Gov. Scott Walker; Source: Gateway Technical College, Flickr

Starting Tuesday, Wisconsin Democrats and labor groups will start an effort to gather more than 550,000 signatures by mid-January on a petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker.

Walker earned the ire of unions when he pushed a law eliminating collective bargaining rights for public workers earlier this year. Democrats are also planning to recall Republican state legislators, although they haven’t announced their targets, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The fight is increasingly contentious, with some Democrats fearing that Republicans might gather signatures on Walker petitions only to destroy them, and the Republican Party setting up an online “integrity center,” according to the Journal-Sentinel.

“The site allows Walker backers to submit photos, videos and complaints to the Republican Party. The purpose of the site is to protect voters who “suspect foul play by Wisconsin Democrats or big government union bosses,” said a statement from Stephan Thompson, the party’s executive director.”

The recent labor union defeat of a similar anti-collective bargaining law in Ohio energized labor forces, Bloomberg reports. A number of large rallies are planned across the state in coming weeks.

Recent polls have shown the state split on the recall effort. Walker has been rocked by a corruption investigation involving top staff members.

No Democrat candidates have yet entered the race, although the Daily Mail reports that a number of politicians are jockeying for the slot behind the scenes—possible candidates include former Sen. David Obey and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Source: A still of Sen. Amy Klobuchar from the ad.

In ads that will run on cable throughout the week, digital rights activist groups criticize Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar for support of the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, which they say would throttle internet freedom to protect profits for entertainment companies.

On its website, Demand Progress, a progressive group, says they have one goal for the ad: “We need to embarrass a key lawmaker to set an example for others, and make it clear that it’s not okay to shill for the entertainment industry.”

The ad targets the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, which would “makes unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty of up to 5 years in prison,” according to Open Congress.

The ad is named “Bieber is Right” in reference to teen pop star Justin Bieber’s comments criticizing Klobuchar for the bill. It asks: “Why is Sen. Klobuchar’s top legislative priority an internet censorship bill that would risk putting ordinary internet users and even Justin Bieber behind bars?”

It’s also paid for by Fight for the Future, a technology rights group, and contains much footage from Occupy Wall Street rallies in Minnesota. Many other groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, have opposed the legislation.

The act is supported by a host of entertainment and media companies, many of which gave generously to Democratic candidates, according to Open Congress.

The complaint was filed on Nov. 9, and will be followed by a hearing with an administrative judge if the company, MikLin Enterprises, doesn’t settle with the International Workers of the World.

For more background, see the entire story at the Minnesota Independent.

Jimmy John’s Complaint

Boisclair works for the Society for Truth and Justice, an anti-abortion group whose staffers are running primary challenges around the country in order to exploit a campaign law loophole and get graphic ads aired on broadcast television, as the Minnesota Independent first reported.

In a press release titled, “Christian challenges Muslim for congressional seat,” Boisclair announced that he had launched his first ad.

“We did not pick this fight,” Boisclair said. “Islam’s war against Christianity and human liberty has raged against us for 1,400 years. We are merely responding with the truth.”

“The call to violent acts against Christians and Jews within this ‘holy’ book should alarm every American. The fact that a U.S. Congressman swore an oath on a book that calls for most of us to be persecuted is an outrage.”

The video was deemed offensive by Youtube and promptly pulled from the video hosting service. Ellison praised the move.

“I’d like to thank YouTube for removing the ad because it violated the company’s ‘policy on shocking and disgusting content,’” Ellison wrote in a statement. “The people of Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District elected me to uphold our Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion for every American. I intend to maintain the high level of civility the voters expect and deserve. And, I will continue working with our communities to organize for greater inclusion of people of all faiths and backgrounds.”

Boisclair, who currently works in Washington, DC, for the Society for Truth and Justice is one of several candidates from that organization running in primary challenges against House members in order to force local media outlets to air the candidates’ ads no matter how graphic.

The Federal Communications Act of 1934 says that all candidates for a specific office must have equal access to public airwaves.

Randall Terry, an anti-abortion activist who founded the group, is also running a Democratic primary challenge against President Obama. Earlier this week, Terry began soliciting $100,000 in donations to air graphic anti-abortion ads in the 2012 Democratic primaries and caucuses.

Boisclair told the Hopkins Patch that he doesn’t yet have the money to air his anti-Islam ads, but hopes to in time for the election

Here’s Boisclair’s new ad:

Source: A poster distributed as part of the IWW's campaign to win sick days for Jimmy John's workers.

The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint Wednesday finding that Twin Cities Jimmy John’s owned by MikLin Enterprises unlawfully threatened, disciplined and terminated workers for engaging in union activities.

The complaint about the sandwich shop stems from a March incident where six supporters of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were fired after protesting the company’s lack of paid sick leave.

Among the findings against Jimmy John’s in the complaint: “Disparaging and threatening pro-union employees on Facebook, removing union postings from stores, interrogating employees about their union activities, and threatening mass firings for union organizing.”

Micah Buckley-Farlee of the Twin Cities branch of the IWW is one of the six fired workers.

