Voters Strike Back At Wisconsin Governor

Like many other Republican politicians, Wisconsin's new governor (Scott Walker) thought he had been given a mandate in the 2010 elections to make drastic changes. He gave corporations tax cuts and then tried to balance the Wisconsin budget on the backs of ordinary workers. He also decided it was time to help his corporate masters (Koch brothers) by busting the unions in the state.

He started with the public unions of state workers, claiming that the state could not afford these "overpaid" workers. He introduced a law that would take away their right to collectively bargain. The workers agreed to take cuts in both pay and benefits (the same cuts proposed by the governor), but that wasn't good enough for Walker. He wanted to bust the unions and finally pushed through his ban on collective bargaining in spite of a huge public backlash.

He probably thought the opposition to his ridiculous action would die down after he was able to get his new law approved, but he was wrong. Yesterday there were some elections in Wisconsin and voters took the opportunity to show their displeasure with his heavy-handed tactics. In the election to replace Walker as Milwaukee County executive (a post Walker held until being elected governor), Democrat Chris Abele trounced Republican State Rep. Jeff Stone. Adele got 61% of the vote to Stone's 29%.

But perhaps the most telling race was the one for Supreme Court justice. The incumbent was Republican David Prosser, who had easily won the primary with over 55% of the vote. His opponent was Democrat JoAnne Kloppenburg who had finished second in the primary with only about 28% of the vote (both candidates pictured above). It looked like Prosser would easily win re-election, especially since a sitting justice had been defeated only once in Wisconsin in the last 41 years.

But Prosser made the mistake of casting his lot with Walker, telling voters he would help Walker to carry out his union-busting agenda. That was all the anti-Walker crowd needed to hear. They made a vote against Prosser into a vote against Walker (and it really was since a Prosser loss would give Democrats a majority on the court). Most pundits thought Prosser would still win but that it would be a closer election.

But after all the votes were counted Kloppenburg had come out the winner -- with a razor-thin margin of 204 votes out of about 1.5 million votes cast. The angry backlash against the governor had turned out to be even bigger than expected. There will undoubtedly be a recount with such a small winning margin, but however that comes out this has to be seen as a blow to the power of the governor.

There is a recall in effect against six Republican members of the legislature, and in a couple of months the first of those recall elections will be held. Last night's results has to give some pause to the incumbents in those recall elections. The backlash against the governor could well unseat some of those Republicans (and if only three are defeated it will give the Democrats a majority).

Voters sent the governor a message. Actions have consequences, and stupid actions can have serious political consequences.