To be honest, Gov Walker also got a huge assist from a very irrational opposition that did not understand the 2010 election. It does not hurt Gov Walker when his opponents engage in tactics that turn off Mr & Mrs Wisconsin trying to raise a family and live within their own economic reality every month.
First, and foremost, the reforms are working. Read John Steele Gordon:
"The reforms did a number of things. They ended the automatic collection of union dues by the state, causing an immediate drop in union income and the laying off of numerous union employees. They required that state employees kick in 5.8 percent of their salaries towards their own pensions and to pick up 12.6 percent of their health insurance premiums, bringing public employees more in line with private employee realities. Most important, it limited collective bargaining to salaries (and even that bargaining is limited by the rate of inflation).
For the first time in decades, school administrations are now actually able to administer their districts without union interference, and the savings have been huge. The MacIver Institute, a Wisconsin think tank, reports that of the 108 school districts that completed contracts with employees, 74 of them, with 319,000 students, have reported savings of no less than $162 million. If this is extrapolated out to all districts, it would amount to savings of nearly $448 million.
The biggest area of savings have been in health insurance. The teachers union insisted that districts use the union’s own health insurance company to provide coverage. No longer forced to use a monopoly provider, districts have either switched providers or used the threat of switching to force the union health insurance company to dramatically lower premiums. Savings have averaged $730,000 in districts that have switched providers or forced competitive bidding.
As a result of these dramatic savings, districts that have been able to benefit immediately from the reforms (some districts are locked into long-term contracts and cannot) have been able to avoid laying off teachers despite a significant drop in state aid and to avoid raising school taxes. Indeed, school tax bills that went out last December had an average increase of only 0.3 percent.
It is hard to imagine that with results like this, Governor Walker has anything to worry about.."
Speaking of the "irrational opposition", Frank Burke pointed out how "Walker Derangement Syndrome" ended up costing Wisconsin a lot of jobs and hurting an area of the state desperately lacking economic development. This is what Frank wrote and discussed on our Monday night show:
"Despite the fact that most of the jobs associated with the mine would be represented by industry trade unions -- and that State Senator Tim Carpenter, a Democrat who represents a largely Hispanic district and was arranging a fully funded program to train inner-city high school students for mining and manufacturing jobs -- the more powerful public service unions demanded the bill's defeat. The unions, led by out-of-state interests, were resentful of Walker's budget reforms and have spared no expense in demanding obedience from state Democratic office-holders and hopefuls."
So Gov Walker has survived the challenge. He is also showing Pres BO what leadership is all about. Am I the only one who thinks that Gov Walker would make a great VP candidate in 2012? Romney-Walker....I like it!
Click here for our conversation with Frank Burke & Mario Yngerto:
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