Walker's Plan Coming Apart

Governor Scott Walker must feel like a man alone. He's running out of time for his "budget bill" to actually have an impact on the budget, and not just be the union-busting bill it is. Basically after Friday, much of the "good" stuff in the bill doesn't work. Meanwhile, the biased Rasmussen polling, which overstated GOP positions by 4% on the average last year (in a good GOP year), claims Walker is doing well on this, but this is being shot down pretty well. It seems that most people aren't buying their poll, which doesn't match up with others out so far.

So while we wait for professional polling to come in, Walker's coalition is cracking. State Senator Dave Schultz is proposing to make the union-busting parts only temporary. Is the pressure getting to him, and others? Sure looks it. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald is giving up his trump card unilaterally, electing to not try to pass the stripping of collective-bargaining rights as "stand-alone" legislation, which requires only a majority of members present at the time of the vote. Let me break this down for you. Fitzgerald needs only 17 members there to pass that part on it's own and end this stand-off, provided they all vote for the provision. He has 19 members present, in his majority. If he had 17 of the 19, he'd be able to do it. If he had 17, he'd probably just do it at this point. He's not. This signals he probably doesn't have 17 votes for the Governor's proposal. His brother has allowed for amendments in the House, bringing the bill back from the final passage stage (his brother is the Speaker). There are cold feet in the GOP.

Governor Walker may be feeling the heat. There is talk of a re-call once he hits a year. A poll of Wisconsin shows 51.9% disagree with his bill. His party doesn't seem to have the votes. He appears to be in the political wilderness.