This post was co-authored by Mary Bell, President, Wisconsin Education Association Council.
Today, Wisconsin voters will go to the polls and cast their ballots in the largest recall election in the state's history. So much is at stake, and we are proud of the hard work of our members, men and women alike, who spent countless hours volunteering both on the ground and on the phones, educating people about the impact of Governor Scott Walker's reckless agenda on labor, on women, and on the working families of Wisconsin.
You already know the amazing story of how these elections came to be. Walker and his allies in the state legislature ignited a national firestorm when they passed a budget slashing education by $800 million, assaulting workers' rights, and attacking health care -- all while giving huge tax breaks to corporations and the super rich.
But the people of Wisconsin weren't silent. They fought back. And today, six Republican senators face recall. In five of those six races, their challengers are strong, Democratic women: Nancy Nusbaum, Sandy Pasch, Shelly Moore, Jessica King and Jennifer Shilling.
Many groups have tried to paint this election as a one-issue referendum. But the people of Wisconsin know better. They see the bigger picture and understand that today is about our core Democratic principles: the ability of workers to negotiate for fair wages, the rights of women to care for themselves and their children, the ability for families to put food on their table, and the prioritization of education.
Progressive women have stepped up to lead in these races because women's leadership is vital to protecting the very things -- like labor and education -- that Walker and his allies are attacking.
The public employees who Republicans are targeting are unionized fields with primarily female memberships. Teachers are 75% female. Nurses are 95%. Groups exempt from Walker's attacks such as firefighters and police officers are predominantly male -- but our brothers and sisters in labor are out there together because they understand the stakes.
And they're supported by a national network of folks who want to help.
Last week, we had a record-breaking number of men and women from all over sign-up for the Team EMILY, where tens of thousands of calls were made to voters in Wisconsin during the national call-in night.
We have a lot to be proud of, from the working people of Wisconsin having the strength and courage to stand up and fight back against a governor and legislature that prioritizes corporate interests over bread-and-butter issues of working families, to the incredible bravery of the women who threw their hats in the ring to take back the Wisconsin Senate.
Today is about our fight: women, labor, the progressive movement. We've come together to support the policies that made this country great -- and the idea that we all do better, when we all do better.
Follow Stephanie Schriock on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Schriock1
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No, tonight was about America winning, by beating back ridiculous demands in the face of enormous deficits. Now stop crying and get to work. Our children continue to fall further behind.
Where is the Dept. of Justice? The same woman in a district in Wisconsin in charge of the
voting returns, who found 14 thousand votes in the last election, that were questionable
since her relationship with Scott Walker smells of Florida, and it looks like she did it again
by bringing in the Republican Darling in to retain her seat.
My God! Where are we going?
After the last election, in Wisconsin, the Dept. of Justice should have walked in on the problem of
having more votes than the people living there, and that wasn't enough to start an
investigation?
What are they doing actually protecting the rights of citizens?
These people were the underdogs, and the President didn't give them even the smallest
support via the Justice investigation of voting tampering. Nothing.
The big guys spent 30 million bucks to keep their people in the Senate, and with that kind
of money, they could buy every poor farmer's vote like the carpet baggers.
Terrible.
Only since coroporations began outsourcing has average factory type jobs seen deflated their wages/benefits/retirements. Black & Decker discovererd their profit margin on a hammer could be 10-fold if they moved the entire tool&die plant out of the midwest and into a developing country. That $15 hammer in 1980 produced only a $1-2 profit--move that entire factory to developing country and that $15 hammer would produce a $13 profit.
The past 2-decades have seen uneducated compensation steadily decline, while educated compensation fall ever so slowly. My wife, a teacher, has had her wage froze for 3-years & starting a 4th. My federal salary was frozen this year.
It is human nature to be jealous of those with more or options. You don't have to put a lid on a pot of crabs, the others will collectively pull-down any that try to escape the pot (hey! you're coming to the crab boil with us!). I call it "crab-pot mentality".
