My assembly representative (whom I didn’t support — he is not known to be particularly leftwing, and the Reps don’t bother running in this seat, so I supported the Green) writes the following instructions to his friends:
Continue to show up here at the capitol and shake the foundations of this building with your opposition.
Contact friends and relatives around the state and urge them to contact their Republican representatives. If you
know anyone in Appleton or Neenah (Senator Ellis), the LaCrosse area (Senator Kapanke), the Hudson area
(Senator Harsdorf), the Ripon area (Senator Olsen), Waupun or Beaver Dam (Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald),
Platteville or Dodgeville (Senator Schultz), Sheboygan or Manitowoc (Senator Leibham), the Green Bay area
(Senator Cowles), Fond du Lac or Oshkosh (Senator Hopper), communication from the constituents of these
Senators would be especially helpful.Protests continue at the state capitol building, as well as major rallies, until the people of our state are heard by
this Governor.
So, the Rep Senators thought to be particularly vulnerable to caving are named, and, wherever you are, if you know people who live in those districts prevail upon them to write or call, maintaining a polite friendly demeanor if possible.
Phelps asks me “How often has a Democratic representative asked constituents to shake the foundations of the Capitol building?” Not a lot in the past few decades, I’d guess.
Oh, and my representative will have to do some really awful stuff in the coming year or so if he wants me to support an opponent again at the next election.
{ 11 comments }
Tim Worstall 02.26.11 at 9:12 pm
Yes. I know, I’ve made this point before.
“Protests continue at the state capitol building, as well as major rallies, until the people of our state are heard by
this Governor.”
Didn’t the people of this state just elect this Governor?
Walt 02.26.11 at 9:45 pm
Did you also make that argument in favor of the Obama administration, Tim? Because I missed it.
jacob 02.26.11 at 9:56 pm
Moreover, Walker wasn’t elected on a mandate to give away state power plants, turn over all cabinet agencies to political appointees, radically curtail BadgerCare and SeniorCare, or ban collective bargaining. So even allowing that Walker was just elected, he wasn’t elected to perform this radical attack on the state. See this even-handed discussion from PolitiFact Wisconsin about what Walker said and didn’t say during the campaign: http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/22/scott-walker/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-says-he-campaigned-his-/
Russell Arben Fox 02.26.11 at 10:23 pm
If there are Wisconsinites–and especially Milwaukeeans–reading this, I ask a favor. I contribute occasionally to a localist website, one of the few leftists who do so. Yesterday I wrote a piece which expresses the value of unions to exactly what I said in the other thread–“having a good family wage, owning a home in a stable community,” etc. Today, a fellow with serious issues with the state of Wisconsin, and Milwaukee in particular, has written to praise Walker for giving the unions a kick in the ass, insisting that significantly because of them, Wisconsin, whatever the test scores, has developed an “anti-education” and “anti-entrepreneurial” attitude that is ruining the state. I can respond to him on the level of ideas and data, but I don’t have the local knowledge. Does anyone who does have such wish to set his account of Badger State sozialism straight?
Matt McIrvin 02.27.11 at 2:25 am
Democracy doesn’t mean you have to shut up after the election is over. Ideally, you shouldn’t shut up after the election is over.
yeliabmit 02.27.11 at 4:14 am
Tim’s point at #1 is essentially George W. Bush’s “accountability moment” argument, and it’s no more convincing in these circumstances than it was then. Democracy is always on.
Tim Worstall 02.27.11 at 9:45 am
“Did you also make that argument in favor of the Obama administration, Tim?”
I certainly supported Obama’s election: admittedly, mostly because I thought the election of a non-pink President would annoy a very large number of people who I think should be so annoyed.
And no, I’ve not made the argument that Obama cannot do this or that because it wasn’t in the manifesto, because he doesn’t have “the right” to do this or that. I have argued against some of the things he’s done, sure, but each on what I see as their merits or not. Not on grounds of “legitimacy” or not.
Christopher Phelps 02.27.11 at 12:32 pm
Every major Obama policy, good and bad — health care, increasing commitment in Afghanistan, drawing down in Iraq, the stimulus, elimination of exclusions from the military based on sexual orientation, etc. — was pledged clearly in the election.
Virtually nothing of what Walker is now doing in his “budget repair bill” was announced during the election. In particular, he said absolutely nothing about eliminating collective bargaining rights for public employees.
Mrs Tilton 02.27.11 at 1:47 pm
Tim @7,
And no, I’ve not made the argument that Obama cannot do this or that because it wasn’t in the manifesto, because he doesn’t have “the right†to do this or that. I have argued against some of the things he’s done, sure, but each on what I see as their merits or not. Not on grounds of “legitimacy†or not.
Ah, I see. I suspect that, any question of “legitimacy” to one side, a great many of the people opposing Walker’s anti-union efforts are doing so on what they see as the merits. Sauce, goose, gander. In light of your comment @7, then, does your comment @1 have any purpose at all, other than to let you feel you’ve landed a clever and telling blow on Teh Left?
I do applaud your reason for supporting Obama’s election, though. I supported it primarily because I’d have supported anybody running on the not-Republican ticket. Support Obama? No-brainer. Heck, by that point I’d even have supported a Kenyan Muslim soc1alist. I didn’t expect much from Obama, mind, so I can’t say it’s more than mildly disappointing that the primary achievement of his time in office is likely to be the very fact of that time in office pissing off people who greatly deserve off-pissing.
joe koss 02.28.11 at 2:32 am
Two updates:
1) Various reports through the internets: Daily Kos and Mother Jones/ AFL-CIO that Senator Schultz has came out as saying he will not vote for the budget repair bill. I can’t find any conventional news media reporting it yet — but who needs them?
2) The continuous 14 day vigil continues undeterred. Over 600 people are reported to still be in our house. For over an hour, Branzel live-streamed reported from inside the capitol using his smart phone. By the end, he had over 100,000 people watching, live, during the Oscars, from all over the United States. This movement is not slowing down!
joe koss 02.28.11 at 3:22 am
side note: Koch Empire, meet ‘anonymous’ hacktivism.
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