I respect South Milwaukee State Rep. Mark Honadel.
I just happen to disagree, strongly, with his position on Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting plan.
Honadel was quoted in a story on WTMJ-TV a few days ago. From it:
Rep. Mark Honadel (R-South Milwaukee) could certainly hear the voices from his office, but they are unlikely to change his support for Walker’s budget plan. “They are going to pay a little more for their health care, but by golly, they’re still going to have a pension, unlike 80% of my friends in the private sector who lost their business or their company went belly up,” Honadel said.
Of course, a vote for Walker’s plan is more than just a vote for benefit givebacks (which I’d support). It’s also a vote to put an end to collective bargaining rights for public workers in communities across the state.
Walker told the Journal Sentinel in an interview on Friday that he is simply giving local governments “the tools to control their own budgets” and “flexibility” they need to deal with looming cuts in state aid.
He added: “I know as a local official, collective bargaining time and time again was the thing that stood in the way of local governments and school districts being able to manage their budgets.”
Really? We’ve managed our budget just fine while preserving collective bargaining rights. Now, it’s not been entirely pain free, but we’ve done it.
We did for the past two years with the help of our public safety unions, who, recognizing the financial situation of the city, agreed to no pay increases in 2010 and a 2 percent pay increase in 2011, as well as increased health insurance contributions.
And we’ll do it again in 2012 … hopefully with the partnership of our unions. Unions are not the problem. They can be part of the solution.
South Milwaukee Blog 
I find it interesting that you say that “We’ve managed our budget just fine while preserving collective bargaining rights.” considering our taxes continue to rise every year despite already being at ridiculously high levels.
Joe: I’ve been proud to support two budgets with minimal tax levy increases (under 2 percent for 2011). I think that is a fair and reasonable increase as costs continue to rise and funding sources (from the state and other sources) dry up. As to taxes “being at ridiculously high levels,” figures have shown South Milwaukee is at least comparable to other area communities. Also, I think we get a lot for our taxes — high quality services that other communities boasting lower taxes don’t.
Erik,
I would not go out on a limb for 2012. With this will be reductions of State aid to municipalities. Then we will look at the scorecard of our elected officials….