Wisconsin Protests

"Where did our money go? Down the Walker rat hole!"

Such was the popular chant Tuesday evening outside the downtown Madison Marshall and Ilsley Bank branch. Protesters rallied outside the small bank front on the Capitol Square.

M&I Bank, founded and based in Milwaukee, and its executives were top contributors to Governor Scott Walker's campaign fund in 2010. After Walker passed the controversial "budget repair" bill, eliminating collective bargaining rights for many Wisconsin public workers, M&I Bank found itself smack-dab at the top of two boycott lists.

"Who funds Walker? M&I Bank!"

The crowd of about 100 people gained steam as the protesting continued. At one point, a burly bald man with "M&I Security" emblazoned on his suit came out and told protester Miles Kristan he could not sit against the door of the bank because "it is private property."

In an interview with the "Fox & Friends" morning show last Sunday, Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald arrogantly dismissed public support for the "Fab 14" Democratic Senators, recycling discredited talking points to deceive the public (and perhaps himself). Here is what Fitzgerald said and why it is wrong.

The divide-and-conquer attack on working people by Wisconsin Republicans continues. After pitting private sector workers versus public employees, Walker and the GOP are now targeting Wisconsin's quickly-growing Latino and immigrant communities.

The latest census numbers show that Wisconsin's Latino community has grown by 74 percent in recent years, and GOP lawmakers have responded aggressively to this shift in Wisconsin's ethnic composition. Walker's budget eliminates laws that had treated immigrants humanely, and a GOP bill circulating through the legislature seeks to impose a draconian racial profiling bill modeled after Arizona's SB1070. What's more, the anti-immigrant sentiment may be fueling the out-of-state effort to recall Wisconsin's Democratic Senators.