Live Reporting from the Wisconsin Protests

It All Had to Start SomewhereSince Monday, February 14, CMD reporters have been on the streets providing live coverage of the historic protests in Madison, Wisconsin and related legal and political battles. We focus on the corporations and spinmeisters pulling the strings. CMD is supported by small contributions from people like you. Consider making a contribution today. If you have scheduling information or tips for our reporters please contact us at (608) 260-9713 or


On July 13, 2011 CMD ended this on-going report into the Wisconsin protests which we have maintained since February 14, 2011. It has been an honor to report on the historic events from Wisconsin from our office 4 blocks from the Capitol and have this reporting picked up on so many sites across the country. Today we launch a new chapter in our reporting on the shadowy front groups and corporations behind the recent assault on workers rights and democracy. Visit our new website to learn more about the corporate agenda in Wisconsin and continue to visit for reporting on Wisconsin. -- The CMD team.


Wisconsin State Journal: Democrats cry foul over Republican redistricting maps

Democratic leaders expressed shock and anger Friday after Republicans unveiled their proposal for redrawing the state's congressional and legislative districts, saying the new lines favor the majority party and target Democrats involved in upcoming recall elections. But according to Republicans, 22 legislators will be affected, either by being drawn out of their district or by being paired with another legislator in their district. Of that group 12 are Republican, GOP leaders say. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Was senator threatened on budget vote?

A prominent business leader from state Sen. Rob Cowles' district was stunned when the veteran lawmaker explained why he voted in favor of Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget-repair plan. Cowles had contacted the business leader earlier this year to ask for the person's support in his upcoming recall election. "He said, 'I didn't like this (bill) either. I didn't like being put in this position. I didn't like anything about the way it was done,'" the business leader quoted Cowles as saying. "'But the governor's office told us if we didn't give them our support, they would run a tea party candidate against us.'" READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Wisconsin State Journal: State gears up for recall season opener

On Tuesday, Wisconsin begins the largest recall season in its history. By the time the final vote is tallied on Aug. 16, there will have been nine recall elections; six for Republican senators and three for Democratic senators. If Democrats can hold onto their seats and take three more, they return to power in the state Senate and have a formidable weapon to use against Walker. Passage of Republican-authored legislation, which has seen virtually no opposition in the GOP-controlled Legislature, will slam to a halt. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

La Crosse Tribune: Primary to be soft test for new voter ID law

Voters in Tuesday's primary election and next month's state Senate recall won't have to show a picture ID. But they will be asked. "It's a soft implementation to give everybody a chance to get used to it," said Reid Magney, spokesman for Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections. "The idea was because this was such a big change we don't want to disenfranchise anyone by springing this on voters. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Bloomberg: Senator Johnson Says U.S. Can Avoid Default If Debt Ceiling Not Raised

The U.S. won't have to default on its obligations to bondholders even if Congress fails to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by an August deadline, Republican Senator Ron Johnson said. "If we don't increase the debt ceiling, we'll have to live within our means," the freshman from Wisconsin said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt" airing this weekend. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Wisconsin Protests photo gallery



Although amazing to see so many workers in the street, one day is not enough!! THE PROTESTS MUST CONTINUE!!!

We were told in the 50s that the communist party would take control of our nation from the inside out. Well, take a look at Wisconsin and all the sheeple! If you really care about the children and their education, you'd strike the blood-sucking unions and grow up and take responsibility for you own lives, instead of having taxpayers pick up the cost of your life-time salaries and benefits, even if you do a piss-poor job with the 3 Rs, but excel in teaching revisionist history and socialism 101. I so sick of whiners! These people need to get a real job and stop sucking at the public tit.