“We’re looking forward to continue fighting for paid sick days, which is the starting point that led to the whole thing they fired us for,” Buckley-Farlee told the Minnesota Independent. “So I’m looking forward to getting back to my job and organizing around paid sick days.”

Unless there is a settlement between the company and the union, an administrative judge will hear the case in mid-January 2012.

Union supporters said they’re willing to consider a settlement if Jimmy John’s reinstates workers and pays back pay. The Minneapolis franchises, which are owned by MikLin Enterprises and headed by Michael Mulligan, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, haven’t returned a request for comment (this post will be updated if we find out more).

This isn’t the company’s first brush with labor law violations. In January 2011, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the previous union election, which the union lost by two votes, due to unfair labor practices by the company. At the time, the company and union reached an agreement that Jimmy John’s would not take action against workers supporting the union.

Buckley-Farlee said the union is keeping the possibility of an election on the table, but that the union is currently more dedicated to grassroots organizing.

Update: The Minnesota Independent has received a copy of the NLRB complaint, you can view it here.

Source: A still from Campaign to Defeat Obama's video

The Campaign to Defeat Obama, a political action committee with ties to the Republican Party and the Tea Party Express, has launched a campaign linking Democratic Party lawmakers and President Obama to the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is depicted by the organization as “violent mobs.”

“Barack Obama has been one of the protest mobs’ biggest cheerleaders,” writes the campaign’s chief and right-wing political consultant Joe Wierzbicki in a release announcing a new campaign ad. ”The new poll finds that support for the violent Occupy Wall Street mobs has fallen further, and since Barack Obama has been one of the protest mobs’ biggest cheerleaders, it spells trouble for him as well.”

The mainstream media hasn’t spent much time highlighting this vulnerability for Obama, but that is where you come in. We urgently need your help to raise the money to launch our new TV ad campaign that shows how Democrat leaders shamelessly have championed the Occupy Wall Street mobs that have cost taxpayers millions of dollars and created considerable damage in cities across America.

The ad closes with a question: “Are we going to let these mobs and their Democrat champions do this to America, or are we going to fight back?”

Voters still sympathize to a significant degree with the main message of the movement, which centers on the need to address the inarguable fact of expanding inequality in the country tied to the finance industry and corporate America. Although recent polls report dipping popularity for the Occupy movement, they also report greater support for the movement than for the Tea Party, with much greater public sympathy for the movement than for Wall Street and large corporations.

Wierzbicki is a longtime pitchman for Republican Party-associated firm Russo Marsh & Rogers. Wierzbicki’s 2011 Campaign to Defeat Obama PAC shares a Willows, California, PO Box with the Our Country Deserves Better PAC and with TeaPartyExpress.org. All three organizations share the same treasurer, a Kelly Lawler, who was a former staff member at the National Republican Campaign Committee.

As the “OWS as Democratic Party-backed public menace” ads hit the airwaves, a blogger for the Economist underlined how Occupiers might pose a major political problem for Democrats.

“As long as the Occupy movement remains without acknowledged leaders who can credibly distance it from the worst behavior of its least reasonable affiliates, the movement will increasingly come to be defined by its most egregious episodes.”

The blogger points to CBS coverage from clashes in Oakland.

“You see the problem? Who watches CBS News? Older people. Older people who don’t cotton to this sort of shenanigans and who vote in droves.”

The Massachusetts Republican Party recently launched a nearly identical campaign targeting Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren as the “matriarch of mayhem.”

“Americans all across this country, they’re not mad because some people are rich, they’re mad because they got ripped off,” Ellison said of the Occupy Wall Street movement. “The fact of the matter is that Americans all over this country are expressing their grievances in the street, but also in the barber shops and coffee shops all across this land.”

Ellison cited recent statistics that show growing income inequality as the very wealthy  have earned more while wages stagnated for workers.

“Over the last 30 years, the average working American has seen their pay stay flat,” Ellison said. “They’ve seen their pay go nowhere. They’re pretty much doing the way they were doing, still struggling.”

Ellison said members of Congress don’t need to try to control Occupy Wall Street.

“What we need to do as members of Congress is step up and do our job: create some jobs, put this economy in order, get some lending back to small businesses, and make this economy really work,” Ellison said. “People need a fair shake and a good job, and that’s not too much to ask in the richest country in the history of the world.”

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union and Stand Up! Chicago performed a “mic check” at the beginning of Walker’s remarks that continued for several minutes, despite attempts by others at the breakfast to stifle the statements.

It’s an outrage and a shame that we sit here at this fancy breakfast to listen to someone who has wreaked havoc on the lives of working families. Governor Walker has vilified unions and insulted the 99 percent who depend on living wages and adequate benefits to support their families while on the payroll of the right-wing billionaire Koch brothers.

It is not so different from our own state where corporations and bought-off politicians clamor to find ways to grant a $100 million tax break to the Mercantile Exchange, one of the most profitable companies in the state, while social services are being slashed, while workers’ pensions are being threatened and homelessness, poverty and joblessness continue to rise. The CME has already taken $15 million of our TIF dollars. That’s our tax money that would have gone to help students in the Chicago Public Schools.

