Recall Elections in Wisconsin

These recall elections bear watching. There are six Republican seats in the Wisconsin Legislature that are up for a recall election. The recalls were initiated after Governor Walker implemented new rules for state employee unions. The reasoning behind Gov Walker’s actions were to curb spending and gain a little control of the state budget. The state employee unions responded with massive protests over a two week period last winter. Once the budget was approved, several democrat activist organizations initiated recall proceedings.

It is estimated that $25 million has been poured into these recall elections from out of state advocacy groups. The largest share, possibly as much as $20 million, has been for democrat candidates.

Hopefully, the people of Wisconsin will not let the austerity measures that were necessary influence their decisions. Wisconsin and many other state governments are in a very tight spot as spending has been out of control for many years at all levels of government. If the good folks of Wisconsin reject Walker’s initiatives to curb spending, I don’t know what direction the state is going to move.

The saddest part of all this was that the progressives and democrats were able to grab the narrative in large part due to the sympathetic coverage from the media. Outside those immediately impacted (i.e. public unions), reigning in the public sector union’s power really should be a no-brainer. If people were really able to sit back a study the situation, I think there is no way they would support the public unions. On average, most public sector employees have significantly better pay and benefit programs than those who work in the private sector.

Public sector employees should have never been allowed to organize in the first place. When your employer is the public, there is no way a group of people should be able to hold the taxpayer hostage in their desire for more power and money.