Petition in support of Scott Walker and the people of Wisconsin
I received this petition yesterday and decided to post it today. It is my last post, along with two others today, for now on Wisconsin. Tomorrow I will post on the vote in the House of Representatives on the 2010-2011 Appropriations bill
From: Americans for Prosperity
“As I looked out from the stage on the faces of thousands of folks at the ‘Stand With Walker’ rally in Madison, Wisconsin today a young 7 or 8 year-old girl atop her dad’s shoulders stood out. She was waving a ‘Fight Back Wisconsin’ sign and cheering happily.
Before the rally her dad had told me they gave up her basketball game today to come to the rally because ‘It’s time to stand tall.’ Next to them in his hard hat was Mansfield, a tall, wiry gentleman who runs a small brick laying business near Madison. These two individuals symbolize what’s at stake.
It’s a decisive moment in Wisconsin and a watershed moment for our nation, and we urge you to join the fight at http://www.standwithwalker.com/.
http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/
On our side Governor Scott Walker, a newly-elected GOP-controlled legislature and tens of thousands of tea party and AFP activists are working to balance the state budget by finally cutting spending and reining in sweetheart pensions and benefits enjoyed by government employees unions.
On the other side are a privileged class of liberal politicians and government unions demanding higher taxes and even more spending for themselves and their ideology—all while private sector unemployment still runs high.
It looked and felt like the government workers marches in Athens, Greece throughout the week as the Wisconsin government unions, augmented by union activists from around the nation and President Obama’ s Organizing for America, marched, chanted, banged drums, and jeered at anyone daring to support Governor Walker’s policies.
Here’s what Governor Walker’s Budget Repair Bill that they’re so angry about actually does:
- Ask government workers to pay half the cost of their pensions—still less than private employees pay for their pensions
- Ask government workers to pay 12% of their own health insurance premiums—the national average for the private sector is over 20%
- End collective bargaining for government unions for pensions and benefits. Allow bargaining only for raises that are less than inflation.
- End forced union dues, collected by the state. Union dues would become voluntary.
- Union members get to vote yearly on whether to keep their union.
To stop these sensible reforms, the unions and their Democratic allies are pulling out all the stops. President Obama has even weighed in attacking Governor Walker. (As I told the crowd today, President Obama should stop worrying about Wisconsin and get to work on Washington’s out-of-control federal budget.)
Democratic state senators are so desperate they have actually fled the state to stall a vote—and are hiding out at a resort in Illinois. Can you imagine elected legislators being so beholden to special interest unions that they would flee the state? Have they no shame? (Wisconsin, by the way, has citizen recall of elected officials and I’ve heard petitions are already being circulated to kick the senators who have fled the state out of office.)
Much is at stake because every other governor and every other legislature is watching what happens in Wisconsin. We have to win. Please stand with Scott Walker by signing our petition at
http://www.standwithwalker.com/.
http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/
Know that we’re on the ground here in Wisconsin. AFP and our allies are going all out to victory. We’re pouring emails into the legislature, running radio ads and we’re helping with rallies like the one today. We’re going to win.
Sincerely,
Tim
P. S. We’re going to win, but we need your help. Please share
http://www.standwithwalker.com/
http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/
with your friends, family, neighbors, Facebook friends, and Twitter followers. The stakes are too high to think this is someone else’s fight. We need to send a strong message to the unions by winning in Wisconsin and taking these common sense reforms to every other state and the federal government. Today, we are all Wisconsinites. Please help spread the word about http://www.standwithwalker.com/.
From: http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/
59250 CITIZENS ARE STANDING WITH SCOTT WALKER (When I signed it on Tuesday morning—my addition)
1) read the Petition
Help send the following message to the Wisconsin Senate and to Governor Scott Walker:
Union dues should be voluntary, and the state should not be in the business of collecting them. Union certification should require a secret ballot. Collective bargaining should not be used to force extravagant pension and health benefits that cripple state budgets.
These common-sense reforms have made the union bosses desperate to disrupt Wisconsin government and overturn an election. They must not be allowed to succeed. In fact, every state should adopt Governor Scott Walker’s common sense reforms.
2) Sign the Petition
Thank you! Your petition has been received, and your message of support will be forwarded to Scott Walker. Please make sure to use the share buttons above to send this petition effort to family and friends.”
