Wisconsin: GOP decides to pursue Right to Work - cue the left wing freakout

During the last election, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his Republican allies didn't really want to talk about Right to Work legislation. Generally, they'd dodge the question by changing the subject or saying something like "it's not what we're focused on right now."

In fact, just this week, Governor Walker said "I just think right-to-work legislation right now, as well as reopening Act 10 to make any other adjustments, would be a distraction from the work that we're trying to do." Well, it looks like "right now" has changed somewhat because the Wisconsin GOP is pressing ahead with potential right to work laws. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Thursday he was gathering information on so-called right-to-work legislation so that it could be taken up early next year. Right-to-work laws — such as those approved in recent years in Michigan and Indiana — prohibit employers from striking deals with private-sector unions to require workers to pay dues. "It's my opinion it has to come up early" in the session that begins in January, Fitzgerald told reporters. "I don't know how we get through the session without having this debate."

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Obviously, union leadership and left-wing talking heads are having a complete meltdown ...which is fun to watch. They're trotting out all of the same old talking points about union-busting, cronyism, etc. We're not going to bother going into the details of their freakout, because you've already heard all of it - verbatim - during their failed recall attempt.

Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, said further weakening unions was the wrong prescription for an ailing middle class. "It's a sad day for workers and the middle class," he said. "Right-to-work is bad for everybody, no matter how you slice it."

You may recognize the signs at the top of the page from the last time the unions trod this path. It didn't work then, and it they can be reasonably sure it won't work now. That, however, has not stopped various media outlets from suggesting that outraged union bigwigs might try it again. As the Wasau Daily Herald threatened yesterday, union forces are ready for a rematch:

GOP leaders survived, but can still recall the Capitol demonstrations, recall elections and general political turmoil that surrounded passage of Act 10. To avoid a repeat, party leaders would be wiser to keep right-to-work legislation off the table..

The fact is: this is fun to see. The Republicans have taken a page from their Democrat counterparts. How many times have we heard left wing candidates say: "We have no interest in gun control" or "we don't want common core" or "we're not looking at amnesty" or "we want to lower taxes" only to do the exact opposite once elected? ....It looks like the Wisconsin GOP has learned from the DNC example. Fire with fire? It's about time.