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: David Shankbone, Flickr

Ohio voters struck down a law pushed by Gov. John Kasich that would have taken away public sector workers’ collective bargaining rights in the state.

Just over 61 percent of people voted against the law, with 82 of 88 counties opposing the measure, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.

The vote came after an intense campaign by Democrats and labor unions. The Washington Post reports that the We Are Ohio group, which opposed the measure, poured $30 million into the repeal effort. Opponents of repeal raised only $7.5 million.

The White House lauded by the vote, the Huffington Post reported.

“The President congratulates the people of Ohio for standing up for workers and defeating efforts to strip away collective bargaining rights, and commends the teachers, firefighters, nurses, police officers and other workers who took a stand to defend those rights.”

Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern told the Columbus Dispatch that politicians shouldn’t use public workers as scapegoats.

“If you overreach, the people will respond. There is no one tonight who could suggest this was about Democrats versus Republicans,” Redfern said, noting the wide margin of defeat. “This is literally about what is right and what is wrong, and what Ohioans feel is important.”

Kasich, who spearheaded the change admitted to the paper that people might have seen it as “too much, too soon.”

The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) voted on Friday to oppose a ballot measure that, if approved by the voters 2012, would place a ban on same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution. MAPE’s board of directors voted unanimously on the issue.

“We were supportive of domestic partner benefits in 2001 because of our union’s belief in fairness and equality for all. We remain committed to making sure that all of our members, their families or any Minnesotan is not subjected to discrimination,” Jim Monroe, executive director of MAPE, said in statement. MAPE has approximately 13,000 members.

In 2001, the public employee union backed Gov. Jesse Ventura’s efforts to have domestic partner benefits included in contract negotiations for state workers. Legislative Republicans killed the domestic partner agreement, however.

Monroe added, “The Republican-led legislature should focus on creating jobs and turning the state’s economy around, rather than championing discrimination against their fellow Minnesotans.”

MAPE joins several other labor groups in opposing the amendment. The AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 5 and the SEIU have also announced opposition to the amendment.

The Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s labor federation, voted on Monday to oppose a ballot measure that would add a ban on same-sex marriage to the Minnesota Constitution. The vote of the general board was unanimous in oppositon to the amendment which will be on the ballot in 2012. The AFL-CIO is made up of 1,000 affiliated local unions and represents more than 300,000 workers.

“The labor movement is, and has always been about protecting and advancing the rights of all people,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson said in a statement on Monday. “We will not stand by and allow discrimination to become part of Minnesota’s constitution.”

In addition to the AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 5 and the SEIU have also announced opposition to the amendment.

Here’s full text of the resolution passed on Monday.

Opposition to 2012 Ballot Question Recognizing Marriage as Only Between One Man and One Woman

WHEREAS: Whereas, the mission of the Minnesota AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families and to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our state; and

WHEREAS: Trade unionists believe that civil rights are vital to a just society and all families should have access to the benefits they need and deserve; and

WHEREAS: The United States General Accounting Office has documented that over 1,000 federal benefits and protections acquired by civil marriage are not available to same sex couples; including the ability to collect social security benefits, pension or death benefits in the event of a partner’s death, ability to receive benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for a sick partner or child; and

WHEREAS: State-sanctioned civil marriage provides rights and responsibilities set out in over 500 Minnesota laws available to opposite sex couples, but not same sex couples; including negotiated health coverage for state and local public employees, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits paid to a survivors, and laws affecting couples during illness and even death; and

WHEREAS: Trade unionists believe that our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters undeniably deserve the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts; and

WHEREAS: The Minnesota Constitution has never been amended to discriminate against any group of people by denying them civil rights; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED: That the Minnesota AFL-CIO opposes the 2012 general election ballot question recognizing marriage as only between one man and one woman.

The hundred-thousand-plus crowd that filled downtown Madison, Wisconsin, this weekend is being touted as an answer to the Tea Party rallies that cropped up around the country last year. The pro-labor Madison crowds were larger than any of the Tea Party rallies last year, including the one hosted by Fox personality Glenn Beck in Washington in 2009.

ThinkProgress reported that the protests in response to “Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) assault on unions” were the largest in state history.

“[Y]esterday’s rally in Madison is noteworthy because at 85,000-100,000, it was bigger than the biggest tea party protest, the September 12, 2009 rally in Washington, D.C., which turned out only an estimated 60,000-70,000…. For two years, tea party activists and their allies in the GOP have claimed that the hard-right movement represents the true beliefs of the American people. But the crowd in Madison and numerous polls tell a different story.”

Video of a speech given this weekend in Madison by farmer Tony Schultz is gaining internet traction for the impassioned case Schultz makes for small-business owners and labor unions, tying together the fate of agricultural, industrial and professional workers.

Earlier, at the other end of the country, blockbuster horror fiction author Stephen King at a small union protest in Florida mocked the Wisconsin Governor and the “trickle down” arguments he and other Republicans have made in support of tax breaks for the rich.

“As a rich person, I pay 28 percent tax… Why am I not paying 50 [percent]? … The Republicans will tell you that we can’t do that because if you tax guys like me there won’t be any jobs. It’s bull. It’s total bull,” King said.