“3) Educate and Share
Download talkings points, use the share buttons at the top of the page to share this effort with family and friends, and connect on Twitter and Facebook”
From the talking points:
“Quick facts about Wisconsin’s Budget Repair Legislation
1) The plan is about reform: Wisconsin’s Budget Repair legislation is about enacting modest—but critical—reforms to public sector entitlement programs that are long past due. The proposal takes on some of the most egregious violators of taxpayer dollars including public employee unions and public sector pensions.
2) Ending public sector collective bargaining: The plan would end the practice of public sector union bosses strong-arming politicians for exorbitant benefits and absurd contract concessions. The plan rightly calls for an end to the ability of certain public sector unions to band together to pressure policymakers into unnecessary contract concessions.
3) Respecting the taxpayer: When public sector workers—who are paid with taxpayers dollars—resort to bullying tactics to gain sweetheart contracts filled with plush benefits unheard of in the private sector the taxpayer loses every time.
4) Respecting the public’s trust: When teachers choose not to teach purely to pad their already lavish contracts with taxpayer dollars they are violating a sacred public trust. Using students and their parents as leverage in contract disputes is a tried and true practice of teacher’s unions that must end.
5) Stopping out-of-control benefit costs in the public sector: The proposal would prevent unions from forcing extravagant pension and health benefits on the state that only serve to further cripple state budget. Also, the plan would make the commonsense change that public sector wage increases could not exceed a cap based on the consumer price index (CPI) unless approved by voters.
- Also, some contracts would be limited to one year and wage rates would be frozen until the new contract is settled (As a school board member, I could never understand trying to negotiate a contract longer than one year. Leaders do not know how much money they will have for more than one year—my addition.)
6) The public vs. private sector: In Wisconsin, private sector workers make 74% of their state-level public sector counterparts. This is the 48th worst pay differential in the nation and clearly shows that the public sector employee unions aren’t hurting for better pay or benefits.
7) Paying a fair share: The plan also would help ease the tremendous financial burden placed on the state by its bloated pension plan by finally requiring some public workers to pay their fair share into the program.
- Overall, public employees would fund 50 percent of the annual pension payment—a total that would require a modest contribution of 5.8 percent of 2011’s salary.
8) More needed reforms: The plan also makes much needed reforms to other problems complicating Wisconsin’s fiscal future. Among them, restructuring the state’s debt burden will help reduce debt service costs by $165 million in fiscal year 2010-11.”
I received this petition yesterday and decided to post it today. It is my last post, along with two others today, for now on Wisconsin. Tomorrow I will post on the vote in the House of Representatives on the 2010-2011 Appropriations bill
From: Americans for Prosperity
“As I looked out from the stage on the faces of thousands of folks at the ‘Stand With Walker’ rally in Madison, Wisconsin today a young 7 or 8 year-old girl atop her dad’s shoulders stood out. She was waving a ‘Fight Back Wisconsin’ sign and cheering happily.
Before the rally her dad had told me they gave up her basketball game today to come to the rally because ‘It’s time to stand tall.’ Next to them in his hard hat was Mansfield, a tall, wiry gentleman who runs a small brick laying business near Madison. These two individuals symbolize what’s at stake.
It’s a decisive moment in Wisconsin and a watershed moment for our nation, and we urge you to join the fight at http://www.standwithwalker.com/.
http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/
On our side Governor Scott Walker, a newly-elected GOP-controlled legislature and tens of thousands of tea party and AFP activists are working to balance the state budget by finally cutting spending and reining in sweetheart pensions and benefits enjoyed by government employees unions.
On the other side are a privileged class of liberal politicians and government unions demanding higher taxes and even more spending for themselves and their ideology—all while private sector unemployment still runs high.
It looked and felt like the government workers marches in Athens, Greece throughout the week as the Wisconsin government unions, augmented by union activists from around the nation and President Obama’ s Organizing for America, marched, chanted, banged drums, and jeered at anyone daring to support Governor Walker’s policies.
Here’s what Governor Walker’s Budget Repair Bill that they’re so angry about actually does:
- Ask government workers to pay half the cost of their pensions—still less than private employees pay for their pensions
- Ask government workers to pay 12% of their own health insurance premiums—the national average for the private sector is over 20%
- End collective bargaining for government unions for pensions and benefits. Allow bargaining only for raises that are less than inflation.
- End forced union dues, collected by the state. Union dues would become voluntary.
- Union members get to vote yearly on whether to keep their union.
To stop these sensible reforms, the unions and their Democratic allies are pulling out all the stops. President Obama has even weighed in attacking Governor Walker. (As I told the crowd today, President Obama should stop worrying about Wisconsin and get to work on Washington’s out-of-control federal budget.)