You have clearly been brainwashed by FOX news and the other right-wing propaganda machines you plainly listen to routinely. The right of Americans to organize is inherent in the First Amendment's protection of the right to assemble and to petition the government for redress. The suggestion that working people organizing is "communist" is nothing less than an absurd charge straight from the darkest days of the McCarthy witchhunts. You were told lies in the 1950s, FunnyLady. And, just to pre-empt your likely ad hominen attack on me, you should know I give no ground to the totalitarian regimes you and your buddy Glenn Beck like to smear people with--my family fled not one, but two, communist revolutions for freedom in this country. And, that freedom dating back to our nation's founding includes the right of people to organize. Even the radical new governor, Scott Walker, conceded the following about Wisconsin's public servants, at least publicly: "Wisconsin’s state employees are second to none in our nation. Our citizens expect great service, and you have delivered. I know you will continue to deliver top‐notch programs for Wisconsin’s taxpayers." But, you are so closed-minded you cannot even admit this fact. A recent ranking of all the states in the U.S. ranked Wisconsin as one of the top ten "smartest states," an empirical analysis which is far more reputable than your gross generalizations that teachers do a "piss-poor job with the 3 Rs." But, the fact is that education in Wisconsin does suffer by having funding tied in part to property taxes, which is unfair to both students and property owners--whereas prison funding comes out of the general treasury without direct votes by citizens for expanded warehousing of people in penitentiaries. The idea that Wisconsin teachers, nurses, firefighters, EMTs, police, prison guards, and other civil servants are not taking responsibility for thier lives is both offensive and absurd. Similarly, the suggestion that they are getting a great deal by getting pensions for taking lower wages than many would get in the private sector and risking their lives on a daily basis to help their fellow citizens really shows how completely out of touch with reality you and your generic, uncreative, and thoughtless rhetoric are. And, I am sick of whiners too--people who have bought into the false divide and conquer politics of the right-wing that blinds one to the fact that people who work for a living should be united on common ground in calling for (and negotiating for) basic protections for the health of our children, parents, and spouses. But, I suppose you are one of those so-called "compassionate conservatives" who thinks as people get old and sick they should just be left to die on the streets so your taxes don't go up a dime and if their employer turns them out without cause at age 60, c'est la vie. Or, maybe you are one of those geniuses put up to protest by Koch-funded groups to say inane things like keep government out of your Medicare. Quite frankly, I don't know how you can sleep at night. But, I would imagine you sleep pretty well. Because, as they say, ignorance is bliss. --Lisa Graves

Your Left-wing progressive diatribe isn't worth my time to form a reply. When our nation is bankrupt, let me know how you like the change.

Ummm, let's see.... You think facts are a diatribe. And your, um, initial comment was not a diatribe. Facinating. You think Dems are bankrupting the nation? Ummmm, at the end of the last Democratic administration there was a budget surplus. At the end of the last three Republican administrations there were budget deficits. "Budget deficit" is a fancy DC word for bankrupt, or in other words liabilities (debts, in case that's too many syllables for you) exceeding income. You seem to think progressives are to blame for the budget crisis even though Bush left office with a multi-trillion dollar deficit after business deregulation that helped crash the economy and after the Bush administration forced through the TARP bailout for Wall Street, which some real progressives like then-Senator Russ Feingold, voted against. Your non-fact-based reality barely warrants a response, but I can't help myself because I feel obligated (not as a left-wing progressive but as a thinking person) to point out actual facts in response to your sloganeering. Good luck out there in your non-fact based world.

