Property taxes decrease
According to Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue, for the first time in twelve years property taxes have decreased on average throughout the state due to Walker’s reforms, limiting collective bargaining rights and cutting state funding to public schools.
Our reforms have reversed a decade of property tax increases from previous administrations. For the first time in over ten years, the average property taxpayer will have more money in his or her pocket than the year before.
Repeals Equal Pay Enforcement Act
Walker signs a bill repealing the 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act which allowed workers to sue employers for wage discrimination in the cheaper and more accessible state courts rather than in federal court. Senator Grothman argues the act was hurting businesses who had to defend themselves from false accusations of discrimination:
It’s an underreported problem, but a huge number of discrimination claims are baseless. Most of them are filed by fired employees, and really today almost anybody is a protected class. As a result many companies are forced to pay fired employees to go away [and it has] raised the cost of doing business in the state to intolerable levels.
Senator Sinicki, who co-authored the act, opposes its repeal:
This whole session has been anti-woman and anti-middle class, and this fits right in with that agenda.
Wins recall election
Walker wins the recall election against Tom Barrett by about 7%.
Tonight we tell Wisconsin, we tell our country, and we tell people all across the globe that voters really do want leaders that stand up and make the tough decisions.
Policies save $1 billion
Walker reports that his policies of limiting public employees’ collective bargaining rights have saved state and local governments more than $1 billion.
It’s not just about saving money and balancing the budget. It’s about new ways to provide services.
Scott Walker
Scott Walker is governor of Wisconsin, born in 1967 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After college he entered politics as a Republican starting as an Assemblyman in the state legislature, then as Milwaukee County Executive. He is running for president in the 2016 elections. He is best known for standing up to unions, limiting collective bargaining rights, and balancing budgets by cutting spending. He is married to Tonette Tarantino and they have two sons.
Stand With Governor Walker
Shulfer, a Walker supporter, releases a song to show support for Walker during the recall campaign.
When we faced an uphill climb, with a future not too bright. There was one man for the time, who was promising to fight. He would stand up for us all, when he tamed the status quo. And now he’s standing ten-feet tall, from Ashland to Monroe. We will stand with Governor Walker.
Recall signatures certified
The Government Accountability Board certifies 900,939 signatures clearing the way for a recall election against Walker which will take place June 5. A Democratic Party spokesman:
This was the greatest petition campaign in American history for a reason – Scott Walker’s radical overreach and abuse of power.
Walker:
It gives us a great opportunity to tell our story, to tell that we’re turning things around, how we’re heading in the right direction, how we’re moving Wisconsin forward. But we’ve got a lot more to do.
Obama, Walker meet
Walker greets Obama on the Milwaukee airport tarmac and presents him with a Milwaukee Brewer’s baseball jersey that has Obama’s name and the number 1 written on the back. Obama is visiting the Master Lock Company to highlight the Midwest’s manufacturing sector. Obama:
What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other industries.
Walker:
The bottom line is we’re one of the biggest, most dependent on manufacturing of any state in the country. We appreciate the fact that the president’s focusing on manufacturing.
Limbaugh interviews Walker
Limbaugh interviews Walker by telephone. They talk about the recall campaign, the unions and collective bargaining and how Walker’s reforms are working: changing a $3.6 billion deficit into a projected $300 million surplus without raising taxes or layoffs, the schools are the same or better, school taxes decreased, net gain in jobs, protecting core services, and saving city governments millions of dollars.
We took on our problems head on, we took them on. We thought more about our kids and our grandkids’ future than we did our own political futures. And, in the end, I believe I still have faith in the American voter and the voter in Wisconsin, I believe, if given the truth, the majority of people in our state will say, ‘You know what, we want leaders who do what they say they’re gonna do. We want leaders who think about the future, not just about being worried about what group may run ads against them.’
More than 1 million recall signatures filed
Democrats file more than one million signatures for the recall effort against Walker. Vice-chairman of United Wisconsin:
It is beyond legal challenge. The collection of more than one million signatures represents a crystal-clear indication of how strong the appetite is to stop the damage and turmoil that Scott Walker has brought to Wisconsin.