Democratic state senators are so desperate they have actually fled the state to stall a vote—and are hiding out at a resort in Illinois. Can you imagine elected legislators being so beholden to special interest unions that they would flee the state? Have they no shame? (Wisconsin, by the way, has citizen recall of elected officials and I’ve heard petitions are already being circulated to kick the senators who have fled the state out of office.)
Much is at stake because every other governor and every other legislature is watching what happens in Wisconsin. We have to win. Please stand with Scott Walker by signing our petition at
http://www.standwithwalker.com/.
http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/
Know that we’re on the ground here in Wisconsin. AFP and our allies are going all out to victory. We’re pouring emails into the legislature, running radio ads and we’re helping with rallies like the one today. We’re going to win.
Sincerely,
Tim
P. S. We’re going to win, but we need your help. Please share
http://www.standwithwalker.com/
http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/
with your friends, family, neighbors, Facebook friends, and Twitter followers. The stakes are too high to think this is someone else’s fight. We need to send a strong message to the unions by winning in Wisconsin and taking these common sense reforms to every other state and the federal government. Today, we are all Wisconsinites. Please help spread the word about http://www.standwithwalker.com/.
From: http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/
59250 CITIZENS ARE STANDING WITH SCOTT WALKER (When I signed it on Tuesday morning—my addition)
1) read the Petition
Help send the following message to the Wisconsin Senate and to Governor Scott Walker:
Union dues should be voluntary, and the state should not be in the business of collecting them. Union certification should require a secret ballot. Collective bargaining should not be used to force extravagant pension and health benefits that cripple state budgets.
These common-sense reforms have made the union bosses desperate to disrupt Wisconsin government and overturn an election. They must not be allowed to succeed. In fact, every state should adopt Governor Scott Walker’s common sense reforms.
2) Sign the Petition
Thank you! Your petition has been received, and your message of support will be forwarded to Scott Walker. Please make sure to use the share buttons above to send this petition effort to family and friends.”
“3) Educate and Share
Download talkings points, use the share buttons at the top of the page to share this effort with family and friends, and connect on Twitter and Facebook”
From the talking points:
“Quick facts about Wisconsin’s Budget Repair Legislation
1) The plan is about reform: Wisconsin’s Budget Repair legislation is about enacting modest—but critical—reforms to public sector entitlement programs that are long past due. The proposal takes on some of the most egregious violators of taxpayer dollars including public employee unions and public sector pensions.
2) Ending public sector collective bargaining: The plan would end the practice of public sector union bosses strong-arming politicians for exorbitant benefits and absurd contract concessions. The plan rightly calls for an end to the ability of certain public sector unions to band together to pressure policymakers into unnecessary contract concessions.
3) Respecting the taxpayer: When public sector workers—who are paid with taxpayers dollars—resort to bullying tactics to gain sweetheart contracts filled with plush benefits unheard of in the private sector the taxpayer loses every time.
4) Respecting the public’s trust: When teachers choose not to teach purely to pad their already lavish contracts with taxpayer dollars they are violating a sacred public trust. Using students and their parents as leverage in contract disputes is a tried and true practice of teacher’s unions that must end.
5) Stopping out-of-control benefit costs in the public sector: The proposal would prevent unions from forcing extravagant pension and health benefits on the state that only serve to further cripple state budget. Also, the plan would make the commonsense change that public sector wage increases could not exceed a cap based on the consumer price index (CPI) unless approved by voters.
- Also, some contracts would be limited to one year and wage rates would be frozen until the new contract is settled (As a school board member, I could never understand trying to negotiate a contract longer than one year. Leaders do not know how much money they will have for more than one year—my addition.)
6) The public vs. private sector: In Wisconsin, private sector workers make 74% of their state-level public sector counterparts. This is the 48th worst pay differential in the nation and clearly shows that the public sector employee unions aren’t hurting for better pay or benefits.
7) Paying a fair share: The plan also would help ease the tremendous financial burden placed on the state by its bloated pension plan by finally requiring some public workers to pay their fair share into the program.
- Overall, public employees would fund 50 percent of the annual pension payment—a total that would require a modest contribution of 5.8 percent of 2011’s salary.
8) More needed reforms: The plan also makes much needed reforms to other problems complicating Wisconsin’s fiscal future. Among them, restructuring the state’s debt burden will help reduce debt service costs by $165 million in fiscal year 2010-11.”
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 4:34 AM
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