SOUL e-Newsletter
Monday, August 15, 2011
Wisconsin Recall Election
Ever since Scott Walker was elected governor and began his attacks on the working class, all eyes have been on Wisconsin. After Gov. Walker proposed his "budget repair bill," a series of protests by angry citizens, appalled by Walker's bill to cut benefits to state workers and severely reduce collective bargaining rights for the majority of public employees, descended on the capitol. Fourteen Wisconsin State Democratic Senators fled to Illinois in order to block passage of Walker's budget proposal, only to have the Wisconsin State Republican Senators call a special meeting and pass the budget without them.
The citizens of Wisconsin responded to this by setting in motion a recall effort of Republican and Democratic Senators. The first of the recall elections had Sen. Dave Hanson (D-Green Bay) easily holding on to his seat back in July. The latest recall election had six Republican Senators defending their seats. Prior to the recall election, Republicans dominated the Senate 19 to 14. In order for the Democrats to take control, three seats would need to be won by them. The working class citizens of Wisconsin fought hard and managed to unseat two Republicans, bringing the Senate ratio to 17-16. The GOP looks at this as a major victory and believes this confirms their conservative agenda. But is it really a victory for them? Sure the Democrats didn't win the majority, but according to Today.com, "there has been only 13 other successful recalls of state-level office holders nationwide since 1913." Which means it's not easy to effectively pull off a recall election, yet working class citizens in Wisconsin managed two successful elections in one day. Also, as State Sen. Tim Collins (D-Janesville) pointed out to the Huffington Post, this "means [Republicans] have no margin of error. They've got to have legislation that all 17 Republicans, without exception, are for."
The last of the recall elections are set for August 16 with Democratic State Senators Jim Holperin and Robert Wirch defending their seats. Although these elections will not affect the State Senate majority, they can increase the Republican's control. So eyes will continue to remain on Wisconsin, but no matter the outcome, we, the working class, have sent a clear message--we will not be bullied by politicians that put corporations before people and we will fight hard to protect the middle class.
SOUL Updates
Members of SOUL 177 have been busy! First they developed a new logo for SOUL and contributed to the SOUL handbook and by-laws. For those of you who are not a member of SOUL's Facebook page, I have attached the new logo to this email. Now they are busy volunteering in their community! SOUL 177 members will be volunteering for Meals from the Heartland, donating their time filling plastic bags with protein laden meals for Third World Countries. In September, they will be volunteering at a Special Olympics Golf Outing, helping register athletes, distributing t-shirts and cooking them lunch. SOUL 177 also plans to walk in the Labor Day Parade.
SOUL 1140 doesn't let a lack of charter slow them down! Their fundraiser of selling meals on monthly meeting night, is going very well. Also, SOUL 1140 will be hosting their first family activity on Saturday, August 27. Members and their families are invited out to the hall to decorate t-shirts for their kids to wear when walking in the Labor Day Parade.
If you haven't already joined us on Facebook, we hope you will soon! Its a great place to learn what's going on in locals all over the Midwest Region, in addition to many other great topics like, politics, health, finances, and retirement to name a few.
Sincerely,
Megan Hardy
Researcher
Midwest Region LECET
(402) 305-3305 CELL
(402) 734-0132 FAX
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