Mexico refuses extradition
Mexico’s attorney general refuses to extradite Guzman to the U.S. citing national sovereignty and also because he must serve his time in Mexican prison for all the crimes for which he is being prosecuted:
I could accept extradition but at the time that I choose. El Chapo must stay here to complete his sentence and then I will extradite him. So about 300 or 400 years later — it will be a while.
Supports Walker recall
ThinkProgress asks Damon if he supports efforts to recall Walker because of his school budget cuts:
among other things, yeah.
Signs concealed-carry bill
Walker signs a bill allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons after going through training, passing a background check and obtaining a permit. The bill also bans guns from certain locations and allows private businesses to ban guns on their premises.
By signing concealed carry into law today we are making Wisconsin safer for all responsible, law abiding citizens.
Judge approves extradition
According to Mexico’s attorney general a judge has approved a request for Guzman to be extradited to the U.S. once he is recaptured.
Extradition suspended
0 0 David Buskirk David Buskirk2015-08-06 18:39:522015-08-06 20:03:07Extradition suspendedRecall effort begins
United Wisconsin files a petition to recall Walker and begins their campaign of collecting the 540,208 signatures necessary to trigger the election recall. Walker:
We’re going to be judged, whether it’s in 2012 or 2014, on what we’re doing on jobs and reform. I don’t think it changes what I focus on day to day.
Offends atheist group
Walker puts out a press release referring to the evergreen tree in the capitol as the Christmas tree instead of the holiday tree:
As the holiday season comes, I am excited to announce that the Christmas tree displayed in our State Capitol will have homemade ornaments created by Wisconsin’s youth.
The president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation considers the change rude and insensitive to non-Christians:
The reason that it was turned into a holiday tree was to avoid this connotation that the governor chooses one religion over another. It’s essentially a discourtesy by the governor to announce that. He intends that to be a slight and a snub to non-Christians, otherwise he would not do it.
Democrats seek recall
After losing four out of six recall elections against Republican senators, Democrats turn their eyes to recall Walker. Mike Tate, chairman of the state Democratic Party:
We will not stop, we will not rest … until we recall Scott Walker.
Walker says the public is tired of recalls:
Whether it’s a gubernatorial recall, or any other recall, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of enthusiasm for having a whole ‘nother wave of ads and money come into the state of Wisconsin.
Signs budget
Walker signs a two-year $66 billion budget that cuts almost $800 million from public schools, expands taxpayer support for private voucher schools, cuts taxes for businesses, and keeps property taxes the same, helping to eliminate a $3 billion deficit without raising taxes. It is estimated the state’s main account will have a $300 million surplus by June 2013. Walker uses his power to veto fifty items in the budget.
Our balanced budget makes tough choices while also providing a path to prosperity for our state and our people. Through honest budgeting, we are providing an alternative to the reckless tricks and gimmicks of the past. To move forward together, we are acknowledging that we have to make sacrifices to protect the next generation by decreasing the serious debt that they would otherwise inherit.
Assembly Minority Leader Barca criticizes Walker’s budget and vetoes as helping businesses but hurting the poor and middle class.
His vetoes don’t change the fact that his budget serves corporate special interests at the expense of Wisconsin’s small businesses and middle class. Time and again, Gov. Walker has gone out of his way to limit public scrutiny of his extreme agenda and it comes as no surprise that the governor used many of his vetoes to take away public accountability and further consolidate power in his administration.
Voids paid sick leave ordinance
Walker signs a bill voiding Milwaukee’s paid sick leave ordinance which was passed by a popular referendum. The ordinance required large businesses to provide nine days and small businesses five days of paid sick leave per year. The ordinance has been challenged in the courts and has never gone into effect.
This law removes another barrier in the road to creating 250,000 private sector jobs by 2015. Patchwork government mandates stifle job creation and economic opportunity. This law gives employers the flexibility they need to put people back to work and that makes Wisconsin a more attractive place to do business.