Wash. Exam. Falsely Claims Walker Is “Doing What He Campaigned To Do” And What WI Citizens “Expect Him To Do”

A March 13 Washington Examiner op-ed about the protests and anti-union legislation in Wisconsin falsely claimed that Republican Gov. Scott Walker “is merely doing what he campaigned to do, what he was elected to do, and what the citizens of Wisconsin fully expect him to do” by signing the controversial bill. In fact, Politifact has rated “False” Walker's claim that he campaigned on cutting virtually all collective bargaining rights for public unions. And a Rasmussen poll released on March 8 found that 57 percent of Wisconsin voters are opposed to restricting collective bargaining rights, compared to 39 percent who favor such a proposal.

From the op-ed:

Nothing so pleases the ear as the howl of liberals getting a taste of their own medicine. Take the liberal outrage over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (so far) successful effort to curtail collective bargaining rights of public-employee unions in the Badger State, a measure he is convinced is necessary to put Wisconsin's dire fiscal house in order.

Liberal politicians in the state Senate exploded in rage over Walker's proposal; instead of debating the matter in a civil fashion (liberals love civility, remember?) 14 of them decamped en masse to neighboring Illinois in a petulant attempt to prevent a quorum and therefore derail passage of the bill. So, the governor and his allies in the Senate ingeniously stripped the bill of its fiscal measures (and therefore the need for a quorum) and voila! Senate passage was secured. The Democrats who took their dolls and went home are now dismayed to find that their playmates in the state government got on perfectly well without them; having fled the state in a fit of childish pique, abandoning their constituents and the job they are paid to do, the Democrats and their union masters are shocked -- shocked! -- that Republicans got about the business of governing without them.

When it comes to liberals not getting what they want, hyperbole knows no bounds: One Democratic state senator called the bill's passage “political thuggery in its worst form.”

Political thuggery! That's rich, as Walker is merely doing what he campaigned to do, what he was elected to do, and what the citizens of Wisconsin fully expect him to do. The parliamentary procedure used to secure the bill's passage was entirely legitimate, and may not have been necessary if the Democrats had acted like responsible adults, stayed in Madison, and actually done their job.