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Because Scott Walker Asked . . .

Ed Pilkington and the Guardian US interactive team The Guardian
Leaked court documents from ‘John Doe investigation’ in Wisconsin lay bare pervasive influence of corporate cash on modern US elections

Gutting Public Unions

William P. Jones Dissent
Daniel DiSalvo's self proclaimed 'non-partisan' attack on public unions as greedy, inefficient and undemocratic, 'Government Against Itself,' has been welcomed by the right and granted recognition for its 'scholarship' even by some on the left. Not so fast, argues William P. Jone, in a deeper look into the economic realities and history of public unions, and the place of public unions in our democracy, DiSalvo has confused the symptom with the disease.

How Scott Walker's Hubris Killed His Campaign

Molly Ball The Atlantic
Walker returns home badly damaged by his ill-starred foray onto the national stage. Wisconsin’s once-dominant chief executive looks decidedly fallible, and even his allies doubt that he will run for a third term in 2018.

Meet ALEC's (Hoped For) Man in Washington: Scott Walker

Brian Murphy TPM
One of the group’s most high profile alumni is Scott Walker. It’s possible that no American politician who holds office today has worked harder to successfully advance ALEC’s agenda than Walker. And no previous candidate for the White House has ever owed so much to ALEC at the outset of his campaign.Walker’s longstanding association with the group dates back to his first days as a state legislator in the early 1990s.

labor

Unions Suffer Latest Defeat in Midwest With Signing of Wisconsin Measure

Monica Davey The New York Times
Democrats assert that Gov. Scott Walker’s real motivation for signing the right-to-work legislation is more about politics than job creation: breaking a dwindling union movement in Wisconsin and boosting his standing as the conservative choice for the Republican presidential nomination next year.

labor

Laws that Decimate Unions May be Inevitable. Here’s How Labor Can Survive.

Lydia DePillis The Washington Post
As more states feel they’ve been put at a competitive disadvantage by their right-to-work neighbors, the pressure only increases to follow suit and enact their own right-to-work laws. And after a while, a national right-to-work law might not be far behind. “I suspect that will happen within the next decade,” says Marquita Walker, an associate professor of labor studies at Indiana University.

Tidbits - December 4, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments- Race inequality...by the Numbers; Darren Wilson Acquittal; Workers and Students Leave Jobs, Classes in Nationwide Walkout for Ferguson; Thanksgiving; Univ of Virginia Finally Confronts Its Rape Problem; Madison Teachers Recertify Union; Walmart Black Friday Protests; Price of 13-Year War on Terror; Chile; Israel's Jewish State Bill; 2014 and Future Elections; ALEC Blueprint for 2015; Wanted: A Challenge to Clinton; Chicago's Mayoral Race (correction)

For Many Politicians, Ferguson Isn't Happening

George Zornick TheNation.com Blog
Here are some people who have been silent on the situation in Ferguson - GOP Presidential contenders Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Chris Christie. Also quiet is Hillary Clinton. Senator Mitch McConnell was alone among House and Senate leaders in not sending out a statement on Ferguson last week.
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