A notable feature of the Wisconsin protests has been the way Fox News has struggled to report on them. “Fox News lies” has been the refrain repeated by the Madison crowds in the background as Fox reporters attempt to file live dispatches from the city. Fox reporter Mike Tobin didn’t help his network any with claims that he suffered physical assault at the hands of protesters, a claim his newsroom colleagues were eager to seize upon but that turned out to be pathetically exaggerated. Video tape taken by members of the crowd revealed the “assault” as a tap on the shoulder.

The Washington Post reports Monday that the Wisconsin Democratic Party effort to recall the Republican lawmakers backing Gov. Walker’s union-busting leadership is moving along ahead of schedule.

Dems have now collected over 45 percent of the signatures necessary to hold recall elections for eight GOP state senators…

[They have] collected over 56,000 signatures supporting the recall drives, according to party spokesman Graeme Zielinski, after another surge in organizing activity over the weekend. That’s up from roughly 14,000 after last weekend. This means Dems are well ahead of schedule: In each targeted district, Dems need to amass the required signatures — 25 percent of the number who voted in the last gubernatorial election — by a deadline of 60 days after first filing for recalls, which happened nearly two weeks ago.

In other words, Dems are reporting they are nearly halfway to the finish line, with roughly three-fourths of the allotted time remaining.

Rep. Michele Bachmann told radio host Mark Levin on Friday evening that in facing protests by labor supporters Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans are like President Abraham Lincoln, who fought the Confederacy, and President Reagan, who contended with the Soviet Union. But contrary to Bachmann’s assertion, Lincoln had more in common with the 14 Democrats who left the state to avoid a vote on the GOP bill to cut collective bargaining for Wisconsin workers: In 1840, he jumped out a window to avoid a vote on a bill he didn’t like.

“I’m just observing our neighbors to the east over there and having a laugh,” Bachmann said. “I’d say it’s a new revolution going on over there. We saw the great Ronald Reagan pushing back the Soviet Union in the eastern bloc nations. We saw Abraham Lincoln push back the Confederacy in Atlanta. And now we’re seeing the Republicans in Wisconsin causing the Democrats to retreat to Rockford, Illinois, so I’d say we’re winning!”

She added, “This is how liberals react. They don’t take no for an answer.”

And Republicans act that way too. As KMPH reported last week, in 1840, Illinois state Rep. Abraham Lincoln jumped out of a second story window to prevent a vote that would have done away with the Illinois State Bank.

“On that date, the Democrats proposed an early adjournment, knowing this would bring a speedy end to the State Bank,” wrote Bill Coate. “The Whigs tried to counter by leaving the capitol building before the vote, but the doors were locked. That’s when Lincoln made his move. He headed for the second story, opened a window and jumped to the ground!”

Unlike the 14 Wisconsin Democrats — who fled to the Land of Lincoln — Lincoln was caught and returned to the Capitol in time for the House to adjourn.

In Bachmann’s interview with Levin she also took a shot at President Barack Obama, also from Lincoln’s home state, for supporting the protesters.

“I think what Obama is doing is, he’s busy organizing buses and trains and planes to get people into Madison,” she said. “Here you have BarackObama.com, Organizing for America, you have the president of the United States behind these protests in Madison. He’s trying to run away from it now, because here, he can’t balance a budget.”

Presumed 2012 presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty released a new highly produced video called “Stand With Scott” on Thursday. The video throws support behind Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and attacks the motives of protesters voicing opposition to the Republican’s plan to curtail bargaining rights for the state’s public employees.

Suspenseful music is laid over clips of opinions by Fox newscasters like Megyn Kelly, before the spot ends with Pawlenty calling for Americans to support Walker. The video then links to a new website created by Pawlenty’s Freedom First PAC called Standing With Scott.

The video follows another highly produced video by Pawlenty’s PAC which generated attention less for its content than for its Hollywood style and prompted a series of parodies, including “Minnesota Tim and the West Wing of Doom,” “BravePaw” and the “TPawminator.”

Here’s Pawlenty’s new video:

Tim Pawlenty slammed Wisconsin Democrats on Wednesday for leaving the state to prevent the passage of a bill that would curtail collective bargaining rights for the state’s public employees. Pawlenty called them “ninnies” who “skedaddled,” and he said the controversy is not “Fantasy Island” but “Alice in Wonderland.”

Pawlenty made the statements to Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Wednesday afternoon.

“The notion that they’re doing their job…. by not doing their job. It’s preposterous. It’s Alice in Wonderland. It’s through the looking glass. It makes no sense, at all,” he said. “And when you raise your right hand, and you look the people of Wisconsin and the country in the eye and say that you’re going to uphold the constitution and uphold your duties, and then the first time you have something that isn’t going to go your way, you skedaddle like a little ninny out of the state, it is a dereliction of duty, and they should be removed from office.”

He added, “This is not Fantasy Island, Neil.”

