I was talking with a friend from Wisconsin, whose son is a teacher there, about how he felt about Scott Walker's assault on the teachers' union. She said he is furious. He's giving up 17% of his pay, and, if Walker and the Fitzgeralds get their way, his collective bargaining rights. He may not be able to afford his mortgage.
"Doyle (the last governor) drove the state into the ground", she said, so something had to be done. I'm not sure if Doyle actually drove the state into the ground with his policies or if it was hit hard by the Bush recession, so I didn't go into that, but I did say that Walker never campaigned on destroying public employees' collective bargaining rights, and she did admit that was true.
She thought the Democrats should have stayed in Wisconsin to debate Walker's plan instead of "running off like a bunch of babies". There was never going to be a debate. Walker and the Fitzgeralds were going to get their way as quickly as possible with their slim majority.
Another thing learned: Waukesha has a large Hispanic population in the inner part of town. There are a lot of Mexican businesses and restaurants in the old downtown, so these Hispanics are not illegal immigrants; they have a vested interest in the town and are likely to vote. I assume the voter ID laws pushed by Walker and his cabal are aimed at intimidating them. The white Republicans live in the suburban parts of town. So overwhelming GOP support in Waukesha should be investigated.
She's still 50-50 on Scott Walker, presumably because her own family was on the receiving end of Walker's axe, but couldn't say what she thought was good about what Walker is trying to do. To me, that said it all.