What's next in Wisconsin?

There's the near term and the longer term. From The Nation, about the near term (h/t Meteor Blades; my emphasis and paragraphing):

[T]he pro-worker movement seems at last to have something resembling a battle plan. Next up for Wisconsin activists is a crucial state Supreme Court election on April 5, in which Walker’s favored anti-worker candidate, David Prosser, faces a strong challenge from the Democratic assistant attorney general, JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Then there’s the recall effort against eight Republican senators who voted for the bill, with Joint Committee on Finance co-chair Alberta Darling, Walker’s point person on budget issues, as the choicest target. These drives may prepare the way to recall Walker himself early next year.

Meanwhile, a shrewd Move Your Money union campaign is targeting one of Walker’s big bank backers, Wisconsin’s M&I Bank.

If you're a Wisconsinite, participate. It's your time. You can volunteer to help Kloppenberg here.

About that Prosser-Kloppenburg state Supreme Court race, watch out for covert Koch-ish money entering on the Prosser side. Among the controversies involving that court's recent decisions is this (my emphasis):

The Court has ruled that business groups making donations to the election campaigns of justices may have cases affecting their companies decided on by a justice who received a donation from the party involved. The rule was proposed by two powerful Wisconsin business groups, the Wisconsin Realtors Association and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. This ruling has been controversial.[2]. The vote was 4-3 Voting in favor of Justices receiving donations from plaintiffs were Prosser, Gableman, Roggensack, and Zeigler. Voting against were Abrahamson, Crooks, and Bradley.

This tells you several things: (1) "Business groups" can contribute to this election; and (2) Prosser, a Tommy Thompson appointee, is a reliable pro-bought-judges vote. Time to send him home; his family needs some of that quality pro-business presence.

About the longer term, the first step is widening the movement to other states (The Nation again, my paragraphing):

Progressives everywhere will be watching these developments keenly, offering solidarity and support. But the question on everyone’s mind is, How can the pro-worker movement born in Wisconsin be nurtured into a national force?

This won’t come easy—the state, with its storied progressive past, is in a class by itself—but the action there has offered an inspiring spectacle and a practical model. With that in mind, Communications Workers of America, together with Jobs With Justice and other progressive groups, is spearheading a week of action focused around April 4—the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.—with rallies and teach-ins in hundreds of cities.

JWJ has been active for months in many states, including Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Florida, Maine and Indiana, confronting the array of legislative threats facing not only unions but women, gays, immigrants and all working people. By making these links—and focusing protesters’ ire on specific political and corporate targets—the organizers aim to build the diverse movement needed to fend off the multipronged right-wing assault.

Teach-Ins; smells like ... education. One of the most critical aspects of building the anti-war movement (aside from the draft, of course) was the teach-ins, which educated people about the movement, what prompted it, and its goals.

My thought — Time to go on offense. It's not enough to play not to lose, to surrender fewer yards that they might have otherwise gotten. (By that I mean, trying not to lose on Social Security as badly as we could have, by giving up only the retirement age, for example, and holding onto benefit adjustments.)

How about pushing the ball in their direction, so they lose ground? In Wisconsin, this means running recall campaigns against all eight eligible Republicans, not just the ones with weak support. AND it mean recalling Walker, regardless of the outcome.

Our Contribute to the Wisconsin Recall link is above. At the moment, we're close to the goal. Let's shoot above it. Thank you.

GP