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Senate Bill 5 - Thoughts?


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http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=32765&sid=8be466576dcc3540e2c8b35cdfb24bf1

[quote]Lawsuit settled: Isthmus, AP will get emails, Walker must pay legal costs

The office of Gov. Scott Walker has agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit brought by Isthmus newspaper and the Wisconsin Associated Press over access to emails sent to the governor in response to his "budget repair bill." The settlement requires the governor to produce the emails and pay attorney fees for the plaintiffs' costs in bringing the suit.

The settlement calls for the defendants, Gov. Scott Walker and his office, to produce a disc containing these emails next Tuesday, March 22, at or after 4 p.m. It is agreed that the governor will produce emails "in the folders in which they are stored at the time of production."

In exchange for this access, the media requesters have agreed not to use the names of individuals who have sent emails to the governor in cases where there is reason for withholding them, as when they contain personal medical or financial information or raise a concern about retribution. The requesters also agreed not to use, publish or disclose any home addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers or Social Security numbers that may be contained in these emails.

Attorney Christa Westerberg represented Isthmus and the AP in this action; the governor and his office were represented by Assistant Attorney Generals Clayton Kawski and Mary Burke. The governor's chief legal counsel, Brian Hagedorn, also took part in the case.

As part of the settlement, the governor's office agreed to pay just over $7,000 in plantiffs' attorney fees and costs. But the settlement says this payment "is not nor is it to be construed as any admission of liability or of a violation of the public records law by Defendants, their agents, their officers or their employees."

Isthmus and the AP both made requests, under the state's Open Records Law, on Feb. 18, seeking emails that had been received by the governor's office in response to his "budget repair bill." Gov. Walker stated at his press conference on Feb. 17 that his office has gotten "over 8,000 emails" over the last few days and "the majority are telling us to stay firm, stay strong, to stand with the taxpayers."

The next day, Feb. 18, the governor said his office had now gotten 19,000 emails from state residents, with the "majority in favor" of his plan.

Both Isthmus and the AP sent follow-up emails seeking information as to the status of their requests, which drew no replies. The AP updated its request on Feb. 25 to include emails received as of that date.

Walker's office sent responses to both Isthmus and the AP shortly after 5 pm on Friday, March 4, about two hours after the lawsuit was filed. The office said the responses were written earlier but not sent due to a "clerical oversight."

At a March 8 hearing on the lawsuit, Dane County Judge Patrick Fiedler said he believed the lawsuit was the "trigger" that prompted the office's responses, and rejected arguments that the filing of the suit was premature.

"I'm satisfied that the ... plaintiffs acted in good faith in filing when they did," he said, explaining that he understood this was a matter of some urgency to the media requesters. "It's obvious to me why the media wants this before the outcome of the budget repair bill is known."

At this court hearing, Assistant Attorney General Kawski argued that the governor's office would have to conduct a careful review, using what is known as a "balancing test" to determine if the statutory presumption of openness is outweighed by other considerations, for "each and every email" at issue -- at that time more than 125,000. He said this was needed to prevent the release of possibly privileged information, like personal medical histories.

Fiedler set a briefing schedule that would allow him to issue a ruling on Monday, March 21, but he held out hope that a settlement could yet be reached. Today, the parties notified Judge Fiedler that an agreement was reached.[/quote]
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The fight is not over.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/judge-blocks-wisconsins-union-busting-bill-on-procedural-grounds.php

[quote]Judge Blocks Wisconsin's Union-Busting Bill On Procedural Grounds

A state judge in Wisconsin has just issued a temporary restraining order blocking Gov. Scott Walker's (R-WI) newly-passed law curtailing public employee unions, on the grounds that the GOP-controlled legislature appeared to have violated state public notice requirements when quickly passing the bill last week.

"It seems to me the public policy behind effective enforcement of the open meeting law is so strong that it does outweigh the interest, at least at this time, which may exist in favor of sustaining the validity of the (law)," wrote Judge Maryann Sumi, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

A key thing to note here is that this is a procedural objection, and not a constitutional finding based on the content of the law itself. As such, even if the bill's opponents secure a permanent injunction in further litigation -- and then prevail in any appeals to higher courts -- the Republican-controlled could still theoretically get together and pass the bill again.

But of course, that would involve having the legislature convene again, protesters swarming the Capitol again, and a very tough vote occurring in a rerun. Even if the Republicans were willing to do that, it would only give further political fuel to the Dems.
As readers might recall, the minority state Senate Democrats had fled the state in order to block a three-fifths budget quorum required when the collective bargaining proposals had been introduced as part of a budget repair bill. After a standoff of about two weeks, the state GOPers instead decided to convene a special conference committee to take the overall bill and strip out what they deemed to be fiscal items, leaving the collective bargaining provisions, in order to circumvent the three-fifths budget requirement.

At that hastily convened conference committee meeting, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D) attempted to raise a procedural objection -- saying that the committee had violated the state's open meetings law, which requires at least 24 hours notice before a government meeting, unless there is good cause to act more quickly. The next day, state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's (R) office released a memo from the Senate Clerk, arguing that they didn't have to give notice at all under a Senate rule, and that the two hours' notice employed here was sufficient.

In response, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne (D) brought a lawsuit, seeking to nullify the conference committee's action based on the alleged open-meetings violation -- which would have a domino effect of voiding the final passage votes in the Senate and Assembly, which were based on and followed the special conference committee's actions.

And as of now, a judge in Dane County has ruled that the plaintiff has a high chance of winning, and issued the temporary restraining order.

Walker's office is remaining publicly confident, WisPolitics reports:

"This legislation is still working through the legal process," spokesman Cullen Werwie wrote in an e-mail. "We are confident the provisions of the budget repair bill will become law in the near future."
The state is already hinting at a possible appeal, the Journal Sentinel reports:

Assistant Attorney General Steven Means, who was part of the state's legal team, said after the ruling that "we disagree with it."

"And the reason they have appellate courts is because circuit court judges make errors and they have in this case."

Asked if the state would appeal, Means said: "We'll have to think about that."
Will the order be lifted? Will it stay in place, with the litigation continuing and bottling up the bill? Could the legislature move again to pass it with proper prior notice? Let's see where this goes next.[/quote]
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more shadyness by the Republicans. They're slowing up the Bill in the House as if its passed into law before April 6th it can be placed on the November 2011 ballot for repeal, but if its not passed until after April 6th it can't go on the ballot until November 2012.
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[quote name='oldschooler' timestamp='1300796933' post='978945']
From Rachael Maddow's show last night.

[url="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42204444"]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42204444[/url]


Chick knocks it outta the park. This shit really pisses me off.
[/quote]


Didnt Oh's Gov give his staff a raise?
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[quote name='oldschooler' timestamp='1300796933' post='978945']
From Rachael Maddow's show last night.

[url="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42204444"]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42204444[/url]


Chick knocks it outta the park. This shit really pisses me off.
[/quote]

She hit the nail on the head. The blatant fuck you to the middle and working poor classes is just unbelievable. Crazy how these guys even got elected.
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So now we are erasing our history? wow

http://robertreich.org/post/4050985028

[quote]Why Governor LePage Can’t Erase History, and Why We Need a Fighter in the White House
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2011
Maine Governor Paul LePage has ordered state workers to remove from the state labor department a 36-foot mural depicting the state’s labor history. Among other things the mural illustrates the 1937 shoe mill strike in Auburn and Lewiston. It also features the iconic “Rosie the Riveter,” who in real life worked at the Bath Iron Works. One panel shows my predecessor at the U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins, who was buried in Newcastle, Maine.

The LePage Administration is also renaming conference rooms that had carried the names of historic leaders of American labor, as well as former Secretary Perkins.

The Governor’s spokesman explains that the mural and the conference-room names were “not in keeping with the department’s pro-business goals.”

Are we still in America?

Frances Perkins was the first woman cabinet member in American history. She was also one of the most accomplished cabinet members in history.

She and her boss, Franklin D. Roosevelt, came to office at a time when average working people needed help – and Perkins and Roosevelt were determined to give it to them. Together, they created Social Security, unemployment insurance, the right of workers to unionize, the minimum wage, and the forty-hour workweek.

Big business and Wall Street thought Perkins and Roosevelt were not in keeping with pro-business goals. So they and their Republican puppets in Congress and in the states retaliated with a political assault on the New Deal.

Roosevelt did not flinch. In a speech in October 1936 he condemned “business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.”

Big business and Wall Street, he said,

had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me – and I welcome their hatred.

Fast forward 75 years.

Big business and Wall Street have emerged from the Great Recession with their pockets bulging. Profits and bonuses are as high as they were before the downturn. And they’re spending like mad on lobbying and politics. After the Supreme Court’s disgraceful Citizens United decision, there are no limits.

Pro-business goals are breaking out all over. Governors across America are slashing corporate taxes as they slash state budgets. House and Senate Republicans are intent on deregulating, privatizing, and cutting spending and taxes so their corporate and Wall Street patrons will do even better.

But most Americans are still in desperate trouble. Few if any of the economic gains are trickling down.

That’s why the current Republican assault on workers – on their right to form unions, on unemployment insurance and Social Security, on public employees, and even (courtesy of Governor LePage) on our common memory – is so despicable.

And it’s why we need a President who will fight for workers and fight against this assault — just as Perkins and FDR did.

By the way, Maine’s Governor LePage may be curious to know that the building housing the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington is named the “Frances Perkins Building.” He can find her portrait hanging prominently inside. Also portraits and murals of great leaders of American labor.

A short walk across the mall will bring Governor LePage to an imposing memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt, should the Governor wish to visit.

Governor, you might be able to erase some of Maine’s memory, but you’ll have a hard time erasing the nation’s memory – even if it’s not in keeping with your pro-business goals.[/quote]
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[quote name='Jamie_B' timestamp='1300994639' post='979631']
[url="http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/03/24/how-johnny-kasich-has-painted-the-gop-into-a-corner-with-sb-5/"]How Johnny Kasich has painted the GOP into a corner with SB 5[/url]
[/quote]

Thats what happens when you basically lie, cheat and steal to get what you want....
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[quote name='Jamie_B' timestamp='1301007769' post='979689']
[url="http://thinkprogress.org/?p=152931"]Indiana Official Reportedly Advised Scott Walker To Stage A Phony Violent Attack By Union Supporters[/url]
[/quote]
Carlos F. Lam resigned a couple hours after his denial and admitted he wrote the e-mail.....
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[url="http://innovationohio.org/featured/news-release-innovation-ohio-obtains-kasich-administrations-internal-spread-sheets-on-school-funding-cuts"]INNOVATION OHIO OBTAINS KASICH ADMINISTRATION’S INTERNAL SPREAD SHEETS ON SCHOOL FUNDING CUTS; SLAMS ADMINISTRATION FOR “SERIAL DECEPTIONS”[/url]
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http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2011/03/koch-whores-try-to-chill-free-speech.html

Interesting that they requested FOIA info on Maddow, that tells me they believe her a threat and thus she's on to them.

[quote]Koch whores try to chill free speech, intimidate

Do the Koch whores ever stop their crusade against working people?

Three Michigan state universities have been served with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records requests for emails involving the Wisconsin collective bargaining issue. They were asked for messages that included the terms “Scott Walker,” “Maddow,” “Wisconsin,” and “Madison.” The requests, by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, were sent to labor relations departments at the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Michigan State University.

For those of you who haven’t heard of it, the Mackinac Center claims it's a “nonpartisan research and educational institute.” It's really a front group for the Koch brothers’ anti-worker agenda. And it's clear the Mackinace Center is trying to intimidate labor professors through chilling free speech.

You won't be surprised to learn who the center’s donors are. Mother Jones reports:

Between 2002 and 2009, the Mackinac Center's donors included the Charles G. Koch Foundation ($69,151), founded by the chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, who, with his brother, David, is a major backer of conservative causes; the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation ($80,000), the charity tied to the son of the co-founder of Amway, the multibillion-dollar direct marketing company; the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, established by the parents of Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who serves as the foundation's vice president ($195,000); and the Walton Family Foundation ($100,000), established by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and his wife, Helen.
In other words, a murderers' row of predatory plutocrats who view destroying America's middle class as a charitable activity.