Here’s video of Pawlenty’s remarks:

As protests in Wisconsin continue over a proposed scaling back of collective bargaining for the state’s public employees, Minnesota’s elected leaders are weighing in on both sides. Reps. Keith Ellison and Tim Walz have sent their support, while Gov. Mark Dayton said that curtailing workers rights would not happen in Minnesota. Potential presidential contenders Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Michele Bachmann have sided with Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker.

In a video posted on YouTube, Rep. Keith Ellison, along with his fellow co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus Rep. Raúl Grijalva, said he was proud of the workers of Wisconsin.

“We are enormously proud of you,” Ellison said. “There’s nothing wrong with collective bargaining, with workers bargaining with management to come up with a fair pay and good, safe working conditions.”

Gov. Dayton told WCCO on Sunday morning that the policies being promoted in Wisconsin by Gov. Walker will not happen in Minnesota.

“Some of the proposals, like abolishing public pensions on July 1st, are simply not going to become law if I am governor, and Minnesota is not going to become a ‘Right to Work’ state if I’m governor. People have a right to bargain collectively. That’s an earned right over the last century in this country and for somebody to just to unilaterally take that away — just steal it away from people — is simply not going to happen in Minnesota,” Dayton said.

Anti-union proposals are working to pit middle class Americans against one another, he said.

“In fact what’s happened is that there’s been a massive shift of income to the very top,” he said. “The pitting Americans against one another because somebody is making a dollar an hour more or less than somebody else is really a divisive political strategy that some are trying to employ right now.”

Rep. Tim Walz, on the House floor Friday evening, weighed in on the protesters.

“The audacity of their demand? The ability to negotiate a living wage, safe working conditions and a dignified retirement,” Walz said. “These public servants make our society safe and functioning at an average wage of $30,000 a year. They did not cause the financial catastrophe in this country. That was the speculators and robber barons who received billions in TARP funds and then offshored it to avoid paying taxes.”

Meanwhile, Pawlenty said the “gig is up” for public employees.

“Governor Scott Walker is making tough choices needed to avoid financial ruin,” Pawlenty said in a statement. “The nation’s governors don’t need a lecture from a President who has never balanced a budget. All levels of government need to bring public employee compensation in line with the private sector. The gig is up for public employee groups who demand better benefits than the taxpayers who are paying the bill. I’m confident Governor Walker’s reforms will succeed in Wisconsin. Stand strong, Scott — average taxpayers everywhere are rooting for you.”

Bachmann is strongly supporting Walker’s move to scale back collective bargaining. At a women’s event in South Carolina she touted that support.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that the government workers in Wisconsin are losing their collective bargaining rights over wages,” Bachmann said, according to Reuters.

“They are not. They are retaining them. It’s their collective bargaining right over their benefits.”

“It isn’t that these unions are bad or evil, it’s just that we’ve got to get real about what we can and cannot afford,” she said.

At another stop in South Carolina, she said that Wisconsin school boards should consider firing teachers that called in sick to protest at the Capitol in Madison.

“I want to give a shout out to Scott Walker up in Wisconsin,” she said deriding teachers for “calling in sick on work time, showing up to protest and they bring the kids they are supposed to be teaching.”

She added, “At minimum, they shouldn’t get paid for that time. Those school boards need to make a decision whether or not they get fired.”

In a Friday afternoon interview with Fox News, Rep. Michele Bachmann took on the White House for siding with tens of thousands Wisconsinites who are protesting a proposed repeal of bargaining rights for the state’s public employees. Bachmann called President Obama’s support “shocking” and said the protests remind her of those in Greece last year. She also said teachers who called in sick to protest are doing it “so they can make more money.”

On Thursday, Obama addressed the ongoing protests in the Badger State:

“Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally seems like more of an assault on unions. And I think it’s very important for us to understand that public employees, they’re our neighbors, they’re our friends. These are folks who are teachers and they’re firefighters and they’re social workers and they’re police officers.

“They make a lot of sacrifices and make a big contribution. And I think it’s important not to vilify them or to suggest that somehow all these budget problems are due to public employees.”

Talking Points Memo provides this transcript of Bachmann’s Fox appearance:

“They have the support of the White House. But I don’t believe that they have the support of the people of Wisconsin. Again, remember what we’re talking about. These are public servants — they serve the people of Wisconsin.

In Greece, for instance, in the streets, what we saw were beneficiaries of government checks, who took to the streets because the retirement age was going to be raised from 61 to 63. In this instance, Eric Bolling was on earlier showing that this is simply, a contribution is being asked on the part of public servants, to pay for part of their health insurance. Not even the full part that their private sector counterparts pay for, and part of their pension. This is something that happens everyday in the private sector.”

So now we are at the tipping point. This debate needed to come, it’s good that it came. What’s shocking is that the White House is weighing in, taking sides, and bringing in a campaign apparatus to set this up.

If we look back to what President Reagan did, President Reagan fired the air traffic controllers. We’re now on day three of Wisconsin teachers leaving their post, and leaving the children that they are tasked to serve, and not teaching them, so that they can go out and protest, so they can make more money.

This is beyond conscionable, and I’m urging Governor Walker and the legislators to hang tough, because I believe the people are with the governor and with the legislature.”

Here’s the video: