The fate of the grass-roots push to limit government growth in America hinges on who wins several pitched battles that continue to escalate in Wisconsin, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and other leading conservatives are warning.
Those melees include recall clashes, high-stakes elections, union campaign scuffles and intense courtroom dramas that have escalated in the Badger State since Gov. Scott Walker set out to cut public-sector entitlements to salvage the state budget.
On Friday, Democrats submitted petitions with more than 20,000 signatures to initiate a recall election against state GOP Sen. Dan Kapanke. Republicans say it’s a blatant effort to punish Kapanke for supporting Walker’s efforts.
Organized labor has poured more than $3 million into Wisconsin to underwrite both the massive recall campaign and a key state Supreme Court election that will be decided April 5.
“Wisconsin is ground zero for the country,” Tea Party Express founder Sal Russo tells Newsmax. “This is the left’s last stand to turn back the tide of what conservatives have been trying to do in the country over the last two years. So we can’t fail there -- it’s ground zero.
“Liberals are trying to say, ‘Even if conservatives win the elections, as we did in a lot of states in 2010, we’ll be able to frustrate and stop them and make it so difficult for them that nobody else will run like that in other states.
“It will bring an end to this conservative tea party revolution that we’ve seen over the last two years,” Russo warns. “That’s their goal: Not just to win in Wisconsin, but to stamp out the tea party movement and fiscal conservatives all over the country. They want to set an example in Wisconsin so that we’ll stop trying in Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania and the other states.”
In light of those high stakes, Tea Party Express is airing television ads and a get-out-the-vote campaign on behalf of state Supreme Court Justice David T. Prosser Jr., who is up for re-election Tuesday.
Conservatives on the court, including Prosser, hold a 4-3 advantage over the court’s liberal justices. But if the unions succeed in getting environmental activist JoAnne Kloppenburg elected instead, Democrats will seize control of the court.
That could be critical, because the court is expected to rule on a wave of legal challenges coming from opponents of Walker’s controversial budget-repair bill.
Prosser also has the endorsement of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. But Russo tells Newsmax that Republicans, who perhaps thought the battle against union entitlements had already been won in Wisconsin, are playing catch-up in the contest. More information on the fight over the fate of the state’s Supreme Court is available at TeaPartyExpress.org.
Read more on Newsmax
Those melees include recall clashes, high-stakes elections, union campaign scuffles and intense courtroom dramas that have escalated in the Badger State since Gov. Scott Walker set out to cut public-sector entitlements to salvage the state budget.
On Friday, Democrats submitted petitions with more than 20,000 signatures to initiate a recall election against state GOP Sen. Dan Kapanke. Republicans say it’s a blatant effort to punish Kapanke for supporting Walker’s efforts.
Organized labor has poured more than $3 million into Wisconsin to underwrite both the massive recall campaign and a key state Supreme Court election that will be decided April 5.
“Wisconsin is ground zero for the country,” Tea Party Express founder Sal Russo tells Newsmax. “This is the left’s last stand to turn back the tide of what conservatives have been trying to do in the country over the last two years. So we can’t fail there -- it’s ground zero.
“Liberals are trying to say, ‘Even if conservatives win the elections, as we did in a lot of states in 2010, we’ll be able to frustrate and stop them and make it so difficult for them that nobody else will run like that in other states.
“It will bring an end to this conservative tea party revolution that we’ve seen over the last two years,” Russo warns. “That’s their goal: Not just to win in Wisconsin, but to stamp out the tea party movement and fiscal conservatives all over the country. They want to set an example in Wisconsin so that we’ll stop trying in Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania and the other states.”
In light of those high stakes, Tea Party Express is airing television ads and a get-out-the-vote campaign on behalf of state Supreme Court Justice David T. Prosser Jr., who is up for re-election Tuesday.
Conservatives on the court, including Prosser, hold a 4-3 advantage over the court’s liberal justices. But if the unions succeed in getting environmental activist JoAnne Kloppenburg elected instead, Democrats will seize control of the court.
That could be critical, because the court is expected to rule on a wave of legal challenges coming from opponents of Walker’s controversial budget-repair bill.
Prosser also has the endorsement of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. But Russo tells Newsmax that Republicans, who perhaps thought the battle against union entitlements had already been won in Wisconsin, are playing catch-up in the contest. More information on the fight over the fate of the state’s Supreme Court is available at TeaPartyExpress.org.
Read more on Newsmax
You don't report on the amount of money the Koch brothers and other right-wing financiers fed into the conflict in Wisconsin. You are right: this is ground zero in the fight over whether 75 years of progress in the strengthening of Democracy in America will be rolled back.
ReplyDelete"..the fight over whether 75 years of progress in the strengthening of Democracy in America will be rolled back."
ReplyDeleteWhat??
'Democracy' is when I can work somewhere without being forced to pay somebody for representation I don't want or need.
Machipongo:
ReplyDeleteCommunism in the form of a union is not progress in democracy. The liberal talking points about the Koch brothers is a straw man argument. The fact is that the public unions with democrat support have been fleecing the taxpayers long enough and now the money has run out.
The people (taxpayers) are done playing your stupid union games and we are going to RESTORE what 75 years of union thuggery and corruption have taken away!
I have worked in union jobs and non-union jobs. I believe the unions have out lived their usefulness. If you work for a corporation bargaining rights may be okay. You are bargaining with CEO's making billions of dollars a year in money and stock options and benefits. Being in the government jobs you are bargaining against the taxpayers, because they are the ones paying your salary and benfits. Especially in times like today where the economy is so bad. Unemployment is way up and we are already taxed too much. In the case of government workers they are taking the food out of our childrens mouths and already recieve above average pay and benefits. Why milk the taxpayers anymore I say good for these Governors that are trying to balance their budgets and not raise taxes.
ReplyDeleteOhio just eliminated collective bargaining from their State employees..personally I think that a civil employee's voting right is a conflict of interest...look where it has gotten us in Maryland
ReplyDelete