News

Dozens of Walkerville activists marched from the Wisconsin state Capitol to Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) Secretary Mike Huebsch's offices at noon on Wednesday, June 15, to protest the former GOP state representative's archaic Capitol security measures.

CMD learned while examining the drafting files at the Legislative Reference Bureau that Huebsch's DOA gave the drafting orders for the collective bargaining section of the budget bill. Huebsch's top political appointee, Cynthia Archer, served as a top aide to Scott Walker when he was Milwaukee County Executive.

The group roared "Who's House? Our House!" as they entered the Department of Administration building on East Wilson Street. Protesters weren't able to schedule a meeting with Huebsch -– considered by many to be Governor Scott Walker's top ally, and the architect of his 2011-2012 budget –- but still managed to hang "unWANTED: Mike Huebsch" signs in his personal office and throughout the building.

Crowds of protesters who flocked to the Wisconsin state Capitol June 14 anticipating Assembly action on the divisive collective bargaining bill, which essentially eliminates collective bargaining for public workers, were shocked to learn the Supreme Court had reinstated the law in a hotly contested 4-3 decision.

Speakers at a planned 5:00 p.m. rally were quick to lift the faltering spirits of the Wisconsin Democracy Movement. Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, told the crowd of thousands, "We're going to be here every day. We didn't pick this fight, but if it's a fight they want, it's a fight they're going to get."

Republican state lawmakers announced on Monday their decision to introduce Governor Scott Walker's controversial collective bargaining measure as a budget amendment during Tuesday's extraordinary session, despite unfinished Wisconsin Supreme Court deliberations on the proposal.

Tuesday's legislative activity promises to rouse the residents of Walkerville, the new tent city surrounding the capitol. State Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said authorities are planning for increased crowds, and the Wisconsin Education Association Council has urged its 98,000 members to descend on Madison's Capitol Square, to protest a budget that guts public schools, strips workers of their rights and erodes our state's quality of life."

In another win for well-connected right-wing interests, Wisconsin Rep. Robin Vos (R-63) squeezed a last-minute provision into the budget on Friday, June 3 that moves Wisconsin towards re-introducing bail bondsmen (and bounty hunters) to the state, a corruptive practice that has been prohibited since 1979. Like much of the dairy state’s recent legislative activity, this latest effort is smudged with the fingerprints of the American Legislative Exchange Council and well-funded lobbying interests.