A FACT is something that actually exists; reality; truth. A partial truth is not a fact. if you want to lecture about facts then try using some yourself. The Clinton administration was benefitted by the THE CONTRACT WITH AMERICA. Remember Newt Gingrich? Remember when he shut down the federal government and brought Clinton to the middle? Clinton takes credit for Republican policies and so do left wing progressives.Public record; check the facts. The left is wrong. The right is wrong. The Bush Administration was hurt by 9/11. Remember that? What about the DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS that eliminated the Contract with America? Start with welfare, food stamps, healthcare, free school lunches, etc for illegal immigrants. Nancy Pelosi? What did her husband's business receive from the Federal Government? Look at the liberal spending during the democratic reign in congress, raising the debt ceiling over and over. Former Bush administration defense secretary Rumsfeld - "the congress forced $10 billion on us that we did not want and did not need". Try facts. You care about collective bargaining? Then do something about this President and stop misrepresenting previous administrations. The Obama bailout - shut down Chrysler motors permanently shuttering union auto plants. Those skilled workers are unemployable and are still out of work. Obama shut down American auto plants and put Canadian and Mexican plants back on line! Why doesn't that make you crazy? Obama closed American dealerships all over the country; the fallout was entire business districts, Mom and Pop shops, small businesses, etc that were dependent on the autodealership traffic for their livelihoods went out of businss. The subprime mortgage mess; where did all of the money go that was earmarked for stressed homeowners? It didn't go to homeowners! It went to Obamas friends. Corrupt federal officials are stealing and killing the US economy and allowed to continue because they create these scenes, screaming look over there! Stop falling for it. Look at Franklin Raines former Fannie head and former Clinton official; should have been indicted but walked away with millions as a reward for his reckless, dispicable tenure that cripled the economy. Why did the federal government bailout Goldman Sachs and put Goldman's biggest competitor, Lehman Brothers, out of business? Geitner? Bernanke? Paulson? Who do they report to? Who are their friends? Why did the Obama administration exempt the SEC from the Freedom of Information Act? So the stealing could continue unabated? What are they hiding? Obama's Fed Dept of Education has a $77 billion budget. We didn't have a dept of ed before Jimmy Carter. We were NO 1 in the world back then and now we are number 25! FACTS. Public Pensions; Wisconsin's are 100% funded. Illinois are 50% funded; who will pay the retirement benefits when there isn't enough money for Illinois retirees? Maybe the Ponzi scheme of union growth? Same in Massachusetts. In 2025 90% of all State income taxes will be going to pay public union pensions of those States that are only partially funded now. Do you really think that THE PEOPLE will put up with that? Focus on eliminating corruption instead of beating up good people. Stop the devisive name-calling. Stop blaming the wealthy, the successful hard working Americans who pay 75% of all taxes collected by the Fed. Stop pitting good working Americans against each other. It's people like you who are causing the loss of support from within with these stupid efforts. Too many union members are sick of the corruption, protection of the worst and the stealing of their retirement money. Try some facts instead partial slant to bolster a position that is contributing to bankrupting America. Unions were once great in this country; responsible for stopping abuses of so countless working men and women. Unions created safety in dangerous workplaces. Unions stopped illegal child labor. Unions created a living wage for the trades. Unions created benefits for labor. Unions were something good and something to be proud of. The loons are endangering all of the good work of organized labor that came through tremendous sacrafice. For the sake of those who gave so much and for the sake of all of those members working now who need their retirement; calm down, stop all the hate speech, name-calling, empty finger pointing and destructive rebel rousing. Use facts and stop spewing drivel.

"Politico has broken the news this morning that Obama's campaign arm "Organizing for America" is responsible for most of the chaos, and has been filling bus after bus with protestors and shuttled them to the State Capitol. This was not a spontaneous uprising - this was an organized effort by Barack Obama to further his radical, leftist agenda."

Now you're quoting some recycled right-wing blog chum as news? Seriously? No wonder you are so breathtakingly misinformed. It seems as though you and a bunch of other true believers have decided to quote one of Beck's buddies' blogs that uses the line you "cite" (and I use that term loosely) as the preface to a demand for donations. Nice "work." The actual Politico story notes that Wisconsin Organizing for America is supporting the protests by helping some Dems get transportation to the state capitol. It does not actually say that the President is organizing this to further his supposed "agenda." It is no surprise that some Wisconsin Democrats are fighting Walker's effort to strip people of their right to organize. Here is what state director Dan Grandone reportedly said: "At a time when most folks are still struggling to get back on their feet, Gov. Walker has asked the state legislature to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. Under his plan, park rangers, teachers, and prison guards would no longer be able to fight back if the new Republican majority tries to slash their health benefits or pensions." The idea that tens of thousands of citizens affected by the genuine risk of losing their rights were not genuinely inspired to fight for their rights, and that the protest was just some sort of mock event created by the White House, which has been ducking on this issue, is pretty surprising. To try to make OFA's outreach into some sort of nefarious conspiracy theory is pretty wild on your part, but it's not surprising based on your earlier diatribe. The hyperventilating claims made in your "quote" of a badly mismashed "quote" are much ado about nothing, more like the non-earth shattering type of "dog-bites-man" non-story. So, on the question of "credibility," I'd say your post pretty much speaks for itself. Not credible. Thanks for helping me prove my point!

Wow! Bulls-eye after bulls-eye. There is a serious and disturbing level of deliberate ignorance in this country, and FunnyLady is representin'. It is easy and safe to sit on the couch and crab about the powers of the unions. It takes real guts to stand up for yourself and forge a bond of trust with your fellow worker. Until more people do, the corporations will keep the People under their collective heel. We are barely hanging on to our democracy as it is. If the people don't wake up soon, we will lose it forever.

"The idea that Wisconsin teachers, nurses, firefighters, EMTs, police, prison guards, and other civil servants are not taking responsibility for thier lives is both offensive and absurd." Well said...not only do they take responsibility for their own lives, but on a daily basis they take responsibility for the lives of others. They choose to work in the public sector for the good of others, not for their own gain in the private sector. Thank you Ms. Graves!