Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Yes Scott Walker, the Clock IS ticking, Thom Hartmann on Walker and Capitol Blocks Public Access

Walker says clock is ticking on refinancing debt!! Yes, it is ticking, isn’t it Scott. 
Thom Hartmann (email newsletter): Governor Walker...but Wait! There's More...
ThinkProgress has pointed out some lesser-known provisions that Scott Walker and his Republican colleagues are trying to slip through the state legislature that should worry many Wisconsinites. Even if protestors successfully defend their rights to collectively bargain - they still have to deal with a GOP-led assault on the several health, environmental, and economic programs including a bill that will allow the state's uber-conservative Health and Human Services Secretary to override state Medicaid laws to make deep cuts into the critical health care program.
 
There's also legislation that will exempt local governments from having to disinfect their waters - and a similar bill that exempts large tracts of wetlands from environmental oversight. It just so happens that many of those wetlands are owned by a rich Republican donor...talk about cronyism. 
The GOP wants Wisconsin voters to have to show an ID when they vote from now on - a move that could disenfranchise many elderly, urban, and low-income voters. 
And finally - there are two bills that drastically increase Governor Walker's powers, including giving him authority to write rules for the state's ethics watchdog agency - and allowing Walker to turn 37 state civil servants into political appointees thus politicizing critical social services. 
What we're seeing in Wisconsin is not the agenda of a Republican governor - it's the agenda of a radical autocrat. And if Walker is successful - Wisconsin is screwed.

Walker shuts down public access to Capitol.
WisPolitics: Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) sharply criticized Governor Walker’s decision to restrict the public’s access to the Capitol today. 
 The Department of Administration (DOA) issued a statement this morning that abruptly changed its stance on access to the Capitol, stating in part that, “No additional protestors will be allowed into the building until this situation is resolved.” 
 “Denying the public access to the People’s House and to their elected representatives is outrageous and shameful, not to mention likely illegal,” said Representative Mason. “It is cowardly to restrict Wisconsin’s residents from coming into their House, to the seat of our democracy, and it is not befitting of a state Capitol in a free and open society.”  “This is yet one more example of Governor Walker taking away the people’s freedom,” said Representative Mason. “First the Governor and legislative Republicans try to take away people’s voices at the workplace, then they shut down the public’s right to testify at a hearing on the budget repair bill, then they take away the right of the minority to dissent in the Assembly, and now they are taking away people’s First Amendment rights to peacefully protest theirgovernment’s actions in the State Capitol.”

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