Misconceptions spread over National Guard's role in Walker budget proposal
Gov. Scott Walker has been in communication with the Wisconsin National Guard to help run the state's prisons should correction officers stay home in protest over proposed changes to collective bargaining rules for public employees.
But since the governor announced the news last week, his political opponents — and some media outlets — have raised the alarm over the prospect that the Guard would be used to keep protestors in line.
"No Wisconsin Governor has deployed the military against public employees as far back as the 1930s, showing just how radical the steps are that Gov. Walker is taking to consolidate his power," said Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now.
On Monday, Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie reiterated that the governor has asked the guard to be prepared only to help out with running the prison system.
There is precedent for such a move. In 2003, after hundreds of prison guards called in sick to protest stalled contracts, then-Employment Relations Secretary Karen Timberlake said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle might have to activate the Guard to staff the prisons. The measure was ultimately not taken.
But since the governor announced the news last week, his political opponents — and some media outlets — have raised the alarm over the prospect that the Guard would be used to keep protestors in line.
"No Wisconsin Governor has deployed the military against public employees as far back as the 1930s, showing just how radical the steps are that Gov. Walker is taking to consolidate his power," said Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now.
On Monday, Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie reiterated that the governor has asked the guard to be prepared only to help out with running the prison system.
There is precedent for such a move. In 2003, after hundreds of prison guards called in sick to protest stalled contracts, then-Employment Relations Secretary Karen Timberlake said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle might have to activate the Guard to staff the prisons. The measure was ultimately not taken.
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