The Mackinac Center is just taking a page out of the Wisconsin Republican playbook. William Cronon, a well-known labor history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently criticized Wisconsin Republicans. He took aim at Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker on his blog and in the New York Times. Wisconsin Republicans responded by filing their own FOIA request. They wanted any e-mails containing the words “recall,” “collective bargaining” and the names of Republican lawmakers, including Gov. Walker.

What a waste of time and taxpayer money to carry out a vendetta against college professors. We can think of better things to do with that time—like create jobs.[/quote]
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Get out and fight the good fight Ohio!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/03/31/135009807/ohios-collective-bargaining-battle-moves-towards-november-referendum

[quote]Now that the Ohio state Legislature has passed legislation limiting the collective bargaining rights of public employees unions, with Gov. John Kasich expected to sign the bill as soon as Friday, the fight moves out of the statehouse and onto the streets, so to speak.

That's because Ohioans opposed to the union-neutering legislation vow to keep it from becoming law through the state's referendum process.

[b]Under Ohio law, opponents have 90 days from the time the governor signs the legislation to collect 231,149 signatures to get a referendum on the November ballot.

If they collect enough valid signatures from 44 Ohio counties within that time frame, the law wouldn't go into effect until voters approved as much, assuming it won a majority of the vote in November, which now seems like a pretty big assumption.[/b]


As with other Republican governors elsewhere who have stirred up controversy with through attempts to reduce budgets that have proved unpopular with many of their citizens, the fight has taken a toll on Kasich's approval ratings.

NPR's Don Gonyea reported for Morning Edition that Kasich while Kasich acknowledges that he has lost some of the support that helped him win office in November he maintains that his actions are ultimately the right ones for his state.

An excerpt from his report:

[i]DON: Sixty-four year old Dwight Landis is a retired city worker who joined the latest protests. He did admit that he has long admired Kasich as a smart numbers and finance guy.

LANDIS: I hate to... I'm gonna say it... I voted for him. And I like the idea of getting our house in order. And we do have to get our finances right. But it doesn't have to be predatory. And this is where this is headed. That's the way I see it.

DON: Landis is an independent voter but says Governor Kasich has lost his support - forever. Polls show that the governor's approval rating has plummeted. One new survey puts it at just 30%.

Kasich's reaction?.

KASIC: I'm not at all pleased that somebody who voted for me now thinks I've lost my way. But it's just not true. I can look in their faces and understand their fear. I come from a union family. But it's my job to be a leader, to bring prosperity back to Ohio.[/i]

While the Ohio situation has broken mostly along partisan lines, it hasn't been totally true that political affiliation determined where lawmakers have stood on the legislation that would limit the collective bargaining rights of 350,000 public employees in the state.

Five Republican lawmakers voted against the bill known as SB 5.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

[i]Five House Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the bill. Republican Reps. Cheryl Grossman of Grove City, Anne Gonzales of Westerville and Mike Duffey of Worthington voted for it.

The bill would require public workers to pay at least 15 percent of health-insurance costs; limit the issues that could be bargained; and allow the governing body to pick its own last offer to settle a negotiation impasse - which unions say turns negotiations into "collective begging."

"This is a fundamentally rigged process," said Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, one of six Senate Republicans to vote against the bill.[/i][/quote]
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[b]Republican who opposed SB 5 punished[/b]

Thursday, April 7, 2011 03:09 AM
By Jim Siegel
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
State Sen. Bill Seitz


Today's political news

* DeWine favors 'whistleblower' anti-fraud law
* Boehner to speak at Ohio State commencement


First, he clashed with his leadership over the collective-bargaining bill. Now, outspoken Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, has lost his committee chairmanship for reportedly failing to keep a colleague informed of changes to another bill.

Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, removed Seitz yesterday as chairman of the Government Oversight & Reform Committee, which is working on Senate Bill 3, designed to bring Ohio's public-employee pension funds back to long-term solvency.

Niehaus said Seitz was preparing to submit a substitute version of the bill without informing the sponsor, Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina.

"That was very problematic for me because it was a breach of common courtesy and protocol," Niehaus said. "It's important that I have the confidence in my chairmen. I decided to make the change now while we are still in the early process of talking about pension reform."

