First, let’s give credit to the Governor for bringing this issue to light.  It’s a pay issue and there is a question of whether or not the State can continue to pick up all the costs or if the employee can start to pick up some of the costs associated with benefits.  Like it or not, he is taking action which has been criticized just like Governor Christie of New Jersey, who has gone through the same confrontations when it comes to asking state workers to tighten their belts.  Is it better for a Governor to look the other way and pretend the problem doesn’t exist?  That’s the problem in many other states.  Leaders do not want to face and deal with the hard issues.

Immediately, some will say Governor Walker’s a dictator and all the other nasty words that spin into childish foot-stamping when people don’t get what they think they are entitled to.  The bottom line is that Wisconsin has to address this issue and is not the only state with serious financial issues.

There are many perspectives about the pros and cons of what has become the number one story on some of the national network news programs.  One issue that should be questioned is the lack of leadership by some elected officials.

IF YOU WANT TO QUESTION LEADERSHIP OF A PARTY ...

Having the Democratic state senators hide and not show up to discuss the issue or vote speaks volumes on the lack of leadership in Wisconsin in tough times.  This childish behavior shows the fabric, or I should say the lack of fabric, in character and integrity.

As a former elected official, let me say that this is not the way to approach discussing a critical budget issue, let alone work towards some type of reform and solution which are the actions needed to address this problem.

Some Wisconsin politicians need to go back to their history books and read about real statesmen and how they faced serious issues.  People who faced larger conflicts like the Civil War (Lincoln), World War II (Churchill), and the Cuban Missile Crisis (Kennedy).  None of them ran off to hide in a hotel.

Maybe they should also read a couple of books on General George S. Patton about leadership.  If you cannot do the job, you’re replaced.

Another question to answer is how many people were bused to the Capitol from outside the state to amplify the "union" perspective?  The crowds in Madison were not all local and not all government workers.

It’s too bad we couldn’t bus tens of thousands of taxpayers to Madison to support the issue of cutting spending by workers picking up some of the costs for benefits but then, they are too busy working because they have had to tighten their belts in the last several years due to the economy and still deal with rising taxes.

DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN

As for teachers, their protests for more money when it comes to voting for a school referendum are always tagged with the "do it for the children" plea.  I see so many walked off the job in order to go to Madison, there does not seem to be much dedication to students, only to their own pocketbooks.  And to use children as shills to get people sympathetic to their almost annual “pay me more” cause is a pretty pathetic strategy.

I could relate story upon story of  people I know who have lost jobs and/or taken serious pay cuts in the last decade to keep their jobs to paint the picture that the average taxpayer cannot “pick up the tab” anymore when it comes to funding lucrative pension plans or healthcare programs.

What the government workers in many states need to realize is that the tax base has eroded and the people that you depend on to pay their taxes to pay your salaries have taken serious hits.  If someone was making $90,000 to $120,000 they would be paying a good amount into the tax base.  When those people lose those jobs and take on a job that pays substantially less, they are not putting that much into the state tax coffers anymore and that is what has happened.

A friend of mine went from a $90,000-a-year corporate job in 2001 to a series of jobs that did not pay over $36,000.  He had a Fortune 250 benefits package in 2001 but over the last decade, his healthcare has diminished and he is funding a lot more of its cost.  He is making about $41,000 right now.

Another was making $250,000 with benefits in 2001 but lost ground in the last decade where he is making about $34,000 with no healthcare.  Both men have degrees beyond a bachelor’s degree so the argument that they don’t have education or skills to command a decent salary is moot.

These examples are not to show the unions that they need to take a drastic cut, these are a wake-up call to show that the people picking up the tab have fallen into a much different salary base and can barely pick up their own expenses, let alone some platinum benefits package for government employees.  The well has run dry. 

If I was faced with taking a wage freeze for two years and/or picking up part of my benefits package, I might not like it but I certainly would do that compared to what others have been through in the last decade.

CARLINI-ISM :  Underfunded pension plans are becoming many states’  killer epidemic.  The cure?  Reforming the whole process.