42 Theses on the Misuse of Power and Authority by Governor Scott Walker by Tom Krajewski

Thomas Krajewski delivered these theses in the Capitol Rotunda in April of 2011. He submits them to us today as part of the MoD Open Letter Challenge.  Have YOU taken the challenge yet?  It's not too late!  The recall election will be held on June 5, 2012. Make your case today for why Scott Kevin Walker should be recalled from office.

   

42 Theses on the Misuse of Power and Authority by Governor Scott Walker

by Tom Krajewski

1. He has needlessly frightened men, women and children of Wisconsin with his unnecessary layoff threats.
2. He has used state, local and school workers as hostages.
3. With his dishonest and harmful rhetoric and radical proposals, he has demonstrated clever politics but terrible leadership by dividing Wisconsin and pitting brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend.
4. With his proposals he has threatened to end 40 years of labor/management peace in Wisconsin.
5. He has proposed legislation that would take workers' collective voice from them.
6. He has prevented citizens from entering the State Capitol to petition their government.
7. He has ignored our first amendment right of free association and the right of democratically elect representatives to bargain for us.
8. He has proposed legislation that would force workers to beg rather than bargain.
9. He has manufactured and exploited a fiscal crisis to destroy the last major barricade to the political power of corporations and the wealthy.
10. He has considered and taken actions that are beneath the dignity of the office of Governor.
11. He has brought shame and disgrace to the great state of Wisconsin.
12. He has admitted to the use of trickery and deceit to further his legislative agenda.
13. He has refused to negotiate even after his financial demands have been met.
14. He has conspired with his legislative allies to deprive citizens of their right to assemble and petition their government.
15. He has sown despair in the minds and hearts of Wisconsin.
16. He has rejected federal funds for transit, high speed rail and telecommunications thereby killing jobs in Wisconsin.
17. He delivered $140 million in new tax cuts for businesses before asking for sacrifice from working men and women.
18. He has proposed legislation that would severely limit wind powered energy thereby costing Wisconsin thousands of jobs but benefiting his largest group of contributors.
19. He has submitted legislative proposals based upon political patronage rather than merit.
20. He has proposed eliminating the jobs of 37 civil servants and hiring an equal number of patronage employees thereby consolidating his power over state government and expanding his power to “hire, fire and move attorneys, public information officers and legislative liaisons to carry out his agenda.
21. He has sold out Wisconsin's working men and women not for 30 pieces of silver but for 30 seconds of fame.
22. He has shown his desire to repeal many forward looking Wisconsin laws including several enacted by Republican Governors thereby showing contempt for Wisconsin's motto FORWARD.
23. He has proposed giving the total control of Wisconsin's Medicaid program over to a man who has told states to scrap Medicaid.
24. He has proposed selling 37 state heating, cooling and power plants so that the state would be at the mercy of a monopoly for these services.
25. He has proposed selling state assets without bids thereby discarding and rejecting the value of the free market that works to assure Wisconsin gets the best price for these assets.
26. He has proposed allowing wetlands to be destroyed for the use of his campaign contributors.
27. He has expressed a willingness to violate state ethics laws by taking a vacation paid for by businesses that lobby state officials.
28. He has refused to even consider a compromise on the issue of collective bargaining and refused to negotiate with state employees or their representatives.
29. He has ignored the teachings of Catholic bishops, Protestant ministers and Jewish rabbis who have instructed him that workers have a fundamental right to bargain collectively and be heard.
30. He has unwisely ignored the words of the greatest leaders of his political party. Abraham Lincoln who said: "All that harms labor is treason to America."; Dwight Eisenhower who said, “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. … Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”; and Ronald Reagan who said, "where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost."
31. He has arrogantly ignored the newspapers of our state (many of whom endorsed him just four months earlier) who have urged him to negotiate and compromise.
32. He has misrepresented the views of school boards and administrators, local and county officials when he told the public that they wanted collective bargaining eliminated.
33. He has ignored the voices of more than 200 mayors, school board presidents and other local officials representing at least 20 cities, 41 towns and 22 counties who have objected to the collective bargaining restrictions in his budget repair bill.
34. He has ignored the majority view of Wisconsin voters who have demonstrated in a number of public opinion polls that they support collective bargaining in Wisconsin and reject his leadership.
35. He has ignored the message from the political cartoonists of America. Google “Cartoon, Scott, Walker” and you get 474,000 images. Most are not positive.
36. He has destroyed his working relationship with the police and fire unions who have opposed him even though they were exempted from his collective bargaining provisions.
37. He was willing to speak with a wealthy out of state contributor but has refused to speak with Wisconsin voters or their representatives.
38. He has refused to meet with Democratic State Legislators, the representatives of more than 2 million Wisconsinites.
39. He has submitted legislative proposals “so lacking in details” that they are unable to be analyzed.
40. His unwillingness to compromise, negotiate or even talk to unions or their elected representatives has so frustrated and angered citizens that they have created the largest and most sustained protest in the history of the state which has in turn created a major cost to law enforcement departments and ultimately taxpayers.
41. He has so poisoned the well that any issue that he associates himself with for the remainder of his term will become suspect.
42. His stubborn resistance to compromise and his defiance of Wisconsin voters has cost him his moral and functional leadership for the remainder of his term.