Seitz, who has been Niehaus' roommate in Columbus, said his staff called Faber's aide, and he talked to the caucus staff member assigned to the committee about the change, which he called a "housekeeping matter" that updated the bill to reflect the most-recent proposals from the pension systems.

Seitz was removed from a different committee last month when he refused to vote in favor of the collective-bargaining bill. "The thing speaks for itself," he said, referring to the speculation that the latest move relates to his stance on that bill.

"The vast majority of people are concerned about the overreaching of this (collective-bargaining) bill, and that concern is only inflamed by what could charitably be called heavy-handed reactions to those who express honest dissent."

[b]Part of SB 5 could go into budget bill[/b]

Governor may put some parts of SB5 into state budget
Thursday, April 7, 2011 03:09 AM
By Joe Vardon and Jim Siegel
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


A movement might be brewing among top Republicans that could thwart a referendum on Senate Bill 5 well before Ohioans have a chance to vote on the controversial issue.

Gov. John Kasich and House Speaker William G. Batchelder are exploring a plan to include at least some of the just-passed law's provisions in the state budget, which probably won't be passed until late June.

Doing so would force opponents to pursue a second referendum to overturn part of the budget, Batchelder said.

Although Senate President Tom Niehaus said he has not been part of conversations about the idea, he added: "If we can do some things that are going to help local governments balance their budgets and help Ohio taxpayers, I'm open to the discussion."

Yesterday, Kasich conceded that a referendum on Senate Bill 5 is on the horizon, but he said he is working with Republican legislators to include at least some of the law's language as an amendment to the $55.5billion budget bill under consideration by the House.

First up are provisions guiding how a teacher's performance is measured. They're already generally part of the bill that Kasich signed last week that limits collective bargaining for state employees - a law opposed by an organized collaboration of Democrats and unions that is moving quickly to place a referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot.

If opponents get the 230,000-plus valid signatures they need by June30, the bill would not take effect until the statewide vote. But if some or most of the collective-bargaining changes were duplicated in the budget, that could blunt or all but eliminate the impact of the referendum.

Oddly enough, a second referendum presumably couldn't be held until November 2012 - seemingly right when Democrats would want it, beside the presidential election would be on the ballot.

"I don't want to get into what I want to do, what I don't want to do, because then I might have to retract," Kasich said. "I think Senate Bill 5 passed; obviously, there is going to be a referendum. The House and the Senate has to work its way.

"I've submitted my budget, there will be some language on the teacher assessment, and outside of that, we'll see what the legislature does."

Asked about putting pieces of Senate Bill 5 in the budget, Batchelder, R-Medina, said on Tuesday that "these things happen."

"I don't want to make a guesstimate about it at this point. There are a number of things we are looking at, that being one."

Asked again yesterday, the speaker said: "I guess the direct answer would be yes, but I don't know why that would happen. I think it has enough budgetary implications ... on the other hand, I don't think the governor has thought about it."

Senate Bill 5 removes health insurance and other benefits from collective bargaining and strips public employees of the right to strike, among other things. It does away with automatic step increases in pay for all employees and calls for merit pay.

The component of the law that Kasich said would be rolled into the budget dictates how teachers are to be evaluated.

According to Senate Bill 5, the state superintendent is to submit to the state Board of Education by April 20, 2012, a framework for judging a teacher's performance, based at least 50 percent on student academic growth. The framework is also to include quality of instruction, communication and professionalism, and parental satisfaction.

Kasich's budget, House Bill 153, does not include such language, a spokesman for the Office of Budget and Management said.

Meanwhile, a pair of House Democrats said they soon will introduce a bill that would allow Ohioans to join 19 other states in the ability to recall statewide officeholders and legislators. Ohio law allows for the recall of local officials.

Reps. Robert F. Hagan, D-Youngstown, and Mike Foley, D-Cleveland, said the proposal was sparked by Kasich's low approval numbers in the wake of the governor's proposed budget cuts and his push for Senate Bill 5.

"I think people are realizing they made a terrible mistake with this governor," Hagan said.

Kasich dismissed the proposal as political and said "we've got to spend our time trying to figure out how to get the state on the right track."
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