Republicans Cut Wages!

If Scott Walker signs this wage cut for Dane County and Milwaukee, it's his baby-he owns it. I can see the ads now from the Mary Burke campaign. 

This is a WAGE CUT, plain and simple. What you would call an austere policy move. At a time when the state GOP can't stop bragging about putting money in the pockets of taxpayers, they're cutting wages? 

Can they really get away with this? It looks like it, if I know how the Democratic Party will respond. 

Democrats have not framed this repeal of a higher minimum wage well. Hint guys: IT'S A WAGE CUT!!! 

The measure would allow such local minimum wage ordinances to be in place only if no money from the state was used to pay the workers.

Republicans are trying to save the rest of the state money. They say it's unfair Madison improves the quality of life with higher wages, while other areas don't benefit. But they do benefit, from tourism, senior care, personal care givers and consumer spending in and around the state. Dane County and Milwaukee both benefit the state, although I'm sure conservatives would think otherwise. 

Conflict of Interest? And more surprising is the fact that Rep. Chris Kapenga, the business CEO of Integrated Time Systems, wrote the law to protect his own company in Brookfield. He was never questioned about his self serving bill. Simply put, this statewide law reducing wages, is in response to...one company. 

Here's Kapenga on Capitol City Sunday, before the GOP removed federal tax dollars. Never once did host Greg Neumann ask about the conflict of interest. Is there any real comparison between Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Kapenga?

The big takeaway? According to Kapenga, minimums artificially inflate wages, when $1 or $2 wages could employ just as many people. And backing away from the Republican opposition to a one-size-fits-all approach, Kapenga is now all for it. Democrat Rep. Andy Jorgensen had this idea:

The Republican agenda Thursday included a bill that stands to cut wages for thousands of municipal workers across the State of Wisconsin ... As a counter, Rep. Jorgensen offered an amendment to require businesses which contract with the state to cap their executive salaries to no more than a million dollars a year.

“If we ‘can’t’ afford to provide a family-supporting wage to our custodians or construction workers, we certainly can’t afford to help CEOs buy a bigger mansion or a fancy sports car,” said Jorgensen. “Let’s be fair.” The Jorgensen amendment failed along party lines, as did AR 26.

Smart ass Rep. Robin Vos again doesn't think Milwaukee or Dane County are serious parts of the state, despite contributing more economically and thus contributing more to their own living wage laws:

Speaker Robin Vos (R – Rochester) argued the bill isn't about local control, but rather about the ability of local officials to pass increased labor costs onto the state. "They can't automatically inflate the state of Wisconsin's costs, because that's what's happening all across the state of Wisconsin today," said Vos.