UPDATE...I just read that the Marathon County Labor Council is conducting a food drive during and after the parade for an agency called "The Neighbors' Place" in Wausau. I just donated the $5.00 I would have sent to the Council if they had decided to pay the parade expenses on their own. If you want to follow my example (no pressure), here is the link to The Neighbors' Place. They have a paypal donation button in the middle of the page:
http://www.neighborsplace.org/...
There was a lot of media attention when the Marathon County Labor Council decided not to allow some Republican politicians to march in the Wausau, Wisconsin Labor Day parade sponsored by the Council. There was even more attention when Wausau's mayor issued an ultimatum to the Labor Council saying the city would demand reimbursement for any costs if the Republicans were not invited.
When the Labor Council relented earlier this week, the issue seemed to be over, especially when it was implied by many Wisconsin media outlets that two Republican politicians, U.S. Representative Sean Duffy and State Senator Pam Galloway, would now march in the parade.
But will the Republicans actually march? It's certainly not clear judging by statements issued by their offices.
From the Wausau Daily Herald, which in my opinion has done an excellent job reporting the story objectively...
Brandon Moody, Duffy’s chief of staff, said Duffy plans to attend a Labor Day event in Merrill on Monday morning.
“He wants to go (to the Wausau event) and we’re working toward that,” Moody said “All signs point to yes.”
A spokeswoman for state Sen. Pam Galloway, R-Wausau, said she also plans to attend.
My emphasis added.
They plan to "attend" but there is no indication they will actually march in the parade, despite the inaccurate interpretation by other media that the Republicans have said they will march and that they somehow "won" this battle. I have "attended" a few Green Bay Packer games, but I've never stepped on Lambeau Field. There's a difference. For all we know Duffy and Galloway may show up on the sidewalk briefly, gather the free candy thrown out by the union marchers, then slip quietly out of Wausau before anybody has a chance to throw rotten tomatoes at them.
The Marathon County Labor Council has played this beautifully. All the media attention has taught people what Labor Day is all about, and that's a very good thing. It has also put Duffy and Galloway on the hot seat. If the Republicans march, they will be ridiculed and jeered and the video will be all over the news, but if they don't march people will ask them why they made such a fuss when they had no intention of participating.
The Marathon County Labor Council has highlighted (again) the anti-union, anti-middle-class voting records of Republican legislators. Council President Randy Radtke said this in his statement rescinding the no-Republicans-allowed rule:
“With the track records that Pam Galloway, Sean Duffy, Scott Walker, and Jerry Petrowski have all put together this year, they should be ashamed to even show their faces at a Labor Day parade.”
Brilliant. Show up and hear cries of "Shame!" or stay away and confirm their contempt for people who work for a living.
Another consequence of the Republicans' whining about not being invited to the party is that it got the attention of union workers and their supporters across Wisconsin. It was announced this morning that a busload of police and firefighters from the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin will now be joining the parade. Not just "attending", but marching, with bagpipes, "Cops for Labor" shirts, and pro-Labor signs.