It is ironic that we give Governor Walker free rein to say what he wants while the Mayor has ordered the arrest of over 300 people in Occupy Chicago who have simply tried to express their rights to freedom of assembly. The bottom line is that Governor Walker is out of touch with America, and working people will not honor anyone seeking to undermine our lives for the benefit of the 1 percent.

Demonstrators then repeatedly chanted, “Union busting is disgusting” and “we are the 99 percent.”

Watch:

Only last week, roughly 100 Iowans gathered outside of a West Des Moines hotel to demonstrate against Walker, who was delivering a private message at an event sponsored by The Heritage Foundation. Both Walker and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad have maintained that they are not anti-worker and that they are trying to protect the middle class.

He also wants to reinstitute the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, pass a workplace religious freedom act and allow prayer at school events.

Santorum said other candidates are focused on tax plans, and he admitted that getting the economy going is “job number one.” But there’s more to government than government and the economy, he said.

“But the people of Iowa, at least the folks that I’ve been talking to, they understand that there’s more to America than taxes and spending,” Santorum said. “There’s more to America than just the size and scale of government.”

Santorum said the after completing a visit of every county in the state he wanted to present his plans for supporting faith, family and freedom as president.

“I decided after, as we wrap up this tour and celebrate this tour … that I would try to put forth some ideas to reflect the values of the people of this state,” Santorum said.

Social and cultural issues can’t be separated from economic issues, Santorum said, and these actions will help jumpstart the economy.

“The economy is inextricably linked to the moral fabric of this country,” Santorum said. “And we can’t have a real solution-based conversation about fixing the economic problems in this country without faith and family being a large part of that conversation.”

Santorum ended his speech, attended by about 50 people, with a plea for support.

“A lot of campaigns will come out and tell you that they need your help and support. They’re lying, they don’t,” Santorum said to applause and laughter. “I do. All those other campaigns have a lot more money than we do, have a lot more coverage in the national media than I do. I really need you.”

Here is the list of actions Santorum said he’d take as president:

Executive Orders, Rulemaking and other Executive Branch Actions:

• Repeal Clinton-era Title X family planning regulations, and will direct HHS to restore the separation of Title X family planning from abortion practices and restore a ban on referrals for abortion
• Reinstitute the Mexico City Policy to stop tax-payer funding or promotion of abortion overseas
• Ban federal funding for embryonic stem cell research
• Restore conscience clause protections for health care workers
• Defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court
• Ban military chaplains from performing same sex marriage ceremonies on military bases or other Federal properties
• Repeal Obamacare mandate for contraceptive services in healthcare plans
• Re-direct funds within HHS so it can create a public/private partnership with state &local communities, not-for-profit organizations, and faith-based organizations for the purpose of strengthening marriages, families, and fatherhood
• Veto any bill or budget that funds abortion or funds any organization that performs abortions including Planned Parenthood

Congressional Directives:

• Call on Congress to abolish the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
• Advocate for a Personhood Amendment to the Constitution
• Call on Congress to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
• Advocate for a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution
• Call on Congress to reinstitute Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell
• Call on Congress to pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act
• Call on Congress to reinstitute 2008-level funding for the Community Based Abstinence Education program
• Advocate for a federal law permitting schools to allow prayer at graduations, football games and other school functions

As the social media-sparked Bank Transfer Day approaches, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) reports that over 650,000 people have joined credit unions in the last four weeks.

In Minnesota alone, 10,200 joined credit unions between Sept. 29 and Nov. 1, CUNA tells the Minnesota Independent. Credit unions have added $4.5 billion in new accounts since the end of September, CUNA says, reporting that four out of every five credit unions affiliated with the group report that the increase is due to attempts by big banks to raise fees on customers or Bank Transfer Day, a movement birthed by social media that will take place tomorrow.

Bank Transfer Day organizer Kristen Christian explained the logic behind the movement on the group’s Facebook page.

“I started this because I felt like many of you do. I was tired—tired of the fee increases, tired of not being able to access my money when I need to, tired of them using what little money I have to oppress my brothers & sisters. So I stood up. I’ve been shocked at how many people have stood up alongside me.” Christian wrote. “Me closing my account all on my lonesome wouldn’t have made a difference to these fat cats. But each of you standing up with me…they can’t drown out the noise we’ll make.”

Big banks like Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank have also taken flak for attempting to impose additions fees on customers who use debt cards, although many of the banks have withdrawn their plans due to public outcry.

Credit unions are member-owned and non-profit; they typically have fewer fees than corporate banks. Credit unions across the country, including some in Minnesota, have been offering special promotions and extending hours in preparation for Bank Transfer Day, CUNA said. Minnesota’s Affinity Plus launched the aggressive “ditch your bank” campaign in early October,

“Our struggling economy is not the disease, it’s the symptom,” according to Affinity Plus’ campaign. ”There is mounting evidence to prove that big banks with their profit-at-all-costs agenda are actually making our collective disease worse by systematically making choices that undermine the efforts of regulators and ordinary people like us to make changes and get back to a state of health.”

Occupy Wall Street has also helped cement the focus on banks. In Minnesota, Occupy Wall Street has targeted big banks for a series of demonstrations focused largely on the banks’ role in the foreclosure crisis.