Jason Stein - More Than They Bargained for: Scott Walker, Unions, and the Fight for Wisconsin

MORE THAN THEY
BARGAINED FOR

Scott Walker,

Unions,

and the Fight for Wisconsin

Jason Stein and Patrick Marley

THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS

The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street, 3rd Floor
Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059
uwpress.wisc.edu

3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E 8LU, England
eurospanbookstore.com

Copyright 2013 by Jason Stein and Patrick Marley All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any format or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without written permission of the University of Wisconsin Press, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stein, Jason, journalist.

More than they bargained for : Scott Walker, unions, and the fight for Wisconsin / Jason Stein and Patrick Marley.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-299-29384-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN 978-0-299-29383-3 (e-book)

1. Labor movementWisconsinHistory21st century. 2. Protest movementsWisconsinHistory21st century. 3. Collective bargainingGovernment employeesWisconsin. 4. WisconsinPolitics and government21st century.

I. Marley, Patrick, journalist. II. Title.

HD8083.W6S74 2013

322'.209775dc23

2012040563

To Amanda, Zane, and Xavier

And to Denise and Elsa

Omnia vincit amor; et nos cedamus amori.

VIRGIL, Eclogues Book Ten

Democracy isnt pretty all the time.

JEFF FITZGERALD, Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, February 18, 2011

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

More people helped us in the writing of this book than we could ever adequately thank. We thank the editors at the University of Wisconsin Press as well as the ones at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who not only allowed but encouraged us to write this book: Marty Kaiser, George Stanley, Tom Koetting, Gary Krentz, Mike Juley, Becky Lang, Eric Aspenson, and especially Mike Mulvey, who edited a nonstop stream of web posts and daily stories during the height of the protests. We are also indebted to our fellow reporters who contributed so much to both this book and the Journal Sentinels coverage of this extraordinary time in Wisconsin, particularly Daniel Bice, Lee Bergquist, Bill Glauber, Dave Umhoefer, Craig Gilbert, Don Walker, and Emma Roller. We were also helped greatly by a number of other reporters at the paper, including Steve Schultze, Tom Kertscher, Jim Nelson, Amy Hetzner, Erin Richards, Tom Tolan, Ben Poston, Larry Sandler, John Schmid, Rick Romell, Sharif Durhams, Karen Herzog, Cary Spivak, Kathleen Gallagher, Mark Johnson, Crocker Stephenson, Thomas Content, Bruce Vielmetti, Laurel Walker, Mike Johnson, Guy Boulton, Jim Stingl, Annysa Johnson, and Alison Bauter. The photographers and videographers who camped out at the Capitol with us brought the story to life in a way that we couldnt, and for that we offer a hearty thanks to Mike De Sisti, Gary Porter, Tom Lynn, Mark Hoffman, Michael Sears, Bill Schulz, Kristyna Wentz-Graff, and Rick Wood. We also appreciate the efforts of graphic artists Lou Saldivar and Enrique Rodriguez, as well as all the copy editors who improved our work on never-ending deadlines. Those who share the Capitol press room with us are more like colleagues than competitors, and we wish to thank them, too, particularly Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond of the Associated Press; Mary Spicuzza and Clay Barbour of the Wisconsin State Journal; Gwyn and Trevor Guenther of the Wheeler Report; Jessica VanEgeren of the Capital Times; Jessica Arp of WISC-TV; Steven Walters of the WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network; Greg Neumann of WKOW-TV; Zac Schultz of Wisconsin Public Television; Shawn Johnson of Wisconsin Public Radio; Bob Hague, Jackie Johnson, and Andrew Beckett of the Wisconsin Radio Network; JR Ross and Greg Bump of WisPolitics.com; and our many other fellow journalists. Dick Wheelerdean of the statehouse press corps, founder of the Wheeler Report, and now namesake of the Capitol press roomhelped us learn enough legislative procedure to follow the machinations at work in the passing of Act 10, and we miss him greatly. Wisconsin-Eyes archived footage of legislative sessions, committee hearings, and other events was tremendously helpful in writing this book, and we thank the network for what it makes freely available to the public.

We are grateful for the cooperation of those we write about: elected officials of both parties, their aides, demonstrators and labor leaders, and conservative groups. Particularly helpful were the staff at the legislative service agencies. We also thank those who read and commented on the manuscript, including Stacy Forster Benedict, Steven Walters, Chris Reynolds, the UW Press reviewers, and our Journal Sentinel colleagues. We are particularly grateful to the staff of the UW Press for believing in this project.

Last and most important, Jason thanks Amanda, Zane, Xavier, and family and Patrick thanks Denise, Elsa, and family for their support, understanding, and patience during the longest two years in Wisconsin politics.

Actors in the Events

Titles are as of February 2011 unless otherwise noted

Scott Walker, GOP governor of Wisconsin, formerly Milwaukee County executive

Scott Fitzgerald, GOP Senate majority leader, formerly Senate minority leader

Jeff Fitzgerald, GOP Assembly speaker, formerly Assembly minority leader, brother to Scott

Mike Ellis, GOP Senate president

Jim Doyle, former Democratic governor

Tom Barrett, mayor of Milwaukee, Walkers 2010 Democratic opponent for governor and 2012 recall candidate for governor

Kathleen Falk, former Dane County executive and 2012 Democratic recall candidate for governor

Rebecca Kleefisch, GOP lieutenant governor

J.B. Van Hollen, GOP attorney general

Mark Miller, Democratic Senate minority leader

Peter Barca, Democratic Assembly minority leader

Representative Robin Vos, GOP co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee

Senator Alberta Darling, GOP co-chairwoman of the Joint Finance Committee

Dale Schultz, Republican senator

Tim Cullen, Democratic senator

Glenn Grothman, Republican senator

Bob Jauch, Democratic senator

Brett Hulsey, Democratic representative

Keith Gilkes, chief of staff to Governor Walker; manager of the 2010 campaign and the 2012 recall

Eric Schutt, deputy chief of staff to Governor Walker, later chief of staff

Mike Huebsch, Walkers secretary of administration, former GOP Assembly speaker

Jenni Dye, demonstrator and Twitter addict, later Dane County Board supervisor

Michael Brown, founder of the recall group United Wisconsin

Maryann Sumi, Dane County judge overseeing lawsuit over Walkers Act 10 union measure

John Albert, Dane County judge overseeing lawsuit over access to the Capitol

Ismael Ozanne, Democratic district attorney in Dane County

John Chisholm, Democratic district attorney in Milwaukee County

David Prosser, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice

Ann Walsh Bradley, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice

Tim Russell, deputy chief of staff to Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive