Wisconsin mass protests - recall Gov. Walker - Page 3

Walker signs bevy of bills into law
51 pieces of legislation include abortion issues, sex education

Madison - Gov. Scott Walker has signed bills putting new restrictions on abortion, requiring schools that teach sex education to promote marriage and barring those who are discriminated against at work from suing for punitive damages in state court.

Democrats blasted Walker and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature for advancing policies that they say amount to a "war on women."

"He might have thought none of us are watching because it's Good Friday, but all of us women are watching," said former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, one of four Democrats competing to run against Walker in a June 5 recall election.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie declined to comment Friday on why the governor backed the four bills, which were among 51 pieces of legislation he signed late Thursday. His office announced the signings Friday.

Walker also signed a bill requiring lawmakers to disclose who is sponsoring budget earmarks and a measure to prevent voucher schools programs from automatically expanding to Green Bay and other cities.

The new laws would:

   -Require schools that teach sex education to promote marriage and tell students that abstinence is the only reliable way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The change in law also allows public schools to teach abstinence-only courses, which had been barred since 2010 under a law Democrats approved when they controlled state government.
    
   -Prevent people subjected to employment discrimination from seeking punitive and compensatory damages in state court.

   -Require doctors to consult with patients face-to-face - rather than via Web camera - when administering abortion-inducing drugs. That measure would also require doctors to speak privately with women seeking abortions to ensure they were not being coerced, and physicians could face felonies for ignoring the law.

   -Prohibit insurance plans offered in Wisconsin under the federal health care reform law from covering some abortions.

The federal health care law, approved in 2010 by Democrats, requires states to set up exchanges that serve as marketplaces for individuals and small businesses for insurance coverage that for some consumers is subsidized by taxpayers. Under the law signed by Walker, plans offered through Wisconsin's exchange could cover abortions only in cases of sexual assault, incest and the health or life of the woman.
Discrimination law changes

Jeff Hynes, president of the Wisconsin Employment Lawyers Association, said the change to the state's discrimination law tells employers who mistreat workers that "you can get away with it every time."

Employees who say they have suffered discrimination can file a complaint with the state Department of Workforce Development to be reinstated to their jobs and receive back pay, costs and attorney's fees.

Democrats in 2009 changed the law to allow employees or the department after that process to sue an employer in circuit court for compensatory and punitive damages. Wronged employees could receive up to $300,000, depending on the seriousness of the claims and the size of the businesses.

The law Walker approved takes away the ability to go to court for compensatory and punitive damages, though people still have the ability to seek back pay.

Hynes said most cases don't involve significant back pay. He said Walker's changes mean there will be no remedy under state employment law for women who are groped at work or repeatedly face sexual advances, as well as for minorities who are subjected to racial epithets.

He noted that late last year, Walker signed a bill that puts limits on the amount of attorneys' fees victims can recover in lawsuits. That makes it even less likely that wronged employees will take their cases to state court because lawyers will be unlikely to accept even strong cases because they won't be able to get more than a fraction of their pay, he said.

"The governor and the Republican leadership in Wisconsin have effectuated a one-two punch with respect to employees' rights to get any meaningful remedy" in discrimination cases, he said.

Tom O'Day, a lawyer who represents businesses of all sizes in employment cases, said the 2009 law led to businesses paying out larger settlements to employees in cases where they did not believe they had done anything wrong because of the risk of having to pay large awards. Walker's action will free up money so employers invest in their companies and create jobs, he said.

"More than anything, this is a jobs bill," he said.

O'Day noted that wronged employees can take their cases to federal court. Hynes, the attorney for employees, said that is prohibitively expensive in most cases.

Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), who sponsored the measure, said it puts Wisconsin in line with neighboring states.

"The old law made Wisconsin not competitive from a business perspective," he said. "To give $300,000 in punitive damages when the actual damages might be four or five thousand dollars causes Wisconsin business to pay out additional money to deal with frivolous claims."

Walker also signed a bill that prevents the state's school voucher programs from moving to new parts of the state.

The state allows qualifying students from certain areas to attend religious schools and other private institutions at taxpayer expense using vouchers that are worth about $6,400 a year.

The voucher program has been in place in Milwaukee for 20 years, and Republicans in June included a provision in the state budget that established one like it in eastern Racine County. The budget measure would have eventually allowed similar ones in other school districts such as Green Bay when they met certain criteria.

Some Republicans, led by Senate President Mike Ellis of Neenah, joined Democrats in opposing further expansions of the program, and legislative leaders reached a deal last summer to prevent Green Bay or other new cities from having voucher schools. Walker's approval locks that agreement into state law.

Walker also signed a bill to provide more transparency on earmarks in the state budget. The measure requires the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office to produce a report listing the lawmakers who request the local spending items in the budget along with what legislative districts benefit from those items.

Scott Walker and Cronies Prove No Low is Too Low

 

Be forewarned. This is a rant. It is not a test of the emergency rant system. It is an outright, full-throated rant.

 

That image is of a full-page newspaper ad taken out in the Janesville Gazette, the local newspaper in Paul Ryan's district. What it is, is thuggery in typeset letters. The names you can't read in the image are the names of teachers in Janesville who signed the petition to recall Scott Walker. Next to their names, is their salary. At the bottom of the ad, there is a space to sign to "opt-out" of any teacher's classroom who signed the petition.

 

This is part of the strategy the Heartland Institute laid out for breaking the teachers' union and holding onto the their water boy, Scott Walker. According to Blogging Blue, this is part of an intimidation strategy to suppress enthusiasm, free speech, and the right to have a voice in one's government. Cognitive Dissidence outlines the strategy as outlined in Heartland's 2012 Funding Plan, released in January:

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