by Tula Connell, Apr 13, 2011
Our friends at AFSCME have pulled together facts that refute the “misinformation”—to put a polite gloss on it—Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has perpetrated throughout his attacks on the ability of public employees to achieve and mantain a middle-class life. Check it out.
Wisconsin did not have a budget deficit before Scott Walker took office. On Jan. 31, the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau released a memo projecting a $121.4 million surplus for the state. Walker created the “budget crisis” by providing $116 million in tax breaks to corporations, squandering the surplus. Walker’s budget proposal includes another $83 million in tax breaks for multistate corporations and investors.
Walker refused to sit down with unions to help fix the Wisconsin budget. Public employee unions agreed to all of Walker’s fiscal demands, including doubling their health care premium contribution to 12.6 percent and contributing 5.8 percent of their salary to pensions, which according to Walker would save the state $300 million over the next two years. Despite this, Walker forced through legislation stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights and to this day has refused to sit down with them.
