Transportation Fund (gas tax revenues), took a lum sum settlement on the tobacco settlement fund, negotiated long-term agreements with the Indian tribes illegally, etc. So, if Gov Doyle or Tom Barrett were in office, maybe we could make all those little budget problems go away.........
Sorry for trying to drill through to the facts, but this whole deal has been fraught with over-reactions, first by the unions and now by people responding to their demonstrations and exaggerated commentary.
The real fact noone is pointing to is that the state of Wisconsin, like other states took STIMULUS money to keep teachers on the payroll, not rebuild roads or whatever. Now the time has come to pay the piper because "Stimumuls Part II" has gone nowhere in Congress. Maybe our budget deficit would be lower had we as a state made the cuts 2 years ago and used the Stimulus money to put some road crews to work..........