Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve tried hard to play it straight, providing a comprehensive and unique news source for South Milwaukee without interjecting much opinion.
That is why I launched this blog, and that is what this blog will continue to be. Most of the time.
As you can see, this week has been different. I feel strongly about the issue of protecting union rights, and I feel a responsibility to use this pulpit to make that position known and respond to what I consider unfair and unwarranted attacks on public workers by our governor.
Why do I feel so strongly about this? I attribute some of this to my life experience.
A former union member myself, I am married to a public school teacher. My father is recently retired after a long career as a unionized social worker in the Wisconsin prison system. My stepfather is retired from the U.S. Post Office. My sister is a unionized social services worker in Walworth County. Also, my mother is a nurse at the veterans hospital and, while not a union worker, she benefits from a strong union there as well.
(And I assure you that none of my family members have gotten rich working as public employees. Far from it.)
Additionally, my position on this issue should not be a surprise to my constituents because I was endorsed by two unions in 2009 and made that clear in much of my campaign literature.
So, yes, I side with unions in most cases … and certainly on such a fundamental issue of preserving collective bargaining rights.
With that in mind, my position on unions has led some to surmise that I am as liberal as they come. I am not.
I’d like to think I am like most of America — liberal on some issues, conservative on some issues. I am conservative on many social and law-and-order issues, for instance, while liberal on others like commuter rail (a purely economic development issue for me).
I hate that everyone these days is labeled “liberal” or “conservative,” and it’s assumed they are, or must be, completely left-leaning or right-leaning all of the time and on every issue. That’s certainly not the case with me, nor many of the people I know.
Moreover, I like to think my vision for South Milwaukee is apolitical. That’s why aldermanic races are non-partisan.
Positive ideas for the future of this great city should appeal to liberals, conservatives and everyone in between. And I promise to continue to do my best to deliver them.
South Milwaukee Blog 
You need to take the emotions out of this and look at what is good for the State of Wisconsin and municipalities. Bottom line, taxes cannot keep going up!
Rich: I agree. And the emotions will die down once this is resolved, I’m sure, on both sides. Then we’ll have the reality of a shared revenue cut from the state … and have to figure out ways to deal with that. I just don’t think the removal of collective bargaining rights from public unions is the way to do it. Pay and benefits? Maybe. After all, the major public unions have already said they would approve those if the bargaining rights were kept intact.
It is one thing to support unions, union members, and laws dealing with them. It is quite another to throw a temper tantrum if your not going to get your way.
Previous message was unclear – I’m not saying YOU are throwing said tantrum. You are, however, supporting those senators that are doing so by hiding.
Governor Walker’s proposals don’t end collective bargaining altogether, which is the charge being leveled by union members and media outlets throughout the country. This is just a smoke screen thrown up by union bosses and the people obligated to those bosses like Wisconsin Democrats and President Obama. But in truth, the governor’s actions are aimed at saving the state of Wisconsin from the bankruptcy it faces if someone doesn’t step up and pull these unionized masses off the taxpayer’s backs.
Whether intentional or not, along the way public employees grew more accustomed to having their pensions, healthcare, and unfunded liabilities paid by rank and file residents of Wisconsin. This must end and there’s finally someone willing to take a stand for those of us who can’t call in sick to protest our benefits packages.
Erik,
I appreciate that you’re not an ideologue…complex issues require complex thinking and solutions. I’m afraid that the current situation has made people so entrenched they’re unable to see beyond the walls of those trenches. As unions are forced to defend their very existence, there is no place for a conversation about ways to reform their imperfections and ineffective practices. Some unions have made themselves ripe for deserved criticism…but a throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater approach seems uninformed.
Seeing the current budget crisis in terms of only one side of the balance sheet seems myopic. When our family financial situation becomes tight we can decide to make cuts (no cable, no eating out, etc.) or one of us can take on a part time job. Working and middle class Wisconsinites pay plenty of taxes, but some corporations pay no state taxes at all (and they don’t seem to be creating jobs with the money they’re keeping in their pockets) and 4o categories of organizations are exempt from property taxes. It seems that the state’s “part time job” should be making sure everyone pays their fair share for the roads, the fire department, a sewage system, etc.)…it just seems fundamentally wrong for a corporation that probably uses most of these services at an ungodly rate not to pay anything for the stuff it uses, making us pay their share for them.
Though I have no interest in trying to supply the entire revenue needs of the state out of my income, I’m not upset at paying my fair share for the services I receive. (Not too long ago, I tried to figure out how much I’d have to pay private companies for some of the governmental services I rely on the most, but stopped as it didn’t take long to hit a total greater than what I pay in taxes.)
I’ve heard the term “freeloader” thrown about recently to describe public employees (not sure to whom it refers as the ones I know work as hard as I do, and since I’m self-employed I work plenty hard…perhaps this post will be tagged with the time…it’s the middle of the night and I’ve finally finished the paperwork I had to get done). I’m not quite sure why paying taxes is anything other than a patriotic act of citizenship, or why those who get out of paying their fair share brag about it or are held up as some kind of hero to emulate. It seems to me they are the freeloaders and the ones who have put the Great State of Wisconsin in such a difficult financial position.
In a recent article, Robert Reich (who certainly has a particular political position, but I don’t think his numbers are completely fictitious) mentioned that the 13 highest paid hedgefund managers (remind me, does a hedgefund manager do anything that contributes to our economy?) EACH earned, on average $1 Billion (with a B) in 2010 (that’s a billion $ per person). Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s perfectly okay for people to be well compensated for the innovations they make, the risks they take, etc. (it’s part of why I’m self employed), but I question if anyone needs to earn $1 Billion in one year. However, that’s not the issue Reich raised. Since those high in the financial industry have been able to lobby for legislation that favors them personally, these hedgefund managers are allow to call their employment income “capital gains” so pay taxes at a capital gains rate (15%) rather than according to the income tax schedule the rest of us must use. According to Reich, if these 13 hedgefund managers (just these 13) actually paid income taxes like the rest of us they would fund the salaries of 300,000 teachers (and they’d still have hundreds of millions from that year’s compensation alone to spend as they please). I’m not sure why the working and middle classes are having to fight over crumbs as these folks gorge themselves. I can’t help but think all the current drama is meant to distract us from thinking critically and looking behind the curtain.
People keep making the case that lower corporate taxes are good for the economy and will result in more jobs, but I don’t see unemployment dropping, and the pittance in tax reduction I’ve gotten (and I’m guessing my fellow small business owners have gotten) isn’t doing much for me, while major corporations seem to be laughing all the way to the bank (especially those major corporations that get to classify themselves as small businesses, so that tax reductions targeted for me benefit them hundreds of times over while they still lay off workers and raise their prices).
I’m still trying to understand all of this, but a lot of the rhetoric about why the state has a financial shortfall and how it is all the fault of public employees and their unions (which I never thought of as important, but now that I see how without them the state can flex its muscles to try to solve its financial problems by merely cutting the pay of public employees instead of looking for other solutions…like not rewarding campaign contributors…I’m rethinking their usefulness) seems to not stand up to scrutiny. I appreciate that you are sharing your thinking, and giving a place for others to post theirs…I’ll keep reading and keep trying to understand which of the players in this big game seem to be looking out for my interests in some way…right now it seems that though the pay for public employees comes, in part, from the taxes I pay, I get something from the work they do…corporations sure have their hands in pockets too, but I’m not so clear on how much that benefits anyone other than them.