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A Maine state representative is en route to Madison, Wis., where protests fighting possible limitation of collective bargaining rights for state employees have crippled government and education, leaving thousands of Wisconsin’s state employees off the job indefinitely.
The state’s governor, Republican Scott Walker, said on Feb. 11 that balancing a $3.6 billion budget deficit in the state will require the slashing of collective bargaining rights, pay and benefits for state employees, including teachers.
Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, has filled up a U-Haul trailer with supplies and is nearing the Wisconsin capital, where reported crowds of tens of thousands have gathered in and around the Capitol building for nearly a week.
“What I really want to do is give people some hot chocolate, I want to give them some coffee, I want to give them some hand warmers and I want to give them some hugs,” Russell said in a phone interview with The Maine Campus.
Russell said as of 3:30 p.m. ET she has reached Indiana with approximately $2,500 in donations through PayPal on her website.
This money, still pouring in after a Sunday Huffington Post article and a Monday afternoon interview with conservative pundit Sean Hannity of Fox News, has enabled Russell and three friends to set up a mobile hot chocolate and coffee stand inside the van once they get to Madison — refreshments will be complimentary for protesters.
“I have heard the same quote over and over again: ‘Just wait until you get there,’” Russell said. “I just know that there is a massive amount of protesters and people are genuinely hurt.”
If this budget proposal passes in Wisconsin, many believe school districts and government agencies will be allowed to cut respective budgets by draconically axing salaries at will.
Russell said that the implications of similar laws in places like Michigan and Ohio — where Republicans are also considering laws to tamp down collective bargaining — could spill over into GOP-dominated states like Maine.
“It’s part of a broader pattern [for Republicans] and you’ll see in legislatures that have completely turned over or the Republicans have gone most of the control of it, they’re sort of rushing this stuff through,” she said. “My big concern is this could come to Maine.”
Russell also said young people in Maine — especially students — should be watching proceedings in Wisconsin.
“This is the youths’ protest — what’s happening in Egypt, what’s happening in Tunisia and Iran and Libya now — these are all led by young people,” she said. “You have the longest and most vested interest in the economic viability of the state because you’re going to live in it the longest.”
“My parents’ generation left my generation nothing and I’ll be damned if I’m going to leave that to you guys,” Russell added.
Citing patterns in newly-found GOP leadership of the Maine Senate, House of Representatives and the executive branch, she said her action was done to learn about the situation in Wisconsin and aid protesters.
“At the end of the day, if the levees break in Madison, we all flood,” Russell said.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s budget, released Feb. 10, suggested the retirement age for newly or recently hired state employees be raised from 62 to 65. State retirees will also be asked to accept lower cost-of-living increases in benefits.
Another key tenet of the governor’s budget plan is to repay debts to Maine hospitals — using $69.5 million of state money to add to federal funding to bring $248 million to 36 Maine hospitals.
In a Jan. 28 leaked e-mail to Republican allies obtained first by Democratic-leaning blog Dirigo Blue, LePage’s Director of Communications Dan Demeritt seemed to use hospital payments as political leverage in a “business plan” to make for election of Republican candidates in future state elections.
“We are probably going to pay the hospital debt through 2009 as part of the supplemental budget – about $259 million,” Demeritt wrote. “And I’ll even make sure our members know the exact day the exact amount of State funding transferred (and the amount) to their local hospitals so our members can show up with a big symbolic check to make it a press event.”
“On one hand, he’s going to pay back the hospitals and it’s going to be a political win for him, and on the other hand, he’s going to balance the budget on the backs of our already-retired people,” Russell said in response. “We’re talking about people who already paid into the system.”
State employees will also be asked to give 2 percent more of their salaries to the state pension system. They currently put in 7.65 percent.
There is a $4.4 billion unfunded liability in the state employee pension system that many Maine GOP leaders say could grow uncontrollable without prompt action.
LePage has announced a series of phases for regulatory reform in Maine — one tenet of which is the repeal of the Maine ban on bisphenol A, or BPA, a plastic additive in products such as infant drinking cup that has divided scientists in two camps — some who think it harmful to children and some who do not.
Russell said later phases of these plans will include labor reforms.
“When that phase comes out, what are they going to reform? Collective bargaining is a real issue,” she said. “There are unions fighting for workers’ rights. If those go, who is going to stand up?”
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