Republican Scott Walker Admits Lying About Union-Busting Provision

Truthseeker420

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Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called Govs. Scott Walker (R-WI) and Peter Shumlin (D-VT) to testify in a hearing titled “State and Municipal Debt: Tough Choices Ahead.” Much of the hearing was spent probing Wisconsin’s spate of anti-union restrictions it recently passed.

At one point, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) confronted Walker about his crackdown on public employee unions. The congressman referenced a provision Walker signed into law that would require union members to vote every year to continue their membership. Kucinich asked the governor how much money the state would save from the provision. Walker repeatedly dodged the question and eventually admitted that it actually wouldn’t save anything at all.

Kucinich then asked Walker how much money would be saved by barring union dues from being drawn from employee paychecks, another provision of Walker’s legislation. Walker claimed that it would save workers money, but was unable to explain how it would save the state any money. Kucinich then produced a document from the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state’s equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office, that concluded that Walker’s measures were “nonfiscal” — meaning they had no impact on the state’s finances. Kucinich asked that the letter be included in the public record, but Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) refused:

KUCINICH: Let me ask you about some of the specific provisions in your proposals to strip collective bargaining rights. First, your proposal would require unions to hold annual votes to continue representing their own members. Can you please explain to me and members of this committee how much money this provision saves for your state budget?

WALKER: That and a number of other provisions we put in because if you’re going to ask, if you’re going to put in place a change like that, we wanted to make sure we protected the workers of our state, so they got value out of that. [...]

KUCINICH: Would you answer the question? How much money does it save, Governor?

WALKER: It doesn’t save any. [...]

KUCINICH: I want to ask about another one of your proposals. Under your plan you would prohibit paying union member dues from their paychecks. How much money would this provision save your state budget?

WALKER: It would save employees a thousand dollars a year they could use to pay for their pensions and health care contributions.

KUCINICH: Governor, it wouldn’t save anything. [Goes on to present letter from LRF and is denied unanimous request for it to be placed in the public record by Issa]

Watch it:



Walker’s admission is crucial because he had long claimed that his anti-union “budget repair bill” was designed to save the state money, not bust unions. But his words today echo those of Wisconsin state senate leader Scott Fitzgerald (R), who last month effectively admitted that the union fights are not about budgetary issues, but rather about winning the next election by depleting the ranks of organized labor.



ThinkProgress » Scott Walker Admits Union-Busting Provision ‘Doesn’t Save Any’ Money For The State Of Wisconsin
 
Great post. Thanks. Yet more evidence that Walker's bill had absolutely nothing to do with the budget. I believe Dems have collected enough signatures to trigger a recall election against two Repub state senators. Walker has less than a year before he's eligible for recall. Let's hope the people of WI don't let him slip from their minds when Dems begin collecting those signatures.
 
Great post. Thanks. Yet more evidence that Walker's bill had absolutely nothing to do with the budget. I believe Dems have collected enough signatures to trigger a recall election against two Repub state senators. Walker has less than a year before he's eligible for recall. Let's hope the people of WI don't let him slip from their minds when Dems begin collecting those signatures.

It was always about busting union. This guy makes me sick.
 
Somehow I doubt this thread has anything close to the full story...

Anyways, I don't support the stealing of tax payers money to make union leaders rich and finance politicians campaigns.
 
Somehow I doubt this thread has anything close to the full story...

Anyways, I don't support the stealing of tax payers money to make union leaders rich and finance politicians campaigns.

Anyways...unions don't steal tax payer money. If you got your info from someplace other than Limbaugh or Faux Ooze, you would know that.
 
Somehow I doubt this thread has anything close to the full story...

Anyways, I don't support the stealing of tax payers money to make union leaders rich and finance politicians campaigns.

Once it's paid to the workers the money becomes theirs and is no longer your concern.

.
 
Somehow I doubt this thread has anything close to the full story...

Anyways, I don't support the stealing of tax payers money to make union leaders rich and finance politicians campaigns.

You need to look at it. It is exactly the whole story. This guy makes me sick and it was always about union busting. Just be honest and say it and stop lying to people. I hope this guy gets recalled. He makes me sick.
 
Those things were never about saving money in the state budget, they were about giving local gov't a chance to save money at the city and county level. Hell, if it would've saved money in the state budget the GOP wouldn't have been able to strip it out and pass it as a separate bill cuz the dems had to be there for fiscal appropriation bills.

Look, there is something fundamentaly wrong with the notion of giving public unions the right to collectively bargain for pay and benefits with the very same politicians that they give millions of dollars to for re-election. Plus it gives thoise unions way too much power and influence to the point where almost every state is going bankrupt in large part due to extravagant public pensions. Walker did what he was elected by the people of Wisconsin to do, he didn't make any secret about it in the governor's campaign. The actions he took will benefit the people of Wisconsin.
 
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Hey let's not forget repubs don't lie they make mistakes / stretch the truth / expanding nonsense statements at odds with reality etc
 
Somehow I doubt this thread has anything close to the full story...

Anyways, I don't support the stealing of tax payers money to make union leaders rich and finance politicians campaigns.

Anyways...unions don't steal tax payer money. If you got your info from someplace other than Limbaugh or Faux Ooze, you would know that.

I will bet you anything you listen to Fox/Rush/Beck and Palin more than I do... And that's where you get much your "news".
 
Somehow I doubt this thread has anything close to the full story...

Anyways, I don't support the stealing of tax payers money to make union leaders rich and finance politicians campaigns.

Once it's paid to the workers the money becomes theirs and is no longer your concern.

.

Good to know you believe in taxation without representation, lol... you owned yourself, what else needs to be said?
 
Somehow I doubt this thread has anything close to the full story...

Anyways, I don't support the stealing of tax payers money to make union leaders rich and finance politicians campaigns.

Once it's paid to the workers the money becomes theirs and is no longer your concern.

.

Umm that is only for rightwingers money, they want to control how the lefties spend theirs. thru govt laws and such no less ;)
 

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