As long a red-staters and repubs continue to embelish the boogey-man, blame ills on immigrants, and be-little the educated we will continue to have this problem in America.
They both want a lot of Government spending and others to pay for it.
taxes, pay into SS and Medicare and they aren't entitlement programs, we earned them. And we don't have private accountants who find every loophole there is or bank offshore to avoid paying taxes. Our taxes are taken out everytime we get a paycheck including our SS checks. We are not freeloaders, we are working Americans who are dedicated to making our country the best in the world.
Maybe you blast the military for having a budget bigger than the sum of the next 12 smaller militaries.
Maybe you blast the Bush tax-cuts for the wealthy, almost a half-billion $ giveaway to those who really need it. Seen any jobs from that trickle down yet? Yeah, there is a few, I'm sure few immigrant nannies, pool-boys, lawn-boys, & maids got hired.
Really, I think anybody that can lead or help in this fight should be invited and recognized. I think probably, 'on the ground' this is the case. I guess I'm just kinda troubled by the language above which suggests that men don't have what it takes to "lead in these races."
I will acknowledge that women, specifically, often *aren't* invited to (or are even allowed to) lead, let alone be recognized for their leadership. I reckon it is noteworthy that in this fight that is thankfully not the case.
I'll also acknowledge that it's been my experience that if there isn't a woman in a leadership position within a given group of men & women, the interests of the women are often unobserved, unrecognized, unheard (even when the interest is demonstrated and leadership is petitioned about it) and thus never attended to. "Women's leadership" may prevent that, which may be what the author is getting at. Maybe our male leaders, no matter how 'progressive' they might bill themselves as (or be popularly recognized for) might leave the teachers and nurses behind as collateral damage or a cause not worth fighting for.
Regardless, I hope Wisconsin rescues it's state from the kidnappers torturing it.
If you're thinking about replying "Republicans do it too", you're just proving my point.
You didn't mention education which is at the root of the WI issue. I went to WI public schools and had some really great teachers. I also had a few horrible ones. My problem with unions is that the worst teacher I had in high school was amongst those who were the highest paid, per union rules. Good teachers are invaluable are should be paid accordingly, in my opinion. Crappy teachers shouldn't be able to hide behind union protection and tenure. Additionally, WI unions require the employer to use union-owned health care. The employers cannot shop around for the best programs for their workers. Teachers get the health care benefits the union tells them they have to have. They don't get a list of option to choice from like most do in the private sector. Their health coverage tends to be very expensive and mediocre. These are some of my reasons for supporting Walker.
Stephanie Schriock says that Emily's List volunteers went around "educating" voters. But they weren't. They were telling them what to do and what to think. I think a good place to start is to call out these organizations who use "women's issues" to further THEIR agenda. Unions give TONS of money to Democratic candidates. It's not surprising that Democratic organizations are in favor of keeping unions as strong as possible. Is this best for women or best for Democrats? How much of the money that unions collect from their members goes directly for political campaigns? How much of the profit that union mandated health care programs earn goes to political campaigns? I can totally understand why Democrats from all over the country are rushing to protect this cash cow. [I personally believe that only individuals should be allowed to donate to political campaigns. No corporate donations, no PACs, no union donations. But I digress.]
Emily's List presents this debate as being over salaries for predominantly female occupations. I think it's more about protecting campaign donations. It's wishful thinking that the amount of national support this election has gotten was done just for working women.
I look forward to reading your take on this.
Here's an easy statistic to digest. If only men were allowed to vote, not a single Democrat would have won election to national office in the last 50 years. Women are the driving force behind the Democratic Party. Their political sisters are far fewer on the Republican side, and that's precisely because the Democratic Party has done a far better job of representing women's issues in modern politics. It would only be logical for Emily's List to support Democrats over Republicans, if the GOP isn't doing much to support women.
I am afraid to even look and see what they are paying in state income and sales tax already.
God bless this right to work state! I almost hope the progressives up there actually win so some of the folks that actually work in WI will start relocating down here to Florida.